I always wondered how much of Leigh Brackett's original script was used. Since ALtman has a reputation of rewriting. I have not seen it in 20 years. Bracket worked on The Big Sleep and other Hawks films like Rio Bravo and she did The Empire Strikes Back.
shareYeah, I was wondering that, myself. A good book to look up is "The Big Book of Noir." It's not the greatest title in the world, no. But it has some really great interviews with some excellent pulp writers. Leigh Brackett has a three or four page essay which she outlines the process of writing The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. It's an excellent read. The impression I got from Brackett was that the main structure of her script was filmed. But ... knowing Altman and his perchant for improv ... most of the dialogue was probably changed. She didn't seem at all disheartened by the final result. I think she died shortly after the movie was made. Too bad. Brackett was, I dare say, a genius storyteller.
shareShe died in 1978 after completing a first draft of The Empire Strikes Back.
I think both Big Sleep and Long Goodbye follow the original novels reasonably closely.