The gold standard for caper films and the ultimate noir

The incomparable John Huston advanced his creation of the American noir (The Maltese Falcon) to it's zenith with this masterpiece. He used the greatest collection of character actors ever assembled along with the absense of a big name lead to make both the greatest caper film and most evolved noir. TAJ spawned other top notch caper films like "The Killing", "Seven Thieves" and "The Thomas Crown Affair". This film was the first one to tell the story of the committing of a crime entirley from the viewpoint of the criminals while allowing the audience a chance to really get to know them as people. Huston also co-wrote the screenplay of this magnificent film which gets better which each viewing.