Maltese Falcon, The

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Summary

A good film and well worth watching. Interesting as both a period piece and a movie. To be honest, though, I don't think it holds up as well as others. Or maybe it's just not exactly to my taste.

Notes and Details

If this were a modern story, it would be a lot slicker. The motivations, planning, and interactions would have been a lot cleaner. In some ways, the gritty approach is good to see. A bit of bungling makes it a bit more real.

My problem with the movie is that it seems a bit sloppy at some points. People do things, and they have reasons, but the reasons seem rather thin... like Okay, I hear what you're saying, but there are far simpler and more direct ways to achieve those ends.

That's not really a killer though, because the movie is only half plot driven. It's really more of a character driven film.

Spoilers ahead.

There's a problem there too, though. The attraction between Sam Spade and Brigid O'Shaughnessy is more than questionable. In fact, I see no basis for it whatsoever beyond the character's own statements, which are undercut by all their other actions and so conflicted it makes no sense whatsoever.