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Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, Richard Boone, Candy Clark, Joan Collins ... see more see more... , Edward Fox , John Mills , James Stewart , Oliver Reed , Harry Andrews , Colin Blakely , Richard Todd , Diana Quick , James Donald , John Justin , Simon Turner , Martin Potter , David Savile , Dudley Sutton , Nik Forster , Joe Ritchie , Patrick Durkin , Derek Deadman , Tom Laughlin

Robert Mitchum reprises his role as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe from Farewell, My Lovely, in this misconceived remake of Howard Hawks's classic 1946 film -- transferring the setting from 1940s C... read more read more...alifornia to 1970s London. Marlowe is hired by a rich and dying General Sternwood (James Stewart) to find out who is blackmailing him. Marlowe then meets Sterwood's daughters -- the crazy and degenerate Camilla (Candy Clark) and the more even-tempered Charlotte (Sarah Miles). Opening up a can of worms, Marlowe unveils a collection of unsavory characters -- Eddie Mars (Oliver Reed), an inveterate gambler having an affair with Charlotte; Joe Brody (Edward Fox), Camilla's ex-lover; and Agnes (Joan Collins), a sexy bookstore clerk. The plot becomes even more chaotic when it is found that Camilla has been posing in the nude for pornographer Arthur Geiger (John Justin). When Geiger turns up dead, Camilla becomes implicated in Geiger's murder. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

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37% want to see it

1,391 ratings

R, 1 hr. 39 min.

Directed by: Michael Winner

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DVD Release Date: August 22, 2000

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Flixster Reviews (65)

  • kenstachnik
    September 2, 2008
    kenstachnik
    Thoroughly underwhelming
  • nuheart
    December 26, 2006
    nuheart
    Is it wrong to bring Marlowe into the present? No. But it IS wrong to move him to London. Mitchum makes a great Marlowe, but this movie just doesn't cut it. Stick with Farewell, My Lovely for your Mitchum-as-Marlowe fix.
  • rickrudge
    August 11, 2009
    rickrudge
    The Big Sleep (1978)

    This is one of those movies that you wonder why the studio bothered to remake this. On paper, it looks like a great idea with a marvelous cast and it follow the Raymond Chandler story a little closer with an R rating (although Chandler wrote about LA and th... read moreis is in Britain). The British love a good mystery, and I can appreciate the homage.

    Robert Mitchum plays Philip Marlowe. Although he's world-werey, he's not quite up to speed of a Philip Marlowe at his age. Plus the speed of the movie isn't as fast-paced as the 1946 version. I found that I was mouthing the script as I watched this and even I was quicker at getting it out than the actors.

    Richard Boone, as Lash Canino, was nowhere near as scary as Bob Steele was in the original. Boone, who has played his fair share of scary characters, perhaps at his age he was beginning to look more grandfatherly.

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Critic Reviews

Dennis Schwartz
December 28, 2010
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Unnecessary but still enjoyable color remake. Full Review

Ken Hanke
July 16, 2008
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

The problem with the film, more than anything, is getting beyond the idea of it not being Bogie and Bacall up there on the screen. Full Review

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
January 24, 2004
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

Robert Mitchum's wry and worldly depiction of Marlowe, an intrepid detective, carries the movie. Full Review

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The Big Sleep Trivia

  • Vivian: So you do get up, I was beginning to think you worked in bed like Marcel Proust. Marlowe: Who's he? Vivian: You wouldn't know him, a French writer. Marlowe: Come into my boudoir what movie??  Answer »
  • Which Bogey classic is this? Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love.   Answer »
  • Who played gumshoe Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep (1946)?  Answer »
  • Which major American writer did script work on "The Big Sleep," an adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel?  Answer »
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