Private investigator Phillip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) is hurled into a complex maze of blackmail and murder when he is hired by a dying, wealthy businessman to resolve his daughter's (Martha Vickers) gambling debts, and ends up falling for her icy, older sister (Lauren Bacall). Howard Hawks' classic noir mystery, from Raymond Chandler' novel and a serpentine screenplay which features partial credit attributed to William Faulkner, is a lot of fun when you focus on the characters and dialogue and abandon all hope on keeping up with the convoluted plot (this is the movie where Chandler reportedly couldn't determine who committed one of the killings). This was the second film which Bogart and Bacall appeared in together, their first as a married couple, and a make or break film for her and their scenes together prove to be the highlight of an entertaining, shambolic picture.
