Cebalord Very best movie i ever watch

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Lawbolisted Powerful

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

JohnHowardReid A costly project with lots of star power, this re-make of The Big Sleep was doomed to failure from the start. Critics were honor-bound to compare any new version unfavorably with the original, but the re-make's demise became irremediably inevitable when Michael Winner decided to re-locate the story from 1940s Los Angeles to 1970s London! Nonetheless, this version is not only an interesting movie in its own right, but actually seems far more faithful to both the plot and mood of the Chandler novel.Admittedly, Mitchum is no Bogart, but is more the imperturbable, world-weary, snappy Marlowe that readers love, while Sarah Miles, Candy Clark and James Stewart are so close to the characters in the book as to make comparisons with Bacall and company irrelevant. Richard Boone is far more frightening as Canino, while Oliver Reed creams John Ridgely as Eddie Mars. John Mills has a tiny role as the equivalent of the Regis Toomey character, and Richard Todd an even smaller part as another Scotland Yard man. This movie also features striking photography and compelling sets, and it is available on an excellent 10/10 Geneon DVD.

jimmydavis-650-769174 A strange creature is Michael Winner...Has he been secretly mocking the 'industry' he works in for the past fifty years? Or is he just a pompous old fool who couldn't make a public information film? Perhaps no one will ever know!The big sleep however, is one of Winner's better films. Largely due to a great script (he adheres closely to the book despite the film being set in England) and the superb acting of Robert Mitchum. The best bit in the film is watching Mitchum and a comely Joan Collins rolling around on the carpet; After taking her pistol, a dishevelled Mitchum looks on whilst Collins lets out an orgasmic sign and then lights a ciggy, great stuff!

Michael_Elliott Big Sleep, The (1978) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Philip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) is asked by General Sternwood (James Stewart) to track down a blackmailer who is using his daughters (Sarah Miles, Candy Clark) but after the blackmailer is found murdered the private detective finds a whole string of people who seem to be keeping one secret after another. THE BIG SLEEP certainly doesn't come close to the Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall film but at the same time it's somewhat unfair to judge the two especially when you consider that this version was a lot closer to the original novel and features stuff that couldn't even be hinted at in the 1947 version. The basic plot how a lot of perversion as we're dealing with one sister (Clark) who is certainly a sexual pervert and someone who is taken nude photos, which sets off the entire blackmailing. Teenage pornography is one of the many subplots as a wide range of characters come in and out of the story. For the most part I enjoyed this version but I think what really kept it from being a good movie is the rather lackluster direction by Winner who just doesn't seem to know what to do with the material. There are far too many scenes that contain no suspense, no tension and even worse is that some of the action scenes come across as some sort of bored after thought. There are a couple different scenes where Marlowe finds himself in some sort of struggle yet they're all filmed rather poorly and end up going no where. I'm not expecting some sort of masterpiece but the director should have at least worked the mystery a tad bit more but sadly there's very little energy or emotion to be found. I will admit that the story here is much better than the original movie as Marlowe and Mitchum seem perfectly well suited for the material. There are several scenes where the sisters come onto Mitchum and that laid back approach of his is perfectly done and there never was a better acting at playing this type of detective. Mitchum is clearly having fun with the role and he certainly helps keep the film moving. Stewart only has a couple small scenes but it's always nice to see him and the stuff with Mitchum was a lot of fun because the two legends are clearly having fun working together. Both Miles and Clark are good in their roles and we get nice supporting work from Richard Boone, Richard Todd, Joan Collins and Oliver Reed. This film certainly earns its R-rating as Clark is nude in pretty much each of her scenes here and the dirty nature of the pornography certainly sets the film apart from the original. The film had its setting changed to London, which is somewhat of a letdown as L.A. would have been much better but overall THE BIG SLEEP is a fairly rewarding picture but one only wishes the director had done a better job.

The_Void Most people would probably run a mile at the thought of Michael Winner getting his hands on the rights to film Raymond Chandler's masterpiece novel 'The Big Sleep'; but personally, I was rather excited at the prospect. Michael Winner may not be a great director; but his films generally turn out to be entertaining in spite of not being brilliant, and with a story as strong as this one; I felt confident that The Big Sleep would be a good film. However, as it turns out; this film is not as good as it could have been. The story focuses on private investigator Philip Marlowe. He is hired by an old man who goes by the name of General Sternwood to investigate a case of blackmail against one of his daughters. After meeting the daughters and some of the other main players involved, our hero soon comes to the conclusion that the blackmail doesn't really constitute a threat and becomes suspicious; leading to him thinking that everything seems to be more connected with the disappearance of the man's son in law, and decides to investigate that instead.For one reason or another, Michael Winner has decided to move things over to England; although the lead man remains American. This change in location has not really had an effect on the story; but it did leave Winner free to recruit an excellent roster of British stars. Among the names in the cast list are Oliver Reed, John Mills, Joan Collins, Richard Boone and Edward Fox. The film is lead by Robert Mitchum, who while not as great as Humphrey Bogart, still makes an excellent leading man and there's also enough room in the cast for an aging James Stewart. The film is a lot shorter than the earlier version of this story and Winner has really trimmed things down a lot, which means that the story is much more straight forward than it was in the 1946 film. This is not really a bad thing as it does mean that the film is easier to follow; although it also seems less expansive. The characters take something of a backseat too, with only the lead character getting any real development. Still, this is at least an entertaining thriller and I don't feel like I wasted my time watching it; although Howard Hawks' version is better.