The Big Sleep quotes

View Quote Marlowe: It won't take 'em long.
Vivian: What are you gonna...?
Marlowe: Wait a minute. Let me do the talking, angel. I don't know yet what I'm gonna tell 'em, but it will be pretty close to the truth. And you'll have to send Carmen away from a lot of things. They have places for that. Maybe they can cure her - it's been done before. And we'll have to tell your father about Regan. I think he can take it.
Vivian: You've forgotten one thing...Me.
Marlowe: [pulling her to him] What's wrong with you?
Vivian: Nothing you can't fix.

View Quote Marlowe: You want to tell me now...what it is you're trying to find out. You know it's a funny thing. You're trying to find out what your father hired me to find out, and I'm trying to find out why you want to find out.
Vivian: You could go on forever, couldn't you? Anyway, it'll give us something to talk about next time we meet.

View Quote [to Carol Lundgren] Oh, and by the way, Carol, you shot the wrong guy. Brody didn't kill Geiger.

View Quote Marlowe: Leave her [Vivian] out of it. She's alright Eddie. She made a deal with you and she kept it. She didn't tell me a thing except that she killed Regan but I didn't believe that. Regan's dead all right, but she didn't do it. It was Carmen, wasn't it? How'd it happen, Eddie?
Mars: You mean she didn't tell ya?
Marlowe: I asked ya how it happened.
Mars: Well, Carmen liked Regan but...
Marlowe: But he liked your wife. He said no to Carmen. She gets mad when anybody says that. I've seen her that way. Go on.
Mars: She was pretty high. By the time it was over, she couldn't remember much about it.
Marlowe: Yeah, I've seen her that way too. Then you hid the body.
Mars: You can't prove that!
Marlowe: It would be just as bad for you if I prove it to myself. Then you started to blackmail Mrs. Rutledge by telling her what Carmen had done. How did you prove to her that Carmen had done it? Go ahead, prove it to me.
Mars: You've seen Carmen when she's that way.
Marlowe: Sure I have, have you?
Mars: Well, how do you suppose...?
Marlowe: Then why didn't you know her when you walked in that day? Tell me that. You're pretty smart, Eddie, but I've been waiting for this one.
Mars: What are you gonna do about it?
Marlowe: I told you you were smart. You walked in here without a gun. You were gonna sit there and agree to everything just like you're doing now. When I went out that door, things were gonna be different. That's what those boys are doing out there. But everything's changed now, Eddie, because I got here first.

View Quote Marlowe: I got some more red points for ya.
Ohls: Who is it this time?
Marlowe: Eddie Mars. His boys got him. There's more to it than that. He killed Regan. I'll tell ya about it when I see ya.
Ohls: Where are you?
Marlowe: At the same place - Laverne Terrace. You'd better come up and get me out of here. And watch yourself. They may still be outside.

View Quote [to Marlowe, on the phone] You can stop worrying and call off the bloodhounds. We found Sean....he's been in Mexico. He hasn't been very well...an accident of some kind. We didn't get all the details. I'm leaving at once to meet him...We haven't told him [the General] yet. We thought it best to wait.

View Quote [after grabbing a thug's gun] Somebody's always giving me guns. You can turn around now. I don't like people who play games. Tell your boss.

View Quote Marlowe, you're ruining everything, yes you are.

View Quote Marlowe: My, my, my! Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains. You know, you're the second guy I've met today that seems to think a gat in the hand means the world with the tail. Ha, ha, ha. Put it down, Joe. The other guy's name was Eddie Mars. You ever hear of him?
Brody: Nope.
Marlowe: If he ever gets wise to where you were last night in the rain, you'll hear of him.

View Quote Marlowe: The boys don't take any chances, do they? Where are they - out digging a grave?
Vivian: You had to go on with this, didn't you?
Marlowe: Where are they?
Vivian: They've gone down the road to telephone.
Marlowe: To call up Eddie Mars and to find out what to do with me. I could have told them that.
Vivian: Why did you have to go on?
Marlowe: Too many people told me to stop.

View Quote Marlowe: Well, thanks.
Clerk: If you ever want to buy a book...?
Marlowe: Ben-Hur, 1860?
Clerk: With duplications? So long.
Marlowe: So long, pal.

View Quote Marlowe: You don't seem in much of a hurry to find that wife of yours. From what I hear, she's not the kind of a wife a guy wants to lose. Could it be you know where she is - and maybe Regan too?
Mars: Better stop being curious, soldier. What's between me and my wife is between us.
Marlowe: Sorry. Oh Eddie, uh, you don't have anybody watching me, do ya? Tailing me in a gray Plymouth coupe maybe?
Mars: No, why should I?
Marlowe: Well I can't imagine unless you're worried about where I am all the time.
Mars: I don't like you that well.

View Quote [Marlowe slaps Carmen]
Carmen: You're cute.
Marlowe: And you're higher than a kite. Come on, wake up.
Carmen: I know you. Doghouse Reilly. You're cute.
Marlowe: What do you know about this?
Carmen: What?
Marlowe: Mr. Geiger here on the floor.
Carmen: He's cute too.
Marlowe: [after grabbing and shaking her] Look, you got a dead man lying at your feet. How did it happen?
Carmen: You talk a lot, Reilly.

View Quote [to Vivian] Why didn't you go to the police?...Because you were afraid they might turn up something that I couldn't sit on. Then where would the Sternwoods be. Isn't that right?

View Quote Sternwood: [about talking to Carmen about her debts] If I did, she'd just suck her thumb and look coy.
Marlowe: I met her in the hall and she did that to me. Then she tried to sit in my lap while I was standing up.