The Big Sleep (1946)

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall ignite the screen in this classic film noir adaptation of Raymond Chandler's first novel, The Big Sleep (published in 1939), in which he first introduced L.A. private eye Philip Marlowe. Bogart plays Chandlers' legendary gumshoe and director Howard Hawkes serves up snappy character encounters (particularly involving Lauren Bacall) with a brisk pace and atmosphere galore in this certified classic. When Marlowe accepts the blackmail case of one of Los Angeles' wealthiest men, his probe leads deep into a web of lies, drugs, pornography and murder woven around his client's two beautiful daughters. But Marlowe's most startling discovery is his inexorable attraction to one of the sisters (played by Bacall).