The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep

1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

The Big Sleep is a film from 1946 is a crime drama that stars Humphry Bogart and a private investigator for a rich family. The story involves many complicated twist and turns that lead it to a dramatic ending. The intense and intricate plot lines was a first for its genre as it is one of the first films to have such an in depth story, especially one focused on crime like this one is. This film definitely helped create a genre for crime films that didn’t exist before and led to classic movies such as Chinatown and even The Big Lebowski.

2) Find a related article (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) and summarize the content. You may use the library or the internet.

The article from timeout.com titled Ben Walters introduces The Big Sleep and The Big Lebowski compares and contrasts The Big Sleep and The Big Lebowski. One of the most obvious similarities is that The Big Lebowski takes its theme and template from the movie almost completely from The Big Sleep. Both movies follow a single male character who is set on some type of journey to help out an old white man. Even though Philip Marlowe and the Dude have such different personas the things that they encounter are remarkably similar. Being that The Big Lebowski is more or less a parody of The Big Sleep, the Dude’s actions, and scenarios he finds himself in are different but the film does an excellent job of paying respects to The Big Sleep. In The Big Lebowski the Dude follows similar motifs such as frequent home break ins and relying heavy on his car. Overall the article compares the two films well and the writer of the article does a good job of preparing readers for the double feature that was going to be shown of The Big Sleep and The Big Lebowski.

http://www.timeout.com/london/film/ben-walters-introduces-a-the-big-sleepa-and-a-the-big-lebowskia

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class. How did the article support or change the way you thought about the film, director, content, etc.?

Overall the article gave me a better understanding of The Big Sleep. After reading through the article and realizing many of its obvious connections to The Big Lebowski, I started to realize the importance that The Big Sleep had on the entire history of crime movies. Also after watching The Big Sleep and after reading the comparisons in the article to The Big Lebowski, I now have a much greater appreciation for The Big Lebowski. Even though the film is not entirely original, the story of the Dude seems even more epic to me knowing now how many comparisons can be made to Bogart’s character Marlowe. The Dude is essentially the opposite of Marlowe in almost every way possible and the comparisons that the article made I think really helped to drive that point home.

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal opinion, formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article. I am less interested in whether you liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part of this) than I am in your understanding of its place in film history or the contributions of the director.

The Big Sleep is an intense crime drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the entirety of the movie. Whether it is the gun fights, stick ups, or romances between Philip Marlowe and the women he encounters during the film. The director, Howard Hawks tells this crime story in a very interesting way. The plot has a lot of ins and outs which I like when watching movies because when the movie ends and all the plot points are revealed you feel as though you are solving a mystery with the characters. When we first see that Marlowe’s character realizes that something is not right in Geiger’s shot we become invested in the case as much Marlowe is. And when Marlowe gets bribed to get off the case we know just as well as he does that something is not right the same as Marlowe does. The fact that we are following Marlowe around for the entirety of the story makes us as audience members invested in him and what the outcome of the story will be. Cinematically the movie did not appear to be anything special. There were no shots that made me go “wow” but the movie did not necessarily need spectacular camera movements to make it great. The well written dialogue and great acting are enough to make the movie have its place in cinema history. 

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 1) ( ) I have not handed in this assignment for any
other class. 2) ( ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other
classes, I clearly explain that in the paper. 3) ( ) If I used any passages word for word, I
put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text. 4) (
) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in
the text of the paper. 5) ( ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally
read. 6) ( ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in
another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 7) ( ) I did not
so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 8) ( ) I
checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and
ideas used in my paper.
Name: ___Joe Katulak____________________ Date: ___11/18/14_______________