The Big Sleep

Speaking of movie coincidences and such, has anyone else noticed how similar Casablanca is to the 2nd year in Grim Fandango? Right down to the similar suit that Manny and Bogart wear, to the look of the club, to the uniform the police chiefs wear. Tim Schafer (I think he's the one who created GF) must have really had a fascination with Casablanca and film noir.

Tim Schafer stated that Grim fandango is partly inspired by Casablanca
http://www.gamestudies.org/0301/pearce/

CP: What about movies?

TS: Right when we were starting Grim there was a huge film noir festival in town. It was a strange coincidence, and I saw every single film showing there. I think I used something from every single movie. Like in Gilda, there's this character who always bets on the number two and wins, and that's how he gets his payoff in the Casino, and that's in the game. I just looted those games. Casablanca was the biggest influence on Grim, and The Big Sleep, and Double Indemnity.

For Throttle, it was more Kurosawa films. Yojimbo was a big inspiration for me - this really stoic main character, didn't speak unless he had to, seemed really gruff and like trouble, but he was really the morally pure character. Which is also kind of a noir thing, too.

Theres also a few threads discussing it on lucasforums:
http://lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=157925

I haven't seen the film myself though.
As for Tex Murphy and films.... Its been years and years since I saw it so I only barely remember it but would The Long Goodbye (1973) also be slightly similar? I seem to remember his character (a detective) being a little sarcastic/joky and maybe a little downbeat as if he hadn't had enough good/lucky breaks in his life (like Tex). Can't rememebr much though. On IMDB his character is described as bumbling and witty.

Once of the greatest subejcts I took at uni was cinematic cultures becuase the main focus was film noir... every week we watched various Noirs (including the Big Sleep) and I too found them spectacular to watch. The influences many of these films had on the Tex Murphy world were prevelant enough for me to even write about the series in an essay which detailed Film Noir's moden cultural influences. I find watching some of the old Noirs and detective flicks are like watching a prologue to the Tex Murphy series.

-Cub. =o)

The Big Sleep (the one with Bogart and Bacall) is one of my most favorite films ever. The intricate plot, the humor, the characters. And I suppose also to a degree, the way people in films talked back then. I love it. Very, very good ambiance.

-Fred

The Big Sleep is great, but if (for some incomprehensible reason) you haven't seen "Casablanca," by all means see it. It's #2 on the American Film Institute's 100 Best American Movies Of All Time (2nd to "Citizen Kane")("The Big Sleep" didn't make the list). "Casablanca" is just about the perfect move; plot, acting, directing, cinemetography, music, script, dircting, etc. And plenty of memorable lines (but "Play it again, Sam," was never said in the movie!).

I love The Big Sleep but do not feel the need to single out the original. To tell you the truth, I get a bigger kick out of Robert Mitchum's Marlow than I do from Bogart's. Not so much in "The Big Sleep" as in "Farewell My Lovely".

I think that the very best adaption of a Chandler novel is found in Mitchum's 1975 "Murder My Lovely". If you haven't seen it, you should definitely check it out.

I love both The Big Sleep and Casablanca. I read the book The Big Sleep before seeing the movie, and the movie tracks the book pretty well. Regardless, Bogart and Bacall do wonderful jobs. I agree with Dr. Paul that Farwell My Lovely is excellent as well.

P.S. It was my New Year's resolution to be more active here. No luck so far, but it's only January, right?

TBS is a fantastic movie, as are most with Bogart as its star. The Maltese Falcon is another superb example of his unswering ability.

As far as Marlowe goes, one of my favorites (notice I said ONE) is the James Garner version of "Marlowe". Interestingly, the bad guy's henchman was Bruce Lee. Rita Moreno's role was equally effective.

As a film noir nut and collector I feel a need to point out that The Big Sleep isn't a typical film noir at all. It's actually pretty low on noir (compared to noirs in general), so to speak. Still it's an incredibly entertaining movie that I've watched quite a number of times (both the theatrical release and the original version that they changed about a year later mainly to spice up the Bogart and Bacall relationship). Of the more recent Marlowe movies mentioned Farewell, My Lovely is the only one I really like. Some complain about Mitchum being too old to play Marlowe, but I think he does a good job.

Yeah, Heinz, I like The Big Sleep as a classic movie, but the ending fouls up one of the two or three most consistent characteristics of noir, so that's disappointing.

I'm still somewhat inclined to call Chinatown noir, even though 1) it's quite bright and shiny throughout (not black and white!) and not even shadowy and 2) there is no voiceover. I dismiss the first as irrelevant because the clear, well-lit cinematography was used by Polanski to contrast how clean things appeared with the dirty, disgusting, and otherwise very noir way things really were underneath the surface (internal noir). As for the importance of a voiceover...well, that doesn't seem to be so vital to me, since there are a few other movies that fit the mood, feel, and themes of film noir that would have be excluded because there is no voiceover.

I agree with Heinz that the Big Sleep isn't pure noir. Chandler's Marlowe isn't quite flawed enough or morally ambiguous enough for a noir protagonist, but it is still a good movie.

My personal favorite for the Private Detective subsection of Film Noir hasn't been mentioned: Out of the Past. In my mind, this movie has pretty much everything noir is known for, and does it extremely well.