"The Big Sleep", directed by Howard Hawks (1946)

We've just watched this movie for the umpteenth time and it never ceases to entertain. Humphrey Bogart is private eye Philip Marlowe in this adaptation of Raymond Chandler's detective novel, with Lauren Bacall as the female lead. The story is about a blackmail case, and gets more and more complicated as the film progresses, becoming quite difficult to follow - but so what ! The acting and dialogue are superb, very funny at times and always sparkling. The pace never relents, Bacall and Bogart bounce off each other like verbal pingpong balls, and are a delight to watch and listen to. If you do nothing else in 2009, watch this one, it's one of the great movies of all time !