“Speaking of horses, I like to play them myself. But I like to see them workout a little first, see if they’re front runners or come from behind, find out what their whole card is, what makes them run.” – Vivien Rutledge (Lauren Bacall)
The ending of The Big Sleep is so confusing that even the man who wrote the original novel didn’t know how everything tied it up. Normally, that wouldn’t bode well for a noir mystery.
But then again, most films don’t have Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall leading the charge with romantic electricity cut in pieces with intellectual sharpness.
In Howard Hawks’ 1946 noir, Bogart stars as the typical private eye, Philip Marlowe, who is hired to find a millionaire’s missing friend. Standing in his way are the wealthy Sternwood daughters, the single and promiscuous Carmen (Martha Vickers) and the divorced but freezer-burn hot Vivien Rutledge (Bacall). As he investigates their father’s assignment, he finds himself dealing with a case that changes from a missing person’s case to homicide and blackmail.
The ending is incomprehensible, leaving out explanation as necessary as who murdered who and leaving some characters dangling on forgotten plot threads. It’s the journey of getting to the end, though, that is the most entertaining for viewers. Filmed at the height of Bogart and Bacall’s affair (Bogart was still married and facing the consequences of his infidelity at home), the two are totally in sync with their wit and searing remarks. One of the best scenes takes place in a bar, where they flirt while dissecting each other’s personalities. Not only is it a demonstration of the actors’ chemistry, but also the screenwriters’ strength at good dialogue — and censor-dodging sexual attraction.
For a film made at the height of Hollywood’s morality phase, there’s definitely enough implied to make it fit today’s explicit standards. Carmen sleeps around, throws herself at men (literally at Marlowe upon their first meeting) and does drugs. Marlowe encounters a bookshop keeper whose glasses-and-smock appearance melts away to reveal a woman willing to split a bottle of rye and presumably spend an afternoon doing a very different kind of studying with the film’s protagonist.
The women of The Big Sleep don’t just exercise their sexuality — they also play a pivotal role in getting Marlowe in and out of tight spots. Carmen’s the instigator, causing most of the problems with her adventurousness, naivety and disobedience. Her sister, however, is Marlowe’s savior in the end and partner in crime-fighting throughout, even though her motives are questioned (as are any worthwhile femme fatale’s in that genre).
Hawks’ film lacks clarity, but it makes up for it in style. It’s fun to watch and reminds audiences that sometimes the destination matters far less than the journey.
2014: A Film Odyssey 
To understand the end with a better explanation, check out the pre-release version. There were two versions of the film, the released version was edited and more scenes with Bacall were added, and dialogues taking place at the headquarters (with Bacall in face net and hat) was changed into the Bar scene in the released version (minus the face net and hat, and with sexier outfit). Released version is a better movie, but the pre-release version explains everything better.
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