Why the movie title “The Big Sleep?”

Why the movie title “The Big Sleep?” - Big Cinema Screen on Stage

The plot is about private detective solving the mystery behind Sean Regan’s whereabouts and to get rid of Arthur Gwynn Geiger blackmail for General Sternwood.

But why is the movie titled The Big Sleep?



Best Answer

The movie The Big Sleep (1946) is an adaptation of the novel The Big Sleep (1939) by Raymond Chandler.

From the Wikipedia page for the novel:

The Big Sleep (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first to feature the detective Philip Marlowe. It has been adapted for film twice, in 1946 and again in 1978. The story is set in Los Angeles, California.

It mainly deals with hardcore crimes and murders. So it should be understood that The Big sleep refers to Death.

In the novel, the author of the novel Raymond Chandler quotes:

You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that, oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now. Far more a part of it than Rusty Regan was.

As the movies are book adaptations and the most of part is taken from the book, the movie title suggests the same that the big sleep here is Death.




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Why was it called The Big Sleep?

In The Big Sleep \u2013 the title refers to the gangster euphemism for death \u2013 Marlowe is summoned to the home of old General Sternwood whose wild daughter, Carmen, is being blackmailed by a seedy bookseller.

What does the phrase Big Sleep mean?

euphemism Death, as in, the sleep from which one cannot awaken. Possibly coined by the author Raymond Chandler (1888\u20131959). I know it's morbid, but we all must sleep the big sleep someday. See also: big, sleep.

What is the movie The Big Sleep about?

The Big Sleep is a 1946 American film noir directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of the 1939 novel of the same name by Raymond Chandler....The Big Sleep (1946 film)The Big SleepScreenplay byWilliam Faulkner Leigh Brackett Jules FurthmanBased onThe Big Sleep by Raymond ChandlerProduced byHoward Hawks14 more rows



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