Just watched this for the first time. I found it to be really tedious to keep up with all the details, and overall the movie was a bit like doing homework. Certainly a very well made film but I felt like the story was too complex for its own good.
shareI found it confusing on my very first viewing, but, and this may sound strange, I liked it because it was confusing.
It's really not all that confusing once you understand the basic plot, though. There is a lot of deception and murder and characters, but once I got in it and became used to the quick dialogue I never felt it was homework.
Exactly as Jwink says...and remember, Mary Astor lies every time she opens her mouth. So don't let her confuse you. Cairo wants to "buy" the falcon...if $$ every changed hands it might be a miracle. But he steals and manipulates while Brigid LIES and LIES. I found that I believed her too much--after she was caught in a lie, I thought she'd tell the truth, but she just switches gears to another lie. So don't believe her. The story clears up 65%!
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This movie is overrated (very) because Bogart, Huston, and Hammett (who also created Nick and Nora of the Thin Man) are all very respected people. Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, now there's an actually great movie. This script makes no sense. (An excuse is that it has a deliberately unrealistic perspective, but if so Detour 1945 did that effect successfully and this movie does it unsuccessfully.) Astor and Bogie don't have plausible chemistry (or almost any chemistry), no matter how you look at how they might really feel about each other. Bogie is sometimes talking slow and sometimes talking fast because he got a note part way through shooting that Spade should talk fast. Of course Greenstreet is majestic, Bogie delivers the "I won't be a sap" line perfectly, etc., but the movie as a whole doesn't work. I've watched it three times in three different decades and unfortunately that's just how it is.
shareYou're right it doesn't work . . . but it does.
I agree - I've watched this movie plenty over the decades. It is soooo hard in these noir movies to figure out what the hell is going on because everyone's lying all the time. I can't keep up with Astor's lie upon lie upon lie. In that sense it doesn't work. It's just too complicated for it's own good, and trying to figure out what the hell is going on with Astor is impossible.
So why do I keep coming back? Because of what you said - Bogart, Huston, Hammett, and don't leave out Greenstreet, Lorre, and yes, even Cook. It's the dialogue, it's the patter, it's the rhythm of that patter, these are all masters working at their craft and doing incredibly with it.
I can understand a dislike for Astor's performance; but I happen to fall on the other side and like her. It's trying to figure out her lies, to see what's going on, if there's anything there but a lying, cheating, heartless, manipulative little . . . well, you know.
I find that even though the movie is impossible - it's "wild and unpredictable" - that that is just what I like about it. I can't ever figure it out.
Ever see Marathon Man? It took me half a dozen viewings to finally figure out that there's no there there - just like here. But that doesn't mean that it's a bad flick. I still love it. It tries to be deep, it actually isn't, and it sucks you in and brings you along for the ride anyway. Why? Because of the performances. Because of the classic, iconic scenes. Maltese Falcon is no different.
Just my two cents. What do you think?
I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.
"don't leave out Greenstreet" If you'd read the whole thing you'd know I didn't. I like patter as much as the next person but when Bogie changes up Spade's style of patter randomly, that's distracting and doesn't paint a picture of Spade as... who knows who.
"figure out what the hell is going on" The issue isn't that something that makes sense is really going on but it's difficult to see what that is on first viewing. I like puzzles. The issue is that there isn't anything that makes sense that's really going on. Now, in Detour that's because the "hero" is an unreliable crazy louse and you realize at some point that the picture is him trying to remember what happened but he can't because he's crazy. Is that our excuse for Spade, is he evil and crazy and unreliable and this movie's presented from his confused perspective?
I've known some habitual liars personally very well. There are many movies in which there are habitual liars and we understand fine that they are habitual liars and we think the actor acted well. In this movie we pick up that she lies a lot, but the combination of her acting and Huston's weird script doesn't make her believable as acting the way habitual liars act.