With its dark, complex plotting, stark black-and-white photography, concentration on the baseness of man, and a cynical mood sustained to its still shockingly grim conclusion, this is the prototypical film noir.
Comment
10/16/07
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
100
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:40
Fresh:40
Rotten:0
Average Rating:9/10
Consensus: Suspenseful, labyrinthine, and brilliantly cast, The Maltese Falcon is one of the most influential noirs -- as well as a showcase for Humphrey Bogart at his finest.
Runtime: 4 hrs 12 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: Hard-drinking private eye Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) sleuths the backyard of San Francisco in search of an elusive black bird statuette while evading the setups of three disparate miscreants: the... [More]
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre
Director: John Huston
Reviews for The Maltese Falcon
Top CriticFilmed almost entirely in interiors, it presents a claustrophobic world animated by betrayal, perversion and pain.
06/24/06
Top CriticThe perfect movie experience.
01/01/00
Top CriticFrighteningly good evidence that the British (Alfred Hitchcock, Carol Reed, et al.) have no monopoly on the technique of making mystery films.
04/23/09
Top CriticThis Spade is no stranger to the guile of shady clients and colorful suspects...
10/26/08
The film is made up almost entirely of talk, and yet the performances are so wonderfully flamboyant and focused that conversations become the action of the movie.
08/22/08
The Maltese Falcon is among the most important and influential movies to emerge from the Hollywood system -- as significant in some ways as its contemporary, Citizen Kane.
06/10/08
This is one of the best examples of actionful and suspenseful melodramatic story telling in cinematic form.
04/08/08
Top CriticPerfect use of the old McGuffin.
01/19/08
Who can argue with Bogart's glower or Mary Astor in her ratty fur?
10/16/07
... part of what makes a film great is its power to obliterate whatever preconceptions we bring to it. There is brittle wit and sparkling harm and a very adult sense of fun present in The Maltese Falcon; it still works as a movie
09/09/07
sharp and jagged... stripped clean
10/11/06
...we're caught up in the pulse of the film, pretty much swept along by its deeds, not even particularly saddened or surprised by the pessimism of its ending.
10/09/06
One of the most brilliant directorial debuts in Hollywood's history, this gem of a movie catapulted Humphrey Bogart to major stardom, offering one of his finest roles (with many memorable lines) as detective Sam Spade.
09/07/06
Bogart became Bogart in John Huston's great first film, a trend-setting, brilliantly cast adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's hardboiled novel ... This was the stuff that dreams -- and Hollywood -- was made of.
06/02/06
No review available.
07/29/05
Best in noir - Best in Bogie - One of the best ever.
04/03/05
No review available.
02/25/05
John Huston's debut is still primo noir.
10/22/04
Now that's some tasty classic noir.
10/15/04
Latest News for The Maltese Falcon
August 27, 2008:
Certified Fresh Picks from the WB Vault
It's the third-oldest American movie studio: the company that brought us Rin Tin Tin, convinced the world that the talkies were here to stay, and eventually grew into one of the... More...
June 22, 2007:
AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time ... Again
Ten years ago the AFI gave us a list of the Top 100 American Films Ever Made -- and when that was done they churned out 15 other lists every few years. And then last night they... More...
April 20, 2006:
Interview With "Brick" Director Rian Johnson
A film noir set at a contemporary high school, "Brick" is a strange, tough little movie, a throwback to the days of Sam Spade that utilizes its young actors to... More...
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