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Poster for The Big Sleep
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Released
1946 · FILM

The Big Sleep

Private investigator Philip Marlowe is hired to shield a wealthy family’s vulnerable daughter, but his quest to untangle a simple blackmail scheme spirals into a deadly web of murder and deceit that threatens everyone he’s trying to protect.

“The picture they were born for!”

Directed by
Howard Hawks
Written by
William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett
Rated
MPA · NR
Color
Black & White
Runtime
114 min
CrimeDramaFilm-Noir
Streaming on
  • Paramount+

Synopsis

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood to handle a matter involving his youngest daughter, Carmen. Before the case is resolved, Marlowe encounters murder, blackmail, deception, and what may be love.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Director of Photography
Writers
Director

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 56+ credited

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Christian NybyShot by Sidney HickoxScored by Max Steiner

Box Office

1946 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 43× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$10.7M

Budget$250K
Worldwide gross$10.7M
break-even (2.5×)

Also known as

  • Tote schlafen festde
  • El sueño eternoes
  • Le Grand Sommeilfr
  • Il grande sonnoit

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