I don't know where exactly "The Maltese Falcon" falls on the AFI Top 100 films list – wait, let me look – ah, number 23, down a few notches since the original list was published in 1997 – but it is truly one of the great films. There are few films that whip out dialogue like this one.
Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) and his partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan, in his most famous role) are approached by one Miss Wanderly (Mary Astor) to place a tail on a fellow named Floyd Thursby. It is only later that night that Spade is informed of Archer's murder while following Thursby (we find out that Thursby himself had also been killed).
Within a short period Spade meets Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre), a very cool customer - a shady one at that - has several meetings with Miss Wanderly and deals with Archer's widow (with whom Spade has obviously had an affair). It also follows that the police are leaning on Spade for the crimes committed.
Eventually we learn that Cairo has some relationship with a character named Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet in the role of a lifetime) and that all the parties Spade is dealing with are in some manner interested in the whereabouts of a figurine called The Maltese Falcon. This would be a great example of Hitchcock's MacGuffin device.
In true film noir fashion, we are never sure of the motivations of any of the characters. No one appears to be what they say they are, including Miss Wanderly.
I know of no murder, or any other crime, for that matter, that was solved by a detective in my lifetime. But here "The Maltese Falcon" delivers a theme that has been the fodder for literally countless murder mysteries – books, films, radio and TV.
You will hard pressed to find a single movie script that more closely follows the original novel. The dialogue is almost verbatim. At one point in the book Spade goes to John's Grill and has chops. It isn't on the menu anymore, but the restaurant still is a going concern in downtown San Francisco, the setting of this story. That isn't in the movie.
For sheer gritty dialogue, terrific casting and a real mystery to boot you would be well served to make this an addition to your movie studies. It is a true classic. "Citizen Kane" is always touted as film with no flaws; "The Maltese Falcon" has some tiny errors unearthed by students of film (validating this film's importance, of course), but none of them materially affect the movie. Just sit back and watch it unfold.
Four stars.
Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) and his partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan, in his most famous role) are approached by one Miss Wanderly (Mary Astor) to place a tail on a fellow named Floyd Thursby. It is only later that night that Spade is informed of Archer's murder while following Thursby (we find out that Thursby himself had also been killed).
Within a short period Spade meets Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre), a very cool customer - a shady one at that - has several meetings with Miss Wanderly and deals with Archer's widow (with whom Spade has obviously had an affair). It also follows that the police are leaning on Spade for the crimes committed.
Eventually we learn that Cairo has some relationship with a character named Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet in the role of a lifetime) and that all the parties Spade is dealing with are in some manner interested in the whereabouts of a figurine called The Maltese Falcon. This would be a great example of Hitchcock's MacGuffin device.
In true film noir fashion, we are never sure of the motivations of any of the characters. No one appears to be what they say they are, including Miss Wanderly.
I know of no murder, or any other crime, for that matter, that was solved by a detective in my lifetime. But here "The Maltese Falcon" delivers a theme that has been the fodder for literally countless murder mysteries – books, films, radio and TV.
You will hard pressed to find a single movie script that more closely follows the original novel. The dialogue is almost verbatim. At one point in the book Spade goes to John's Grill and has chops. It isn't on the menu anymore, but the restaurant still is a going concern in downtown San Francisco, the setting of this story. That isn't in the movie.
For sheer gritty dialogue, terrific casting and a real mystery to boot you would be well served to make this an addition to your movie studies. It is a true classic. "Citizen Kane" is always touted as film with no flaws; "The Maltese Falcon" has some tiny errors unearthed by students of film (validating this film's importance, of course), but none of them materially affect the movie. Just sit back and watch it unfold.
Four stars.