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It's San Francisco, 1928, and Sam Spade is a wisecracking, womanizing Private Investigator. Missing husbands and unfaithful wives are his usual stock-in-trade, but when the beautifully distressed Miss Wonderley calls he gets involved in a dangerous caper most people would run a mile from. Miss Wonderley asks Sam's partner, Miles Archer, to shadow Floyd Thursby, whom she maintains has kidnapped her sister. But then Archer is shot dead, and Miss Wonderley's story turns out to be a lie - just like her name, which is actually Brigid O'Shaughnessy. And Miss O'Shaughnessy keeps on lying. But one thing's for sure: she does know about the Maltese Falcon, an ancient statuette which has attracted more than one interested party. With a bunch of heavies at his elbow and the police on his tail, Sam needs to think fast if he's to outlive the person who killed his partner...Tom Wilkinson, Jane Lapotaire, Peter Vaughan and Nickolas Grace star in this stylish dramatization of Dashiell Hammett's classic detective story.
About the Author
B.1894, d.1961. After spells as newsboy, freight clerk, labourer, messenger, stevedore and advertising manager, Hammett became an operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. His experiences as a private detective laid the foundation for his writing career.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Legendary Novel,
By
This review is from: The Maltese Falcon (Crime Masterworks) (Paperback)
Although several of his novels have considerable merit, Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) will be best remembered for a single work: THE MALTESE FALCON.Perhaps the single most extraordinary thing about the novel is its radical departure from the norm. In the 1920s and early 1930s, detective novels were not really considered "literary;" they were light entertainment, and they generally came in two varieties: pure pulp, which was more akin to action-adventure, and "the master detective" as created by such authors as Agatha Christie. In one fell swoop, however, Hammett not only fused these two ideas but also endowed his novel with tremendous literary style--more than enough to catch the eye of "serious" critics and more than enough to stand the test of time. THE MALTESE FALCON is not a long novel, but Hammett packs a lot into it. The plot, which generally concerns the theft of a priceless, jewel-encrusted statue, walks a fine line between pulp mythology and modern pragmatism, never veering too far in either direction to seem impossible; the prose is lean and clean and packed with detail conveyed both simply and sharply; the characters stand out in a sort of high relief on the page. It is all memorable stuff. It is difficult to discuss THE MALTESE FALCON without reference to the famous 1941 film version starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor. The film has been both a blessing and a curse, so famous that it has drawn thousands of readers to the novel, but so widely seen that it can become difficult to read the novel without seeing it through the lens of the film. But while the film presents the plot and much of Hammett's dialogue intact, readers will find the novel has somewhat different strengths--not the least of which is Hammett's prose itself. An essential of 20th Century American literature; strongly recommended. GFT, Amazon Reviewer
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Dead gamblers don't have any friends." (Sam Spade),
By
This review is from: The Maltese Falcon (Crime Masterworks) (Paperback)
This novel is perhaps the mother of the hard-boiled genre. Hammett, a former Pinkerton detective in San Francisco, began his writing career with short stories for pulp magazines and his eight years as a Pinkerton operative enabled him to give authenticity to his stories. Cool, tough, and hard-boiled in attitude, his style resembles that of early Hemingway with spare, realistic dialogue, although any direct influence of either writer on the other is very unlikely. Hammett's stories appeared regularly in Black Mask, the best of the pulp magazines, he also learned his craft. Hammett took murder out of the settings of polite society and put it into a corrupt urban environment (political and otherwise), where, as his follower Raymond Chandler, famously said, he gave it "back to the people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse."
With The Maltese Falcon (1930), one of the most famous detectives in American literature was born - Sam Spade. He is the ultimate hard-boiled dick and his most notable quality is his absolute adherence to a private code of ethics. He is idealistic, if not honest, and breaks the law frequently, but usually to bring a criminal to justice. He is able to laugh at loaded guns, cops, gangsters, politicians, and seductive women, he is so hard-boiled, you could roll him up and down Nob Hill. Like any good private-eye yarn, the novel opens with a dame walking into a gumshoe's office. The gumshoe, of course, is Sam Spade and the dame is Brigid O'Shaughnessy, a statuesque lovely masquerading as a Miss Wonderly. Almost immediately, his partner, Miles Archer, gets killed. Spade hated him and has been having an affair with his wife, but feels duty-bound to find his killer. He becomes involved with an odd assortment of characters, each searching for a falcon statue from Malta that is encrusted with a fortune in gems. As a hard-boiled sleuth, Spade expresses Hammett's radical worldview. His mistrust of virtually all those around him, his cynicism about any code other than the one he has crafted - these are the traits necessary if one is to function successfully in a dangerous, threatening, and fundamentally corrupt world. The novel was filmed no less than three times in ten years. The first version was released in 1931 by Roy del Ruth, starring Ricardo Cortez, Bebe Daniels and a remarkable Dudley Digges. The New York Times called it "The best mystery thriller of the year." Yet, it was the third version (1941) that put the Malteses Falcon on the map and became an American classic, directed by John Huston and featuring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. It shows the difference between excellence and brilliance, it follows closely the novel and the cast is perfection. The film is so skillfully constructed and admirably photographed that after many years and many viewings, it has the same brittle explosiveness - and some of the same surprise - that it had in 1941.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sam Spade is as good as it gets,
This review is from: The Maltese Falcon (Read a Great Movie) (Paperback)
Sam Spade arrived on the scene in 1930 with a vitality and directness that remains fresh and convincing today. An ex-cop, Spade brought with him all the essential traits that came to characterise the genre of American private detectives for the next fifty years; bull-headed, independent, tough, knows his way around town, is on first-name terms with bell-hops and hotel security managers, has friends and enemies in the force, he's a wise-cracking, fast-thinking ladies-man who never gives up on a lost cause.
The story begins at the office of Spade and Archer, private investigators; Sam is there with Effie Perrine, secretary, PA and one of the three women in the story. Effie enters Spade's inner sanctum and announces there is a girl by the name of Wonderly asking to see him. `A customer?' `I guess so. You'll want to see her anyway; she's a knockout'. `Shoo her in, darling,' said Spade, `Shoo her in'. Thus begins the escapade of the search for the black bird, involving murder and intrigue, double-cross and romance and no-one being quite who they claim to be. Hammett has a fun time with names. He gives Spade his own first name, which he dropped early on in his career, Joel Cairo is the Levantine and Casper Gutman, most appropriately, is the fat man. But it is in building the character and nature of Sam Spade that Hammett first shows his true skill in capturing the reader. Long before we begin to understand the tale that has led the cast to this point, we are completely on board with Spade, as he nonchalantly rolls another cigarette and we await whatever may happen or he may do next. And it is Spade that carries the story throughout, as he moves from one relationship to another, whether it is his partner's wife or ex-colleagues in the force, or someone he meets for the first time. Spade is always one thought or one step ahead. Los Angeles of 1930 is there in the background; Hammett probably took that for granted, as would his contemporary readership, where everyone carried a gun, it seems, and quite a few people got shot with them. But here for the first time is a rebel on the side of the law who is always one step ahead of the regular cops and who also seems to have a higher moral code than they do. People matter to Spade, not just results; that, and his one vulnerability, namely women, ensure that Sam Spade is a character we want to meet again. Great writing, fast-moving plot and characterisation of the highest quality. Enjoy.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
As others say, a classic.
Like most readers, I watched the film before I read the book. Maybe this is why I enjoyed it so much - I could precisely picture Bogie, Astor, Lorre and Greenstreet in the roles...
Published 4 months ago by Snowman
4.0 out of 5 stars
in context
This is of course a legendary book but I have only just read it now, although I have read thousands of thrillers over the years.
Published 7 months ago by Ramses
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Maltese Falcon Soars
The Maltese Falcon well deserves its place in history as a classic hardboiled novel. The main character, Sam Spade, is a loveable rogue that the audience can't tire of trying to...
Published 11 months ago by S. Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant - and not for men only!
All the other reviewers seem to be male - but as a female reader, I'd like to add that this book is terrific. Even better than the film ...
Published 17 months ago by booksetc
5.0 out of 5 stars
As good as it gets
If you like crime writing of any sort then look no further. This is the pinnacle, this is as good as it gets.
Published 21 months ago by Officer Dibble
3.0 out of 5 stars
Colourful Characters!
And how! The danger in describing characters in great detail is that the reader picks up quite the wrong picture.
Published 22 months ago by Yellow Duck
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect plot perfectly executed
All the plaudits handed to this tersely- written book and the film it gave rise to are well deserved.
Published on 16 Oct 2006 by J. R. Moss
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet dreams are made of these
who am I to disagree? Dashiell Hammett was an extraordinary writer. His short stories and novels gave birth to the concept of the `hard-boiled detective'.
Published on 30 Jan 2006 by Leonard Fleisig
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Genre Defining Novel
It's a normal afternoon when a beautiful woman walks into the private eye office of Sam Spade and his partner Miles Archer.
Published on 11 Jan 2006 by Mark Baker
5.0 out of 5 stars
just as good as the john houston film
I'm keeping this short and sweet. This is one great production that keeps true to the original novel and might actually be better the 1941 film (don't get me wrong, I love the...
Published on 7 Dec 2004 by Jason Platt
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