RARA-AVIS: The Maltese Falcon

From: Bludis Jack ( buildsnburns@yahoo.com)
Date: 10 Sep 2004


I just finished rereading "the Malese Falcon" for only the third time--I'm sure that some here have read it many more times.

Here are some of the things tha strike me (Other than the fact that Sam Spade looks like a blond Satan--that gets me every time even though I know it's coming.)

1: The movie follows the story very closely, including many of the same lines by Spade, Gutman, Brigid etc. The actors in the Bogart version did an excellent job portraying the characters on the screen. The movie was cast well.

2: Spade had all the information he needed to solve Miles' murder a few chapters in.

3: The gathering of the cast of characters for the explanation worked in context, maybe because I saw the movie first. But I generally do not like those endings. It didn't hurt that virtually all of the characters were colorful and fully differentiated.

4: Partly because I read some posts on various lists lately, the historic aspects of the Falcon compare with "The Davinci Code," but they are not as important or over-the-top in the other book.

SPOILER ALERT if you haven't read it or seen the movie, but my guess is that just about evrybody here had done one or the other--
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

5: For me, the romance angle didn't hold up. Others have argued that it was quite a personal sacrifice for Spade to turn Bigid over to the police. I had a sense that Spade, like many hardboiled heros through the last 3/4 century, was taking what he could get when it was offered.

6: Some of the same people have argued that the loss of Brigid and the arrest and death of some of Gutman's gang makes the book noir. I disagree. For me, it is just hardboiled.

Jack Bludis

===== Now: "The Big Switch," and "The Deal Killer" September, "Shadow of the Dahlia." "Munchies," Shamus and Anthony nominee, Best Short Story http://www.jackbludis.com

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
  Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 10 Sep 2004 EDT