A classic starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor, The Maltese Falcon is film noir at its finest and just a fine movie. All actors are cast perfectly and create the stereotypes for all future detective movies. This is one of the few movies that is made in the 1940's that you can still rent at the video store and buy, and if you are any kind of a movie person, this should be included in you collection.

The story is about a detective named Sam Spade, played by famous Hollywood tough guy, Humphrey Bogart (African Queen, Casablanca,) who has to solve the murder of his partner while protecting the women who has hired them, Brigid O'Shaughnessy, played by Mary Astor (Hush, Hush,…Sweet Charlotte.) While trying to figure out why his partner was killed, Spade is approached by Joel Cairo, played by another Hollywood legend, Peter Lorre (Casablanca,) who offers Spade $5000 for a statue of a bird. This leads Spade to meet the fatman, Kasper Gutman, played by yet another legend Sydney Greenstreet (Casablanca,) who explains how the statute is a jewel incrusted Falcon created hundred's of years ago. So a cat and mouse game starts between them in order to get the falcon and figure out who committed the murder.

The movie is ahead of its time in terms of style and direction. Director John Huston, who directed such movies as "The African Queen," the original "Moulin Rouge," and "Prizzi's Honor," made his directorial debut for "The Maltese Falcon." His use of light a shadow in the simple sets that they had in the 1940's, before special effects of any kind, made the movie. Also his casting of these people, especially Greenstreet, who made his debut in this movie, was also brilliant.

If there is a weakness in the movie, it's the script. By today's standard the writing is cheesy, the one-liners are mediocre and it's very sexiest. But for 1940 standards these details are ignored and you should ignore them too. Huston wrote the script, but it was written almost line for line and scene for scene. So for me it could be the book written by Dashiell Hammett, who has also written The Thin Man. But I would assume again for this time period this kind of story was acceptable, and he did create some great characters.

I was first introduced to these characters in the 1970's by watching Saturday morning cartoons, primarily Bugs Bunny and Warner Brothers. Peter Lorre's character is seen repeatedly in cartoons as well as Greenstreet and Bogart, which quite possibly shows the influence the movie had on the culture the following 20 years.

This is a movie that should be in your collection as well. During this time in Hollywood, movies were produced almost like an assembly line where a director would do four or five movies a year. This movie took two months to do and that is a lifetime during the 40's. Please see this movie and add it to your collection, you will see the impact the movie had in the years to come.

Brian - the Naked Gun