The Big Sleep

Carmen: You're not very tall, are you? Marlowe: Well, I, uh, I try to be. Carmen: Not bad looking. Oh you probably know it. Marlowe: Thank you. Carmen: What's your name? Marlowe: Reilly. Doghouse Reilly. Carmen: That's a funny kind of name. Marlowe: You think so. Carmen: Uh huh. What are you? A prizefighter? Marlowe: No, I'm a shamus. Carmen: What's a shamus? Marlowe: It's a private detective. Carmen: You're making fun of me. Marlowe: Uh, huh. Carmen: [she leans back and falls into his arms] You're cute. Marlowe: [to the butler, Norris] You ought to wean her, she's old enough.

The Big Sleep (1946 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Sternwood: How do you like your brandy, sir? Marlowe: In a glass.

The Big Sleep (1946 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Sternwood: You are looking, sir, at a very dull survival of a very gaudy life - crippled, paralyzed in both legs, very little I can eat, and my sleep is so near waking that it's hardly worth the name. I seem to exist largely on heat, like a newborn spider. The orchids are an excuse for the heat. Do you like orchids? Marlowe: Not particularly. Sternwood: Nasty things! Their flesh is too much like the flesh of men, and their perfume has the rotten sweetness of corruption.

The Big Sleep (1946 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Sternwood: [about talking to Carmen about her "debts" (actually blackmail)] 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.

The Big Sleep (1946 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Vivian: So you're a private detective. I didn't know they existed, except in books. Or else they were greasy little men snooping around hotel corridors. My, you're a mess, aren't you? Marlowe: I'm not very tall either. Next time, I'll come on stilts, wear a white tie and carry a tennis racket. Vivian: I doubt if even that would help. Now this business of Dad's. You think you can handle it for him? Marlowe: It shouldn't be too tough. Vivian: Really? I would have thought a case like that took a little effort. Marlowe: Not too much. Vivian: What will your first step be? Marlowe: The usual one. Vivian: I didn't know there was a usual one. Marlowe: Oh sure there is. It comes complete with diagrams on page forty-seven of 'How to Be a Detective in Ten Easy Lessons' correspondence school textbook.

The Big Sleep (1946 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Vivian: You know, I don't see what there is to be cagey about, Mr. Marlowe. And I don't like your manners. Marlowe: I'm not crazy about yours. I didn't ask to see you. I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them long winter evenings. And I don't mind your ritzing me, or drinking your lunch out of a bottle, but don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me. Vivian: People don't talk to me like that. Marlowe: Ohhh. Vivian: Do you always think you can handle people like, uh, trained seals? Marlowe: Uh, huh. I usually get away with it, too. Vivian: How nice for you.

The Big Sleep (1946 film), CC BY-SA 4.0