The Big Sleep (1978 film) The Big Sleep (1978 film) The Big Sleep is a 1978 British neo-noir film, the second film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. The picture was directed by Michael Winner and stars Robert Mitchum in his second film portrayal of the detective Philip Marlowe. The cast includes Sarah Miles, Candy Clark, Joan Collins, and Oliver Reed, also featuring James Stewart as General Sternwood. The story's setting was changed from 1940s Los Angeles to 1970s London. The film contained material more explicit than what could only be hinted at in the 1946 version, such as homosexuality, pornography
The Big Sleep the case now over, Marlowe goes to a local bar and orders several double Scotches. While drinking, he begins to think about Mona "Silver-Wig" Mars. He never sees her again. "The Big Sleep", like most of Chandler's novels, was written by what he called "cannibalizing" his short stories. Chandler would take stories he had already published in the pulp magazine "Black Mask" and rework them into a coherent novel. For "The Big Sleep", the two main stories that form the core of the novel are "Killer in the Rain" (published in 1935) and "The Curtain" (published in 1936). Although the