The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep (1946)

206 mistakes - chronological order

(2 votes)

Continuity mistake: Marlowe says to Bernie Ohls at the District Attorney's Office, "you, come up to 7244 Laverne Terrace". He's calling from Arthur Gwynn Geiger's house and we just saw the number on the mailbox when he came in and it's 460 Laverne Terrace. (00:58:25 - 01:00:30)

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Continuity mistake: Outside Geiger's house, Marlowe throws his gun down on the floor making Carol Lundgren reach for it. He kicks him and knocks him out but if you look closely he only touches Lundgren's left shoulder with his foot, nowhere near his head. He doesn't hit anything as he falls either. (00:58:55)

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Continuity mistake: At Geiger's house, Marlowe uses a long piece of rope to tie up Carol Lundgren and extends the end of it several feet to the right of his body. The next time we see the body the rope is not there. (00:59:15)

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Revealing mistake: At his house, Marlowe finds Geiger's two day old dead body in a back room and if you look closely the body is breathing. (00:59:35)

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Continuity mistake: Earlier in the movie at Geiger's house, Marlowe calls Chief Insp. Bernie Ohls of the District Attorney's Office and the six digits of Bernie's phone number are 122-145. At the very end of the movie he's with Lauren Bacall at Geiger's house and again calls Bernie Ohls. This time he dials the same phone number at the DA's office but leaves off one digit 12-145 and the call still goes through. (00:59:55 - 01:52:10)

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Other mistake: Earlier in the movie, at Geiger's house, Marlowe calls Chief Insp. Bernie Ohls of the District Attorney's Office, and the six digits of Bernie's phone number are 122-145. At the very end of the movie, he's with Lauren Bacall at Geiger's house and again calls Bernie Ohls. This time he dials the same phone at the DA's office but leaves off one digit, calling 12-145. (00:59:55 - 01:52:10)

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Continuity mistake: Lauren Bacall walks into a restaurant, and sees Marlowe at the bar with his head tilted back as he finishes his drink, and says, "Hello". The guy to the right of Marlowe is looking at the bartender but in the next shot his head has turned ninety degrees as he's now talking to his friend. (01:00:10)

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Other mistake: Marlowe calls Bernie Ohls at the District Attorney's Office who says to him, "That would come under the heading of police business". The close captioning is wrong here and just says "that's police business". (01:00:20)

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Continuity mistake: In the restaurant Marlowe sits looking down at the table as Lauren Bacall talks about General Sternwood and says, "he considers the case closed". She's holding her pocketbook with the strap between the first and second finger of her left hand but in the next shot the strap is in a different position near her left thumb. (01:02:00)

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Continuity mistake: In the restaurant Lauren Bacall pays Marlowe and says, "I hope this is satisfactory". When she hands him the check she's holding it from the edge but in the next shot she's holding it from the bottom and he's holding it from the edge. (01:02:10)

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Continuity mistake: Marlowe walks into the DA's office with Chief Insp. Bernie Ohls behind him. At first Marlowe's hat is covering his chest. Than in the next shot as he walks through the door, the hat and his right arm are at his side (1945 Version on DVD). (01:02:25)

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Continuity mistake: Lauren Bacall asks Marlowe, "tell me, what do you usually do when you're not working?" and the matches sticking out of the holder on the table are rearranged between shots. (01:02:30)

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Continuity mistake: As Marlowe sits down Dist. Atty. White is playing with a back scratcher and his left hand is closed around the end of it. In the next shot his left thumb is sticking straight up in the air touching the tip of the back scratcher (1945 Version on DVD). (01:02:35)

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Continuity mistake: Lauren Bacall says to Marlowe, "Could that be stretched to include me?" as they sit drinking at the table in the restaurant. If you look closely the amount of ice in her drink changes between shots. (01:02:40)

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Continuity mistake: Before Marlowe sits down Dist. Atty. White has a statue on his desk between Marlowe and himself. In the next shot after Marlowe sits down the statute disappears then reappears again in the shot after that (1945 Version on DVD). (01:02:40)

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Continuity mistake: Chief Insp. Bernie Ohls hands the gun to Capt. Cronjager and we see that the lamp to the left of Dist. Atty. White is on. In the next shot if you look at the back of Dist. Atty. White's chair and the blinds behind him it's easy to see that the lamp is now off (1945 Version on DVD). (01:03:10)

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Continuity mistake: As they have drinks in the restaurant Marlowe says to Lauren Bacall , "I don't know how far you can go" and she replies, "A lot depends on who's in the saddle" and he goes from having his right hand next to his drink to having both hands around his drink between shots. (01:03:35)

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Continuity mistake: As they have drinks in the restaurant Marlowe says to Lauren Bacall , " Who was it that told you to sugar me off this case, was it Eddie Mars?" and his drink jumps four inches to left between shots in relationship to the plaid tablecloth underneath. (01:03:55)

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Visible crew/equipment: In the DA's office Chief Insp. Bernie Ohls says, "You're on the air Marlowe, tell it to him" and you can see the shadow of a boom mike go across Capt. Cronjager's hat (1945 Version on DVD). (01:04:10)

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Continuity mistake: Dist. Atty. White says to Marlowe, "And outside of Taylor, Lundgren and Brody, no one else knew about the Geiger killing?". A black appointment book on the middle of the DA's desk disappears between shots (1945 Version on DVD). (01:04:35)

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Vivian: You go too far, Marlowe.
Marlowe: Those are harsh words to throw at a man, especially when he's walking out of your bedroom.

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