starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall
directed by Howard Hawks
115 minutes
Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) is hired by General Sternwood to figure out who is trying to blackmail his younger daughter, Carmen, and pay them off. Marlowe finds a tangled web of blackmail and murder. He is pushed by Vivian Rutledgs (Lauren Bacall), the general's older daughter, to drop the investigation once it seems that her father is satisfied. Marlowe isn't satisfied and continues to investigate.
Philip and Vivian are attracted to one another. He catches her in a lie on more than one occasion but that doesn't keep him from wanting to get closer to her.
Many of the threads of Marlowe's investigation lead him back to Eddie Mars, who runs a casino. Mars claims to keep his hands clean but as Marlowe gets further into his journey he starts to see Mars for what he really is.
Thoughts
There is a lot of information thrown as the viewer during the first three-quarters of this movie. What is clear is that Marlowe isn't going to stop looking for answers just because people are trying to get him to stop. It isn't until he goes a step too far and is apprehended by a thug that the story settles down.
I was distracted by a few people in the audience who were seated near me, one a couple rows in front of me and another a few seats to my right, who kept making noises of surprise or amusement at things that I thought didn't rate more than a smile on my part. No more than 10 minutes into the movie I got up and moved to another seat. I could still hear them but the distance between us helped to keep me from being quite as bothered by their numerous audible reactions.
I enjoyed the ride this movie took me on but I'm not sure if everything adds up. Worth my time? Yes. Great? No, but the last half hour is very memorable. The chemistry between Bogart and Bacall is undeniable.
Notes
John Ridgely played Eddie Mars. He was also in Dark Victory (1939) and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944).
Dorothy Malone played the part of the Acme Book Shop Proprietress. She later won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Written on the Wind (1957). She was a regular on Peyton Plane (1964-1968), appearing in 430 episodes and a couple TV movies according to IMDb. Her final on screen role was in Basic Instinct (1992), 26 years before she died in 2018.
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