Tonight back in time again: 10 years earlier than yesterday, 1946: "The Big Sleep". I know it's a shame but I haven't seen this huge classic before. Somehow I waited for the perfect moment to spend two peaceful hours to this. Hawks, Faulkner, Chandler, Bogart and Bacall - maybe you understand me..
- "How do you like the brandy Sir?"
- "In a glass."
Wow. Bogart is the perfect character to personate Chandler's Marlowe. He is the type who is never thinking on answers, just spits them out next to his regular cigarettes. Not too much, just perfect. He doesn't give a shit about Marcel Proust, sweating like a horse, drinking as an alcoholist, but the girls are fainting around him (within 30 minutes he broke 5 hearts at least, you can check it out).
But. From a movie which is on the 99th best-film-ever-made spot in the imdb I expected a bit more. I prepared some complicated noir stuff, but I need to admit that sometimes I felt myself lost in the labyrinth of relationships, intrigues and love-like emotional ramps. Even Chandler was surprised about his own complicated story when couldn't answer to a question: Actually who killed Owen Taylor (the guy who landed into the water with his car)?
So if you like Chandler, you should watch Bogart's perfect impersonation, but if you like Hawks, it's much worth to check his "His Girl Friday". He is the master of character-building, that's why other genres, like the screwball comedies fit better to him. Remember the "fake" police call scene from "The Big Sleep" and you will know what I want to say with this..
[Small remark: There is a character which appears both today's and yesterday's films. The loser Harry Jones in Hawks' film is the same guy (Elisha Cook Jr.) who played the wretched cashier at the horserace track in Kubrick's "The Killing". So what?:)]
7/10
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