Cinema Sunday: The Maltese Falcon

There are certain movies that are so good, they set the standard for movies to follow.

Today's Cinema Sunday looks to The Maltese Falcon, a 1941 film written and directed by John Huston. 

Every mystery movie about a private detective stands on the foundation laid by The Maltese Falcon.

The femme fatale you know is bad but damn she is so good at it, she looks good, she smells good, she tastes good, she may be wrong but it feels so right? Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessy builds the template for every dangerous dame that ever darkened the dingy door of a diligent detective.

The strange henchman with a lot of quirks that tempts you to not take him seriously but be warned that a gun may fill his hand at any moment, ready to fill your belly with lead? Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo is the Ur example of every such bad guy flunky to follow, the type you underestimate at your peril.

The big boss who speaks as an erudite, civilized man, a person of a congenial, even sensible manner but is ready to do whatever it takes to satisfy his goals? Every such character who followed in other detective stories owes a debt of gratitude to Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman who showed how it is done.

The private eye, hardened and cynical, whose greatest weapons are not guns and fists but his wits and his steely eyed perception? There were private detectives in movies before The Maltese Falcon but Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade shows how to do it right and every movie and TV detective since looks to Bogart's Sam Spade for guidance. 

The movie The Maltese Falcon is ostensibly about... the Maltese Falcon.  

Here is the text from the beginning of the film to explain more about that.

In 1539 the Knight Templars of Malta paid tribute to Charles V of Spain by sending him a Golden Falcon encrusted from beak to claw with rarest jewels.  

But pirates seized the galley carrying this priceless token and the fate of the Maltese Falcon remains a mystery to this day.   

Covered in a heavy lacquer of black enamel, rumors of the Falcon's existence have circulated for centuries. Locating the black bird, Gutman wants it.

Cairo is sent to get it. 

O'Shaughnessy has it and is keeping it from Cairo.

Spade is hired to protect O'Shaughnessy.

That job does not start off well. 

Spade's partner, Miles Archer, is killed while on the case. 

Sam Spade has a client that needs help and a partner that needs avenging and way too much is going on. 

The cops are pestering Spade about Archer's murder. Did he murder his own partner? Was Spade having an affair with Archer's wife? (Well, yes but...)  

It doesn't help Spade's case with the police that he doesn't seem that shaken up about his partner's death. The very next morning after Miles is murdered, Spade orders the sign on the door to be changed from Archer and Spade to Samuel Spade.

Or maybe, the policy wonder, is Spade covering up for his client?

Not that Spade can completely trust his client, whatever the hell O'Shaughnessy is up to.  

Then there's that strange man Joel Cairo hustling Spade to give up the Maltese Falcon.  Spade ain't got it which is true but he can get it (which isn't true... well, not yet.)  

Then Gutman intervenes to put pressure on Sam Spade personally to produce the Maltese Falcon.  He tells him the story of it's origins and it's immeasurable value, a falcon statue covered in gold and precious gems.  

Once more, Spade admits he ain't got it (true) but he can get it (not quite).

Spade is dancing as fast as he can to get a step ahead of these guys even as he's playing catch up.

Whatever value the Maltese Falcon is supposed to have, I like that Sam Space habitually refers to this artifact as "the dingus". 

I'm not going to unravel this twisted web of deceit and treachery for you here. Suffice to say that virtually nobody gets what they want. 

From beginning to end, The Maltese Falcon delivers a taut mystery expertly told with a tight script and dazzling performances from a troupe of actors at the top of their game. 

Don't just take my word for it. 

After it's release in October 1941, The Maltese Falcon was nominated for three Academy Awards.

The Maltese Falcon was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress to be included in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert cited the film in his series The Great Movies.

In 1941, Variety called it "one of the best examples of action and suspenseful melodramatic story telling in cinematic form."

Upon its release, Bosley Crowther described it as "the best mystery thriller of the year".  

For a more modern assessment, Rotten Tomatoes reports The Maltese Falcon holds an approval rating of 100% based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 9.10/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Suspenseful, labyrinthine, and brilliantly cast, The Maltese Falcon is one of the most influential noirs—as well as a showcase for Humphrey Bogart."   

My wife Andrea is more inclined to movies of a more comedic, romantic, musical nature but she was thoroughly impressed when I introduced her to The Maltese Falcon. 

Almost every film and television show doing any variation of the private detective mystery story, whether as a homage or a parody, from 1941, over 80 years,  The Maltese Falcon continues to exert a powerful influence.