This is one of the most famous movies ever made. Based on a book the movie was first made in 1931 and later remade in 1941 with Humphrey Bogart playing the detective Sam Spade. Most critics, including Bill Collins, directs us to focus on the characters in the movie because it is the characterization that makes this such a great movie. I agree to a point, but I think the whole issue of the Maltese Falcon makes this such a dark movie.
The book upon which this movie is based is considered to be a change in direction with the way detective stories are made. Edgar Allen Poe was the creator of the detective story and it was developed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but their detectives were intelligent, honourable men. Sam Spade could be seen as one of the first "Down and Out detectives." The author of The Maltese Falcons describes private detectives as police officers who do not like to work with people but rather go it alone. These characters are more crooked and ruthless than police officers. It is no wonder that the police in The Maltese Falcon are somewhat cold towards Sam Spade. Spade works with fellow Detective Miles Archer and the movie opens with a young lady, O'Shannahey, hiring Spade and Archer to trail some guy who has stolen her sister from her. Suddenly Archer is shot and the movie starts into motion.
The Maltese Falcon was a statuette that was stolen by pirates as it was being delivered to the King of Spain and it has supposedly surfaced in San-Fransisco. The movie is not a search for the falcon but rather people all wanting a piece of it. The fat man, who is the villain of the movie, wants the falcon and pays Spade a lot of money to get it. He doesn't want to part with his money and has his gunsel Wilma to dispose of Captain Jacobi and get the falcon.
The harsh parts of the characters are revealed with the Fat Man willing to sell out Wilma, whom he claims to consider a son, to get the Falcon off of Sam Spade. And then there is O'Shannahey, a beautiful young lady who grabs Spade's heart, yet we know that Spade does not truly love this woman as we learn that he is having an affair with Archer's wife. O'Shannahey is not what we expect. At first she comes as an innocent woman who is looking for her sister but we find a web of lies and deceit surrounding her and the more we get entangled in the lies the more sinister O'Shannahey becomes.
Spade is not a hero either, rather he is an anti-hero. He his selfish and cold, ready to betray his partner for a woman, and ready to betray his lover for his reputation. He slaps around Wilma and Cairo, treating them like little children. Spade is an arrogant, self-centered person and would rather look after himself than others.
I think the ending of the Maltese Falcon is brilliant. I am one who looks more at the ending of a movie than the content because it is the ending that we are left with when we leave. The ending of the Maltese Falcon is not happy, nor is it sad. Rather we are just left knowing that life will go on.
The book upon which this movie is based is considered to be a change in direction with the way detective stories are made. Edgar Allen Poe was the creator of the detective story and it was developed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but their detectives were intelligent, honourable men. Sam Spade could be seen as one of the first "Down and Out detectives." The author of The Maltese Falcons describes private detectives as police officers who do not like to work with people but rather go it alone. These characters are more crooked and ruthless than police officers. It is no wonder that the police in The Maltese Falcon are somewhat cold towards Sam Spade. Spade works with fellow Detective Miles Archer and the movie opens with a young lady, O'Shannahey, hiring Spade and Archer to trail some guy who has stolen her sister from her. Suddenly Archer is shot and the movie starts into motion.
The Maltese Falcon was a statuette that was stolen by pirates as it was being delivered to the King of Spain and it has supposedly surfaced in San-Fransisco. The movie is not a search for the falcon but rather people all wanting a piece of it. The fat man, who is the villain of the movie, wants the falcon and pays Spade a lot of money to get it. He doesn't want to part with his money and has his gunsel Wilma to dispose of Captain Jacobi and get the falcon.
The harsh parts of the characters are revealed with the Fat Man willing to sell out Wilma, whom he claims to consider a son, to get the Falcon off of Sam Spade. And then there is O'Shannahey, a beautiful young lady who grabs Spade's heart, yet we know that Spade does not truly love this woman as we learn that he is having an affair with Archer's wife. O'Shannahey is not what we expect. At first she comes as an innocent woman who is looking for her sister but we find a web of lies and deceit surrounding her and the more we get entangled in the lies the more sinister O'Shannahey becomes.
Spade is not a hero either, rather he is an anti-hero. He his selfish and cold, ready to betray his partner for a woman, and ready to betray his lover for his reputation. He slaps around Wilma and Cairo, treating them like little children. Spade is an arrogant, self-centered person and would rather look after himself than others.
I think the ending of the Maltese Falcon is brilliant. I am one who looks more at the ending of a movie than the content because it is the ending that we are left with when we leave. The ending of the Maltese Falcon is not happy, nor is it sad. Rather we are just left knowing that life will go on.