A wealthy family, being blackmailed with pictures of the youngest daughter caught in a compromising sitution, hires a pi to find out who's behind it.
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The pi discovers that the owner of a gambling house is behind the blackmail. He also discovers that the older sister, who's been helping him and who he's fallen in love with, has a gambling relationship with and is in debt to the blackmailer.
The blackmailer tries to set up the pi, but the pi is always one step ahead of the blackmailer. He kills the blackmailer and a couple of his henchmen.
The pi manages to recover the incriminating photos and help the sister that he loves cut all of her ties to the blackmailer.
The review of this Movie prepared by Brandon Swenson
One of the classic noirs of all time, "The Big Sleep" is also one of the most confusing of Hollywood movies, and that rare case where "studio meddling" came up with something better. LA private eye Philip Marlowe (Bogart) is ostensibly hired by wealthy but dying patriarch General Stanwood (Waldron) to keep tabs on his youngest daughter Carmen, who has fallen in with a bad crowd. Older daughter Vivien (Bacall) is not impressed by Marlowe, but they warm to each other. Meanwhile, the Stanwoods' chauffeur has disappeared, and more bodies pile up. Each new "problem" handed to Marlowe turns out to be a cover for a more complicated and ugly problem. Directed by Howard Hawks and finished in 1944, the movie was shelved for two years and then re-cut and more scenes shot. (Hawks and Bogart wired author Raymond Chandler, whose novel was the basis for the story, about one death, but he couldn't tell them whether it was a murder or a suicide either!). Don't worry about understanding it, just enjoy the snappy script (worked on by William Faulkner and Leigh Brackett), peppy acting, and the great ride.
The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
