THE BIG SLEEP

Directed by Howard Hawks

(1946) Hired by a hothouse-ensconced retired general to investigate his nympho daughter’s gambling debts, Humphrey Bogart’s Philip Marlowe finds the dames keep throwing themselves at him, even as corpses keep dropping, while he takes time out for memorable double entendres with Lauren Bacall. Co-scripted by William Faulkner, from the Raymond Chandler novel. 35mm. Approx. 114 min.
12:30

“Everyone talks about Bogie and Bacall’s scenes together, but what about our man Humphrey (in glasses, no less) vamping it up with bookseller Dorothy Malone? Their exchanges are just as good, and the fact that this hard-boiled detective flick was coscripted by the highfalutin William Faulkner still blows our minds.”
– Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out

“Fun all the way through… Noir-ish set-piece after set-piece create disorienting, humorous suspense even when the story itself doesn't hold together. Bogart and Bacall are at their sexiest here.” 
– Eric Monder, Film Journal

“It doesn’t not matter whether Bogart and Bacall were happy together in life (I hope they had their moments), because they have 114 minutes of splendor in this film.”
– David Thomson, Warner Bros: The Making of an American Movie Studio

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT

Directed by Howard Hawks

(1944) “You know how to whistle, doncha, Steve? You put your lips together and blow.”  In Vichy-governed Martinique, could-care-less fishing boat operator Bogart decides to get involved, with Lauren Bacall, in sensational debut, winning him onscreen -- and off. Hawks bet pal Hemingway that he could make a good film out of Papa’s worst novel. 35mm. Approx. 100 min.
2:45

“[Howard Hawks] recognized in Bogart an appealing, dry insolence that needed only one extra ­– a girl who was more insolent.”
– David Thomson, Warner Bros: The Making of an American Movie Studio