Brilliantly directed story about a psychotic Hollywood scriptwriter, who is suspected of murder but given a false alibi by his gorgeous neighbour. Bogart's character never lets up and you're never sure if he's guilty or not, and nor is his lovestruck neighbour. As the police close in, it develops into a beautifully tense psychological thriller, did he do it and will the girl stand by her man? Awesome, awesome, awesome!!! find out more...

This is, along with Hawks' The Big Sleep, easily the most intelligent of all screen adaptations of Chandler's work. Altman in fact stays pretty close to the novel's basic narrative (though there are a couple of crucial changes), but where he comes up with something totally original is in his ironic updating of the story and characters: Gould's Marlowe is a laid-back, shambling slob who, despite his incessant claim that everything is 'OK with me,' actually harbours the same honourable ideals as C find out more...