The Big Sleep

Parents need to know that The Big Sleep is a film noir gem directed by Howard Hawks that was released in 1946. It features a great star of the day, Humphrey Bogart. He was paired with relative newcomer Lauren Bacall in an effort to reprise the sizzling chemistry that had made their previous collaboration, To Have and Have Not, a hit in 1944. As in that film, sexuality is an all-pervasive undercurrent, although only clothed kissing is on display. (The actors were married to each other by the time the movie was released.) Kids may find this movie's black-and-white world alien, a place where men wear suits and fedoras, women are called "Sugar" and "Honey," and adults smoke cigarettes constantly, but an incorruptible character bent on solving mysteries may still hold interest. Adults drink alcohol. One character seems to use drugs, but the exact substance remains unnamed. Several characters are killed on screen, one by poison and others by gunshot, but no gore is visible.