Must Have Slept Through That Bit!!

Howard Hawks was the director of the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall movie, “The Big Sleep”.  He liked the script except for one small concern - Howard couldn’t figure out who had killed a certain character in the film.  The answer was not in the script, written by William Faulkner, Jules Furthman, and Leigh Brackett, nor was it in the book from which the script had been adapted.

The Big Sleep was Raymond Chandler’s first novel.  Previously he had written stories for pulp fiction magazines.  Mr Chandler made great use of his previous writing experience and incorporated the plot and details from his stories, “Killer in the Rain”, “The Curtain” and “Finger Man” into his novel.

"Please, tell me ..."

Howard Hawks thought the perfect person to ask about the unknown murderer was Raymond Chandler – the man who had first seen the entire story in his head.  Howard was wrong!

Raymond Chandler was completely irreverent and unconcerned when he told the curious director, “The butler did it!”

Howard Hawks was annoyed by the obviously incorrect answer and was heard to say, “Like hell he did … he was down at the beach house at the time.”
 

 
The Big Sleep
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