"It's the stuff dreams are made of". As Humphrey Bogart delivers this classic line at the end of the film, bars slam shut, lights go out, and we wonder just what we would do for the promise of our desires. Directed in 1941 and penned by now legendary icon John Huston, The Maltese Falcon is film noir mystery set in San Francisco surrounding a private investigator named Sam Spade(Bogart) and his partner Miles Archer. The film opens with a femme fatale named Brigid O'Shaughnessy(Mary Astor) weaving a tale about a missing sister who's in a trouble with a new beau. Archer is shot and killed while investigating, and Brigid's story comes apart. This is where the movie really takes off and we're in and engaged from thi point. This film has been talked about and reviewed to death so I won't waste time delving into plot points and all the technical tools used that have been the foundation of countless great films. This film is dark, everyone has a play, everyone has an angle, you can't trust anyone, and you've got to keep on your toes. While navigating through this seedy world even the hero, Sam Spade, he's got to play it close to the vest and not show what hand he's got.
Humphrey Bogart is one of the few quintessential icons of the classic movie. Marlon Brando, James Deen, Orson Welles and Humphrey Bogart make up a pretty short list of men that were purely iconic in the way they were and still are perceived by so many. The Maltese Falcon is the best we see of Bogart. As Spade, he is in command, he doesn't take anyone's shit, he's sure of himself in what he needs to do, he has a strong moral compass that doesn't falter even when he's manipulating another character. He's whatever he needs to be in this world, but ultimately never falters from being righteous. Cher chez la femme informs us for what to look for from the start, but nowhere along the way does this deter the excellent performances from Bogart, Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet as Gutman. The film is shot in a tight, claustrophobic manor that adds tension and focused nuance to the plot and overall feel of the film.
Taking in all of the action, performances and technical brilliance behind the whole of the picture it's easy to see why this film has remained a classic among so many seasoned movie watchers. A sense of romance, danger, and dread fill the sets with a wonderful atmosphere and tone while the actors cooly deliver their lines, acting within acting. Mary Astor in playing the femme fatale gives off such desperation, such remorse, she makes you want to believe, even if in doing so you're signing your death warrant. She sings a song that you long to hear, and even as you hear it knowing where it will lead...you're still tempted to follow it, to sing that song too. It's not an unfamiliar feeling to have, to see what's really not there, to see what you want. Beautiful, tragic, haunting, the Maltese Falcon is a great piece of cinema that still stand up 74 years later.
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