MovieChat Forums > Murder by Death (1976) Discussion > Was Sam Diamond a spoof of Rick Blaine?

Was Sam Diamond a spoof of Rick Blaine?

posted 19 years ago by TurboSunlight
9 replies | jump to latest

There seem to be many similarities between Peter Falk's character (Sam Diamond) and the character of Rick Blaine (played by Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca").

Sam Diamond smoked in the film and wore the hat and trench coat at one point (similar to Rick Blaine). Later in the film, he was seen wearing the white suit. Sam Diamond's character many times was a bit crass like that of Rick Blaine.

Sam Diamond's character spoke with a bit of a lisp/impediment like Bogart.

Sam Diamond told the woman in the car about having a girl that ran away from him and later the Germans marched into France.

If anyone agrees or can think of some more similarities, please respond.

"Of all the gin joints, in all the cities, in all the world, why'd she have to pick mine?"

[–] Mr_Wentworth-Brewster 19 years ago

Sam Diamond is primarily a spoof of Sam Spade, another Bogie's character, from The Maltese Falcon. There were some clear referrences to Casablanca, but it's Sam Spade - if not for other reasons, just for the name;oD!

"Life is full of censorship. I can't spit in your eye." - Katharine Hepburn

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] grendelkhan 15 years ago

It's primarily Sam Spade, but there are homages to other Bogart films, such as they "You know how to whistle don't ya?" whic leads into a gag as Eileen Brennan responds.

[–] bpollen 9 years ago

Ditto.

[–] elisedfr 12 years ago

Peter Falk plays another excellent tribute/spoof of Bogart and his most famous characters, Rick Blaine and Sam Spade in The Cheap Detective, a film that reunites much of Murder By Death's crew. I can't remember a better evocation of Humphrey Bogart and I'm glad Falk was given the chance to do it twice.

" You ain't running this place, Bert, WILLIAMS is!" Sgt Harris

[–] Tjanssen411 11 years ago

the Heart of Diamond was Spade... but being a parody film, they add bits of other iconic Bogart Roles for more jokes...

I'd be like some one doing a Rambo Parody and having a few Rocky references simply because Stallone was both...

The Cheap Detective, another Simon film with much of the same cast takes the Spade/Blaine confusion and Bogart parody up to 11

[–] PillowRock 11 years ago

The Cheap Detective, another Simon film with much of the same cast takes the Spade/Blaine confusion and Bogart parody up to 11

I would say "Spade / Blaine / Marlowe / Harry Morgan confusion". (That's Harry Morgan, the Bogart character in To Have and Have Not; not Harry Morgan, the actor who was in both the Dragnet and M*A*S*H TV shows.)

[–] Tjanssen411 11 years ago

Good Point...

I'd forgotten the impact of 'To Have and Have Not' on the genre era
-- Unless I've watched it or Big Sleep recently I often blur the Bogey/Bacall interaction

And Spade/Marlowe just brings all kinds of inherent character confusion to the table with Bogey having played Both Iconic Pulp heroes in such short order

-- as to 'Harry Morgan' confusion... funny story... when I first Heard of the Harry Potter Novels (mind you this is before the Hype and well before the films)... my Brain went to "the old Guy from MASH wrote children's books... as for some reason I was cross remembering HarryMorgan who'd played ColPotter... yeah, my brain is kinda wonky like that

[–] greenbudgie 9 years ago

I took Sam Diamond to be Sam Spade. I thought that Falk's girlfriend, Eileen Brennan in this movie looked a lot like Claire Trevor from the vintage noirs.