The Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep is incredibly messy, but also charming and transports the reader back to LA in the late 1930s. The dialogue is snappy, slang-filled, and sharper than a razor. Everyone seems to remember old LA, before it expanded into a big city. And with urban expansion came racketeering during Prohibition, pornography, Hollywood, and violence. Bored young ladies from the upper-class were ensnared by these big city vices, which ultimately brings our protagonist, Marlowe, into play. The film, unfortunately due to censorship, changes the original story in many ways, but sexual tension remains. Humphrey Bogart seems to have been born to play Marlowe, and in many ways is close to the character in Chandler's novel. But, with less of the ambiguity of Sam Spade, Marlowe is a more sympathetic character struggling to serve his clients while staying out of too much trouble. One cannot help but like Marlowe, who has to play in the dirt.