Here we are again with the second adaptation of a Raymond Chandler novel featuring Robert Mitchum as the gumshoe detective, Philip Marlowe. This neo-noir movie, based on Chandler’s novel of the same name, was directed by Michael Winner, who also wrote the film’s screenplay.

Sarah Miles, Candy Clark, Joan Collins, Oliver Reed, and the great James Stewart are part of the film’s supporting cast. My readers will remember my detailed review of the 1946 film noir adaptation of the same novel featuring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

The 1978 version of the movie includes some nudity and allusions to pornography and homosexuality, themes that could not have made it into the earlier adaptation due to the enforcement of the strict code of censorship. “The Big Sleep” features Marlowe investigating a blackmail allegation for his client, General Sternwood (Stewart).

The plot, unlike the novel or the earlier adaptation, is set in London in the 70s. Marlowe goes to the affluent home of General Sternwood (James Stewart). He is invited in by the old housekeeper. Sternwood’s reckless and wild second daughter, Camilla (Candy Clark), accosts him and provocatively attempts to charm him as soon as Marlowe enters the house.

When Marlowe meets the paraplegic general, the general tells him about the disappearance of Rusty, his son-in-law and husband of his first daughter Charlotte, a few years earlier. However, the general wants Marlowe to investigate Arthur Geigner (John Justin), an antique bookseller who is blackmailing him with allegations of foul play in Rusty’s disappearance. On his way out, he meets Charlotte, who seems to be under the impression that her father hired Marlowe to find Rusty. Marlowe neither confirms nor denies her beliefs, maintaining confidentiality with his client, her father.

As Marlowe begins his investigation at Geiger’s bookstore, he encounters Agnes (Joan Collins of Dynasty fame), the clerk at the store, and her boyfriend Joe Brody (Edward Fox). After surveilling the store, he discovers that Arthur is homosexual and is also running an illegal side business, selling pornographic books.

Marlowe follows Arthur to a house and stakes it out. After hearing a sudden gunshot, Marlowe enters the house where he finds Arthur dead on the floor and a nude and drugged Camilla seated on a chair in front of a camera. He deduces that she had been posing for a photoshoot earlier.

He safely brings Camilla back to the Sternwood mansion. Marlowe returns to the scene of the murder and finds that Geiger’s corpse has now disappeared. Later that night, Marlowe is asked to accompany the police to a pier, which is the scene of another death. Sternwood’s chauffeur, Owen, a young man, has died in a mysterious accident by driving off the pier.

The following morning, Charlotte visits his office and informs him that she has received a copy of Camilla’s photos and a blackmail note demanding $10,000 for the originals. She is certain that she can get the money from Eddie Mars, a gangster and casino owner. Charlotte also reveals that there are rumors that Rusty, her absconding husband, may have eloped with Mona, Mars’s wife.

Once again, Marlowe visits Geiger’s house where he comes face to face with Mars and his sidekick, who make a surprise appearance at the house. There is a tense confrontation, and Mars claims that he did not kill Geiger, who was Mars’s tenant at that very house.

Marlowe deduces that Brody and Agnes are trying to take over Geiger’s store and are the ones blackmailing Charlotte. He confronts the duo at Brody’s house. He further reveals that a loyal Owen, angry that Geiger was blackmailing his boss, killed the bookstore owner and tried to take Camilla’s photos from the scene. Brody, who was also staking out Geiger’s house, pursued Owen, killed him, took possession of the photos, and then pushed the car with Owen’s corpse over the pier.

Just then, an unseen assailant guns down Brody at his home and flees the scene. Marlowe encounters Mars again, this time at the latter’s casino where he finds Charlotte. Marlowe also discovers that he is being followed by a mystery man. As the plot progresses, Marlowe encounters Lash Canino, a dangerous criminal employed by Mars.

How are all these characters and events related? Marlowe must now uncover the person blackmailing the general and the mystery behind the disappearance of Charlotte’s husband.

The 1946 adaptation of “The Big Sleep” is far superior to this rendition of the book. The chemistry shared between Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart is far more captivating than that between Mitchum and Sarah Miles. Many critics panned the movie, complaining that its thespians turned in lazy performances. Yet, this movie is a good one-time watch.