The Big Sleep / YMMV

The 1946 Film

Alternate Character Interpretation: Due to the alternations to the novel's plot, there's a very good argument that Phillip Marlowe's explanation at the end that Eddie Mars killed Regan instead of Carmen is actually him doing a Frame-Up of the gangster to get the Sternwoods off the hook. Which would make him a far more morally ambiguous character.
Award Snub: It received zero Academy Award nominations.
Can't Un-Hear It: It's pretty hard to read the book and not imagine Humphrey Bogart's voice narrating.
Franchise Original Sin: Many criticisms hurled at the Genre Throwback to Film Noir The Black Dahlia can actually be found in this - an overly convoluted story and a lot of information that's hard to hold onto. The difference is of course that The Big Sleep still has a lot of merit with regards to how well it pulls that off, whereas The Black Dahlia was a three-hour movie cut down into a confusing two-hour length.
Narm: The Adaptational Modesty to Carmen when Marlowe interrupts her photoshoot. It doesn't quite have the same effect when she's wearing such a modest nightgown.
One-Scene Wonder:
- The General appears in only one scene at the beginning of the film despite being an important background character for most of it.
- Dorothy Malone as the bookstore clerk. She gets far more love on This Very Wiki than her small screen time would indicate.

Values Dissonance:
- Marlowe requests that the bookshop girl take her glasses off while they share a drink. This would be considered quite rude today.
- Marlowe also wears sunglasses to pass himself off as a pretentious literature professor to Agnes - effectively invoking Nerd Glasses. Sunglasses had only just become available to the public in 1937 and hadn't caught on as a cool fashion accessory yet.
Values Resonance: Marlowe's efforts to stop the lewd photos of Carmen being made public is still very relevant today, given the scandals involving female celebrities having their private photos stolen by hackers.

One-Scene Wonder: Jimmy Stewart as General Sternwood does a great performance.
So Okay, It's Average: Generally, it's a competent adaptation of the novel but considered nothing compared to its previous version.
Questionable Casting:
- Robert Mitchum was sixty years old at the time of the movie and looks every year.
- Joan Collins as the minor supporting character Agnes is distractingly more glamorous than the film's lead women.
Tough Act to Follow: The 1946 version is considered one of the greatest films of all time. This is not.
Took the Bad Film Seriously: Robert Mitchum and Joan Collins are the only ones attempting to act in the film.

Values Dissonance:
- Marlowe and other characters are open with their disgust for homosexuals. They freely use homophobic slurs like "queen" and make jokes at their expense. After getting decked by a gay man, Marlowe asserts that it didn't hurt much because gay men "have no iron in their bones."
- Marlowe's alcoholism, to an extent. There are several times in the novel where he takes a swig either while driving or about to start driving, and neither he nor anyone else thinks anything of it.
Values Resonance: Some readers have objected to Carmen being "only" sent to a mental hospital for murder but it's very clear to modern day readers that she's seriously mentally ill and not responsible for her actions.