The Big Sleep quotes

View Quote Marlowe: By the way, how's Mrs. Mars these days?
Mars: You take chances, Marlowe.
Marlowe: I get paid to.

View Quote Marlowe: How did you happen to pick out this place?
Vivian: Maybe I wanted to hold your hand.
Marlowe: Oh, that can be arranged.

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 Marlowe: I want some information - about Sean Regan.
Mars: I heard you got that already from the Bureau of Missing Persons.
Marlowe: You get around.
Mars: My boys do.
Marlowe: Where is he?
Mars: I haven't any idea.
Marlowe: You didn't bump him off, did ya?
Mars: No. You think I did?
Marlowe: Well, that's what I came up here to ask ya.
Mars: You're kidding.
Marlowe: All right. I'm kidding. You didn't do it yourself and none of your boys are good enough to do it. I used to know Regan.
Mars: I thought you told me you weren't looking for Regan?
Marlowe: I wasn't then. Maybe I just got curious. You see, I finally got it through my thick skull that half the General's worries were that Regan might be mixed up in this blackmail business.
Mars: Well, Sternwood can turn over now and go back to sleep. It was Geiger's own racket. I did some inquiring myself today. When Geiger and Brody got gunned, that washed the whole thing up - that, I'm sure of it.
Marlowe: It's finished then.

View Quote Marlowe: If Eddie Mars' wife gets my car fixed and he finds out what happened, there's gonna be plenty of trouble, and you'll be in it just as much as I will.
Vivian: I don't mind as long as you're around.
Marlowe: I didn't have a chance to thank you for what you did back there. You looked good, awful good. I didn't know they made 'em like that anymore.
Vivian: I guess I'm in love with you.

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: 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: 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: She'll be all right in the morning.
Vivian: Did you do this?
Marlowe: That! Oh yes, that's a little special service I always provide all my clients.
Vivian: Including being insolent. Where did you find her?
Marlowe: I didn't find her...
Vivian: Well then, how did you...?
Marlowe: I haven't been here, you haven't seen me, and she hasn't been out of this house all evening.
Vivian: That bad.
Marlowe: Hmm, hmm.
Vivian: Just what did happen, Mr. Marlowe?
Marlowe: You're pretty fond of your sister, aren't you?
Vivian: Yes, I am.
Marlowe: You'd do anything for her, wouldn't you?
Vivian: Anything.
Marlowe: Then drop this whole thing.
Vivian: But I still think I should know what...
Marlowe: Unh, unh. Don't even ask her.
Vivian: She never remembers anyway.
Marlowe: Just what did she forget about Sean Regan?
Vivian: What did she tell you?
Marlowe: Not half as much as you just did. [He grabs her fists that are poised to strike] Take it easy. I don't slap so good around this time of the evening.
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.

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: What do you think's gonna happen now? Now what are your boys gonna think? What'll they do to the first one that goes out that door? Who's it gonna be Eddie? You or me?
Mars: Now look, Marlowe.
Marlowe: You look at this. What's the matter? Haven't you ever seen a gun before? What do you want me to do? Count three like they do in the movies? That's what Canino said to little Jonesy.
Mars: Now don't go crazy.
Marlowe: And Jonesy took it better than you're taking it.

View Quote Marlowe: Would you happen to have a Ben-Hur, 1860?
Agnes: A what?
Marlowe: I said, 'Would you happen to have a Ben-Hur, 1860'?
Agnes: Oh, a first edition?
Marlowe: No, no, no, no, no. The third. The third. The one with the erratum on page one-sixteen.
Agnes: I'm afraid not.
Marlowe: Uh, how about a Chevalier Audubon 1840 - a full set, of course?
Agnes: Not at the moment.
Marlowe: You do sell books? Hmm?
Agnes: What do those look like, grapefruit?
Marlowe: Well, from here, they look like books. Maybe I'd better see Mr. Geiger?

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: 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.