feelsalike.comSign in
The Big Sleep poster

Movies that feel likeThe Big Sleep (1946)

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

If you loved The Big Sleep, the closest films we have are Shadow of a Doubt (1943), The Naked City (1948) and Stray Dog (1949). All three share The Big Sleep's twisty and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Criss Cross (1949).

🍅 96% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Howard Hawkstwistygrittytenseatmospheric
6 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Criterion Channel · Darkroom

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Not on subscription streaming right now. Rent or buy below.

See it on the Mood Map

If The Big Sleep hit the spot, these will too

Shadow of a Doubt poster
Shadow of a Doubt
1943 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 100%★ 7.8thriller · mystery · crime

The same two preoccupations: detective, and film noir

In sleepy Santa Rosa, restless young Charlie’s world brightens when her sophisticated Uncle Charlie arrives for a long visit. But as his behavior grows increasingly strange, she begins to suspect that her beloved uncle may be hiding a terrible secret—and that danger has quietly entered her home.

The Naked City poster
The Naked City
1948 · dir. Jules Dassin
🍅 85%★ 7.5crime · mystery · thrillerMax

Both keep coming back to the same thing: murder

After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.

Stray Dog poster
Stray Dog
1949 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 100%★ 7.8crime · drama · thriller

One thread runs through both: detective

The difference: Sits closer to drama than The Big Sleep does

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.

The Killers poster
The Killers
1946 · dir. Robert Siodmak
🍅 97%★ 7.7crime · mystery · thriller

The same preoccupation in both: film noir

Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.

The Lady from Shanghai poster
The Lady from Shanghai
1947 · dir. Orson Welles
🍅 86%★ 7.5mystery · crime · thriller

Twisty and gritty in the same breath

A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.

Scarface poster
Scarface
1932 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 98%★ 7.7crime · action · drama

Howard Hawks working the same nerve twice

The difference: Trades the twists of The Big Sleep for an angle of its own

In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.

The Maltese Falcon poster
The Maltese Falcon
1941 · dir. John Huston
🍅 99%★ 7.9mystery · crime · thrillerMax

Both are built on the same subject: whodunit

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

High and Low poster
High and Low
1963 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 97%★ 8.4drama · crime · thrillerMax

Common ground: blackmail

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.

Criss Cross poster
Criss Cross
1949 · dir. Robert Siodmak
🍅 86%★ 7.4crime · thriller

Both land tension and atmosphere at once

The difference: Takes it somewhere less twisty than The Big Sleep does

An armored-car guard must join a robbery after being caught with his ex-wife by her gangster husband.

Dark Passage poster
Dark Passage
1947 · dir. Delmer Daves
🍅 90%★ 7.5thriller · mystery

Mystery with a pulse of twists, in both cases

A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try and prove his innocence.

Out of the Past poster
Out of the Past
1947 · dir. Jacques Tourneur
🍅 87%★ 7.9crime · thriller

Gritty crime in both cases

The peaceful life of a gas station owner is disrupted when a man from his past arrives in town and forces him to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

The Big Clock poster
The Big Clock
1948 · dir. John Farrow
🍅 100%★ 7.6crime · thriller

Both are built on the same subject: murder

George Stroud, a crime magazine's crusading editor, has to postpone a vacation with his wife - again - when a glamorous blonde is murdered and he is assigned by his publishing boss to find the killer. As the investigation proceeds to its conclusion, Stroud must try to disrupt his ordinarily brilliant investigative team as they increasingly build evidence that he is the killer.

In the mood for more twisty?

all twisty movies →

The best-reviewed films that share The Big Sleep’s defining feeling.