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Why Is The Big Sleep A Hard-Boiled Crime

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Film Review of The Big Sleep The Big Sleep was originally written as a novel in 1939 by Raymond Chandler. Philip Marlowe, a private investigator was hired by a wealthy general to help in resolving the blackmailing and gambling debts of his wild daughter, Carmen. Things get off to a quick start in the movie and it immediately begins to unravel, Marlowe suddenly had found himself in a deep web of love triangles, blackmail, murder, gambling, and organized crime. Vivian the oldest daughter of the general, quickly jumps in to help Marlowe and warn him of the dangers to come (sort of). As Marlowe begins to dig deeper into the case he comes to an owner of a casino named Eddie Mars, and this is when the story takes a turn of events again, and everyone …show more content…

First it is best to start off with what a hard-boiled crime is; they are gritty stories of the criminal underworld, usually containing sex, violence, and corruption in American society. The genre mainly involves a private investigator, as the hero of the story. The private investigator is usually a primary focus, they have a code of honor and justice that may not be strictly legal, but it is moral. They may be threatened, and beaten, but they never give up a case or betray their clients. They are often matched against a corrupt political or criminal organization, but they always prevail because they are true to themselves and their code. Mr. Marlowe the private detective in The Big Sleep checks off a lot of these characteristics. Philip Marlowe is an honest and hard-working private investigator in a very corrupt society. Marlowe is threatened and beaten in the movie a few times. To be specific a scene where Marlowe is beat up is in the car shop when he goes to find Geiger’s wife. He tells the men in the garage, he needs help fixing a flat, which he purposefully flattened. These men who are Geiger’s men, play along and then one turns around and hits him over the head, knocking him out unconscious. Many times Marlowe had been told by Vivian Rutledge to end the case, but he never does. Marlowe follows through the whole way, until what he was hired for by the general was …show more content…

Two of the most common found in this film included establishing shots and diegetic sound. Establishing shots are used at a new location to give the audience a sense of locality. Every time that Marlowe went to a new area or building there was a drawn out time to establish the scene for the audience to establish the scene and where the characters were at. This can be seen in the beginning when Marlowe follows Geiger home after Geiger’s assistant at his bookshop would not allow Marlowe to speak to him. This is also seen when Marlowe is driving to the place in which he found out Eddie Mars’ wife and Vivian are hiding out. Marlowe drove up to the new scene in his car, a long drawn out moment in the film. This better helped the audience understand where he was headed. The second cinematic technique that is used in the movie is non-diegetic sound, this is when the source is neither visible on the screen, nor has been implied to be present in the action. This is something common throughout the film also. Gun shots are something heard all through the movie. When Geiger is killed in his home, the shooting, its self was not seen, but it was known and could be implied what was happening. Another gun shot that was heard but not seen was when Joe Brody was killed at his front door. The gun itself and the killer were never

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