Why is spade so indifferent when hearing his partner is killed? - The Maltese Falcon (1941) Discussion

[–] heyuactor 11 years ago

He's hard boiled and didn't really care about his partner. But he does change a bit at the end.

"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.

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[–] ridge-m-1 10 years ago

Spade did not change. His code of honor remains intact throughout the picture.

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[–] heyuactor 10 years ago

*Spoiler*

My feeling when I see the end is that he changed, subtly. Could be just my imagination, but he sent her up because she did what he hadn't cared much about at first, and his stated reasons were just a mask for his true (evolved) feelings.

http://t.co/hLhJGkXy
"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.

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[–] thesnowleopard 9 years ago

I think Spade's personal code is the key here. No, he doesn't like Archer, nor is Archer very likeable. It's been a while since I read the book, but as I recall, it's even more explicit about what a rotter Archer is--a cheating, sloppy, dumb louse who doesn't exactly carry his own weight in the partnership. So, no, Spade doesn't like him. Nobody does.

But it's the very impersonal nature of Spade's relationship with Archer that highlights his personal moral code. He doesn't solve Archer's murder and get justice for him because they were friends. They weren't. He does it because it's the right thing to do and straying from that path gets you killed (the same lesson as Double Indemnity, really, but in that case, the Hero chooses wrong). Justice is for everyone, not just nice people or your friends, or it's not really justice.

I've heard that both Hammett's Spade and Chandler's Marlowe were written as knights errant, which makes The Maltese Falcon an early noir version of a Grail quest. Spade as the Knight encounters and contends with failed Grail seekers along the way, along with La Belle Dame Sans Merci (Brigid, the Femme Fatale). She is his most dangerous adversary because she offers him the false promise of what he wants the most and he must not take it. I think the most critical thing to keep in mind here is that Spade is a very lonely man, hence why what Brigid promises is so tempting.

Hammett first does an even more explicit version of this conflict in two of his Continental Op stories. The Op encounters a young, bob-haired gun moll who is hard as ice, a stone-cold psychopath. She escapes at the end of the story and reappears later on, with hair extensions and having perfected her Deadly Female act. Even knowing full well what she is like, he very nearly lets her go. She finally drops the act and calls him something very nasty, coyly whispering it in his ear, as she's led off by the police.

The Spade version is much more subtle and lets the reader/viewer decide, but I think the OP version gives us what Hammett thought about it.

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[–] mariusar 9 years ago

Just re-watched Maltese again for the first time in many years - what a brilliant film classic indeed.

@thesnowleopard: Thanks for one of the most insightful posts on this film that I have seen. :)

I could not agree more with your assessment of Spade's personal "moral code".

cheers,
-mariusar

--
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."

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[–] Marion_C 11 years ago

Same question. To just move on with the plot/bad character writing?

"MALLL NOOO, JESUS CHRIST!" - Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception

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[–] talisencrw 10 years ago

I wouldn't say 'bad' character writing. If you were going to be a successful detective and stay alive at it, you had to definitely always be in control of your emotions. Keeping that in mind, plus him saying disparaging remarks about Archer and being quite cozy with his widow, it all shows he was precisely in character not showing much emotion for his partner being killed. In place of emotion, his wheels were always turning, trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle in place.

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[–] josephnatescott 9 years ago

Bad character writing (as adapted by Huston) or bad acting, take your pick. Glaringly strange that this guy has virtually no emotions about an apparently pleasant guy (in the movie) whose wife he was sleeping with dying. Unless he's literally a psychopath, but then the "I won't be a sap" issue wouldn't even be seriously on his mind. Far from the only problem in this overrated movie.

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[–] franzkabuki 11 years ago

Spade wasn`t exactly what you would call a man of great empathy.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

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[–] greenbudgie 11 years ago

Sam Spade is out for himself and his own safety first and foremost. He never takes his eye off the ball. He is always going to be seen as uncaring. Even the Falcon femme fatale was never going to get the better of him. If somebody dies he just moves on immediately.

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[–] kinglet 11 years ago

Dashiell Hammett wrote Sam Spade as a hardened survivor. He didn't respect Archer very much as a man, hence the adultery with Archer's wife, but found him an adequate partner. Keep in mind who Spade first sees at the scene of the murder - it's a cop. He's already hoping to avenge Archer but he's not about to let anyone else see that, especially anyone in law enforcement. But in the end we see how disturbed Spade was all along; he notes that Archer was his partner and you're supposed to care about your partner. He cared enough to get completely involved in the mystery surrounding Archer's murder and dumped the woman he was most attracted to, Mary Astor, right into the arms of the law.

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[–] kenny-164 11 years ago

SPOILERS

kinglet,

While you correctly notice that Spade gets completely involved, that does not mean he cared for Archer as a person. His lack of sorrow over Archer's death was not limited to the face he showed the police at the murder scene. He was also very matter of fact in telling Effie and in instructing her to take Archer's name off the windows and door glass.

His apparently ongoing affair with Mrs. Archer is also rather instructive. It would have told us something else if we felt he was in love with her; clearly he was not. In other words it was not like he could not help himself, that love made him do it. So why did he? He might have found someone else if he had some respect for Archer. I am not saying he had his affair with her purely out of disrespect. But he did not have enough respect, apparently, to have discouraged him. Geez, she wasn't even that good looking.

The backstory of Spade's partnership with Archer is not established, but one can guess. Share the rent. Archer can go do some jobs while Spade does others. WHo knows what other reasons he may have had? It's not the point. but once Archer was killed, Spade realized it looked bad that someone who killed his partner was walking around free.

But that's nothing compared ot the fact that the police lieutenant thinks that Spade looks like a suspect in Archer's death. Now THAT was plenty of reason enough for Spade to get involved.

I also think he was intrigued by Miss O'Shaugnessy, or course, more so as time went by. and eventually by the story about the falcon.

In short it had next to nothing to do with caring about Miles Archer.

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[–] ck1-5 11 years ago

Spade as much as tells Astor's character why he's turning her over to the law...something to the effect of, "When your partner's killed, you're supposed to do something about it, and if you don't, it's bad for every private investigator out there". In other words, if he hadn't bothered to avenge his partner's death, he would have been viewed as weak and ineffective....not something that brings in more business. If he can't even take care of his own problems, how can potential customers expect him to take care of theirs?

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[–] mdonln 10 years ago

Spade as much as tells Astor's character why he's turning her over to the law...something to the effect of, "When your partner's killed, you're supposed to do something about it, and if you don't, it's bad for every private investigator out there". In other words, if he hadn't bothered to avenge his partner's death, he would have been viewed as weak and ineffective....not something that brings in more business. If he can't even take care of his own problems, how can potential customers expect him to take care of theirs?

I agree with this assessment; it's how it's laid out in the movie. However, that's not all he says. Sam gives Brigid several other reasons for turning her in that have little, if anything, to do with wanting to avenge Archer's murder.

He tells her:

- she's been lying to him from the start and the whole time he's known her (can't trust her);
- if he doesn't turn her in, she'll have something she can hold over him (she may turn on him);
- he'll have something on her so she may decide to 'plug him' one day (she may kill him);
- she may say she loves him but, like all the other guys in her life prior to him, when she sees fit she'll double-cross him too (out for herself);
- whether or not he loves her, he knows she's using him and as much as he might want to let her off the hook, he's not going to play into her hands and be her sap (she's manipulative);
- (in response to her asking him), if the statuette had been real and they'd gotten a lot of money for producing it, that windfall would be 'one more thing on her side' (the money might have swayed him because she might have had enough to stop chasing the object of her greed).

What all this means to me is Sam's a very calculating person. He systematically sorts then weighs all the pros and cons before making up his mind. He doesn't decide what to do based on gut feelings. He'll ask his secretary what her gut tells her but he's more measured; more methodical. Unfortunately for Brigid, she came up short on the pro side so he'll have to turn her over to the police.

This way of weighing the 'evidence'; the pros and cons, must help Sam in the line of work he's in. He has to maintain some level of objectivity. If he let's his emotions control him or goes with his gut, he'll end up like Asher. Asher was a good detective but he got duped because he let his fondness for women, Brigid in particular, blind him.

If Sam operated like Archer he would have fallen for Brigid's lies and would fail to solve that (or any) case. Sam's secretary also had a positive gut feeling about Brigid but we know she too was wrong. Sam cares a great deal for Brigid but he knows if he goes with what he feels he'll make a mistake. She's committed the crime now she's going to have to pay.

Besides, Sam's suspected of killing Asher. If he doesn't present the person who actually killed him, he's the one who'll get the rap. Gutman warned Sam that Brigid is dangerous. He must know she won't stop at one murder. If he lets her go it will continue. The Maltese Falcon has not yet been found. All the players are as greedy and eager to get their hands on it as before. He's turned all the others in and they were picked up and arrested. Brigid is the only one left who knows about this relic. Whether it's real or not, as before, she'll be willing to plot, scheme, and even kill to get it. That has to stop.

So yes, Sam is avenging Archer in a way but, as he tells Brigid, it's far more than that. He's a detective, as was Archer. The detective's unwritten rule requires that they not let the death of anyone working at a firm go unanswered. He knows it but his feelings for Archer and Brigid complicate matters.

He wasn't a big fan of Archer (he cheated with his wife, didn't think he was very bright and may have caused his own death) and cares a great deal for Brigid (he's attracted to and may even love her, is willing to wait twenty years for her, will have some difficulty sleeping because of her). To do the right thing, he has to fight his gut and emotions and stay objective.

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[–] Nikostratos 10 years ago

I agree with most of what you said, except this:

"Besides, Sam's suspected of killing Asher. If he doesn't present the person who actually killed him, he's the one who'll get the rap"

This is clearly not the case, since Thursby was probably suspected of killing Archer. Sam was suspected of killing Thursby in retaliation, but the police would have presumably gotten a confession from Wilmer, the real killer.

So yeah, Sam could have turned the other cheek and pretended that Brigid did not kill Archer, but his conscience prevented him from doing so.

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[–] mdonln 10 years ago

I said this almost in passing. As I said I think Sam weighed the pros and cons and decided there's no way he could let Brigid walk. Whatever he felt for her, she had killed his partner and had to pay for that. She was also more than capable of one day using it against him or killing him.

I don't remember every detail of the movie but from what I recall when everyone entered that room Sam was still the police's suspect for Archer's murder. He wasn't sure who had killed him and was trying to figure it out. At one point he refers to three murders and he's immediately corrected. Cairo, I believe, says there are only two murders. Everyone else there thought Thursby killed Archer.

At that moment Sam knows it's Brigid doing because, as he explains later, Archer was savvy enough not to let the guy he's tailing get to him especially that soon after starting to tail him. He knew Brigid was the only one Archer would have trusted enough to allow to get that close; close enough to shoot him.

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[–] doug65oh 10 years ago

This might be the key dialogue you have in mind - from Spade: “Miles hadn't many brains but he'd had too many years’ experience as a detective to be caught like that by a man he was shadowing up a blind alley with his gun in his hip and his overcoat buttoned. But he'd have gone up there with you, angel. He was just dumb enough for that! He would have looked you up and down and licked his lips and gone, grinning from ear to ear.”

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[–] mdonln 10 years ago

Yes, that’s it. Thanks for sharing. But, please don’t tell me you had it committed to memory and can recite the entire movie.

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[–] doug65oh 10 years ago

Oh...hell no! I remembered a small snippet of dialogue exactly and started with that, found the whole thing via a Google search! 

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[–] mdonln 10 years ago

lol - I'm sure there are some people out there who know every word. I'm glad to hear you have a life!

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[–] antonio_bettencourt 11 years ago

It's been a while since I've seen the movie and read the book (read it! It's fantastic) but as I recall it from both, Archer was a bit of a sleaze, cheating on and neglecting his wife, a skirt chaser. Spade didn't respect him because of that. His affair with Archer's wife basically came about out of pity for her.

Spade also wasn't inclined to give in to sadness. He had work to do. He had a professional respect for his partner that required he take strong action. No time for moping.

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[–] sherlock-37 11 years ago

Good point. I was re-watching the film and I just picked that up.

SPOILER

Part of the reason is that the reveal of Miles's killer, the lady O'Shaughnessy, happens at the end of the film. If the focus right at the beginning of the movie was who killed Miles, it would soon lead to suspicions of O'Shaughnessy, and that would spoil the surprise.

Also, part of the character of Spade was he kept his cards close to his vest.

Also, it might just have been how the scene was directed. No reaction. Spade is a tough guy. But the surprise at the end shows that he really did care about his partner, at least in a professional way - as soldiers on opposing sides can have some respect for each other at times.

My accountant says, "1 + 1, 40% of the time, equals divorce".

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[–] jdreck 11 years ago

He's a hard-boiled detective, probably in business with Archer out of necessity to share work load and expenses, and the fact that Sam's having an affair with his wife should shed some light on things.

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