Movie for March 2008

The Maltese Falcon
Come on, man. You knew I’d bring this one to the front of the list sooner or later. This is arguably the gold standard for film noir…gritty, unhappy, everyone has a motive, and everyone is flawed (hopelessly so).

Humphrey Bogart is Sam Spade, the detective to rival all detectives, in this dark mystery. And no one could have pulled it off like Bogie. With his dark looks, his tough but wiry frame, and his overly expressive eyes, Bogart brings the tortured soul of Sam Spade to life.

It’s the story of a bird…or the quest for one…and the mystery surrounding the deaths surrounding the bird that Spade must unravel. There are plenty of twists and turns, most of them manipulated by the silver screen’s first femme fatale, Brigid O’Shaughnessy (played by Mary Astor), who has no less than three (count them, THREE) names in the movie. Talk about trouble…

When Sam’s partner, Miles Archer is murdered after being hired by Brigid, the cops think Spade may have had a hand in it. After all, Sam was boinking Mrs. Miles Archer, so who had better motive? Hmmm. Guess you’ll have to watch and see.

Is there a happy ending? Hell no. This is NOIR, remember. This film was directed by John Huston (his directorial debut). The original book was written by Dashiell Hammett.

This isn’t my favorite film, but it is an important picture. Spade set the standard for all noir…anything aspiring to be noir came from this movie. Can you disagree with me? Of course you can. But you’d be wrong.

And now, you want to know whether to rent or buy. Buy it. This is it. This is THE movie that started it all, baby. Don’t let it pass you by.