The Maltese Falcon
1941 100m Warner Bros.

THE MALTESE FALCON established a new, tougher, more sophisticated detective genre. Made in 1941, it is the single most important prototype of the hard-boiled detective movie that would flourish for the next 15 years. Told from the point of view of antihero, private eye Sam Spade, the film is about the search for the Black Bird, the stuff that dreams are made of. The film, based on a Dashiell Hammett novel, is filled with some of the most memorable actors of the day. There is the legendary Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade and Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessy. Peter Lorre plays the unforgettable Joel Cairo and Sydney Greenstreet plays Kasper Gutman, the Fat Man (the two actors would be reunited with Bogart in CASABLANCA). Another great performance is delivered by Elisha Cook Jr. as Wilmer, a disturbed young gunzel, who went on to play similar characters in films like the I WAKE UP SCREAMING, SHANE and Stanley Kubrick's THE KILLING. THE MALTESE FALCON was the first film directed by a young screenwriter named John Huston. The movie revealed the surprisingly assured hand of its novice director who would go on to direct films such as TREASURE OF THE SEIRRA MADRE, THE AFRICAN QUEEN, MODY DICK, THE MISFITS, THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING and PRIZZI'S HONOR to name a few.

Memorable Lines

I haven't lived a good life, I've been bad, worse then you could know
Ms. O' Shaughnessy


I tell you right out, I'm a man, who likes talking to a man, who likes to talk
Mr. Gutman


You imbecile, you bloated idiot, you stupid fat head!
Joel Cairo


When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it!
Sam Spade

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