You'd think casting Robert Mitchum would be more than enough to ensure a winning remake of The Big Sleep. But you'd be wrong. So very wrong.
Original version of The Big Sleep (1946)
The 1946 reshot version, released a mere five years after the Raymond Chandler source material was published, is deliciously moody and pops with chemistry. It's also chockablock with tropes and has a famously convoluted plot that folds in on itself like many other detective stories of its time.
What makes it work? Helmed by Howard Hawks, who puts the focus on the actors and especially sexy, "tough broads," The Big Sleep feels comfortably familiar as a classic film noir offering. The casting does a lot of the heavy lifting as does the snappy dialogue so characteristic of this genre. It certainly helps that William Faulkner helped write the script. Yes, that Faulkner.
And who can discount the appeal of Bogart and Becall making bedroom eyes and each vying to out-clever the other. Yummy stuff, that!
Remake version: What went wrong with The Big Sleep (1978)
So what went wrong with the '78 remake? I think the biggest problem is the choice to move the location and time period. If you do that, you also need to update the plot to reflect these changes. But the writer/director Michael Winner didn't do that. He cast some immensely talented actors but didn't update the material to play on their strengths. Winner tried to keep the period-specific plot and dialogue that just falls flat without that now-dated acting style which feels so right in the original.
Sarah Miles and Joan Collins are capable, sexy actresses but seemed poor comparisons to their respective '46 counterparts. Winner's The Big Sleep is downright dull despite the big names and subject matter including details considered too salacious for '46. The remake has some tasty car porn and the great Mitchum in well-tailored suits. Yet, it's not enough to save this plodding yawnfest.