Spade's tough-guy/killer reputation in this universe
I've read Hammett and seen Maltese Falcon enough to not think of Sam Spade as heavy muscle with a hard-core killer reputation. He's not afraid to shoot a guy if he has to, but he's more of a finesse guy, dodging the overzealous cops as much as he's dealing with bad guys. This is the basic template of the loner noir detective which Hammett (and Raymond Chandler) established.
But in this film, they keep referring to him like he's some kind of dangerous thug. I can't figure out if this is just a weird mischaracterization by the writers or if was something necessary to sell Spade to a French audience.