The Maltese Falcon

1941’s The Maltese Falcon is rightfully regarded as one of the greatest American films ever made. Many credit it with being the first film noir, that uniquely American genre of movies filled with moody shadows, disillusioned, cynical heroes, femme fatales, and life on the mean streets of crime and corruption. It’s also the film that allowed Humphrey Bogart to escape being typecast in tough guy roles and emerge as a true leading man.

The film was the first to be directed by John Huston, who also wrote the screenplay. Even though the story had already been filmed twice before in the 1930s, Huston felt those versions did not do justice to the novel by Dashiell Hammett on which they were based. Hammett’s novel is a masterpiece of detective fiction—a classic work of American literature; in my view, it’s nearly equal to the best work of Ernest Hemingway in that era. And Huston was more than up to the challenge of vividly bringing Hammett’s words to life. He keeps the artistry and nuances of the novel intact from “fade in” to “fade out”.

In the film, Bogart plays detective Sam Spade, a cynical man who finds himself in a maze of intrigue when his detective partner is murdered while on a job and sets out to find the killer. Before long, he’s caught in a mystery involving a dangerous, colorful cast of characters who are all in pursuit of the Maltese Falcon, a legendary gold, jewel-encrusted statue.

Sam Spade is a dark, fascinating protagonist.

To summarize the serpentine plot is to miss the point. It’s the characters and the cast who are the real gold here. Sam Spade is a dark, fascinating protagonist. Doing his job is what matters most to him, even if it means being cold, dark, and unfeeling to those around him. What a shock he must have been for movie audiences at the time who were used to seeing their heroes portrayed as noble and courageous.  Bogart is terrific in the role! As is the rest of the remarkable cast that includes Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Elisha Cook, Jr, Ward Bond, and the great Sydney Greenstreet, in his first screen role, as Kasper Gutman, “The Fat Man.”

One of the other enduring treats of The Maltese Falcon is Hammett’s dialogue which is hard-boiled to the bone. Such as when Spade bids farewell to a woman he’s made love to and is now sending to prison. He tells her: “I hope they don’t hang you, precious, by that sweet neck. The chances are you’ll get off with life. That means if you’re a good girl, you’ll be out in 20 years. I’ll be waiting for you. But if they hang you, I’ll always remember you.”

The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade are a dynamite four out of four stars combination.