The Maltese Falcon

⭐ 8.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

Again, with movies this old (1941), it's hard to evaluate and put a number on. This is a classic film based off a classic book, led by early film's most recognizable name (Humphrey Bogart). It's also one of the earliest Noir detective films, a genre I love, and I guess Humphrey's Sam Spade was hugely influential on how detectives were portrayed thereafter. He's slick, he's aloof, and even the most charming of women can't break him. I think this kind of character will always appeal to me because he is simply so sexy, especially when he puts on that 40s hat.

So yeah, I did really like aspects of this movie. It definitely wasn't just Bogart, though he's a part of it, and I thought there were some great performances all around. The scenes were snappy and had a great sense of pace, and I liked how it stuck to basically 3 rooms, giving the setting a real sense of character.

With all that said, I still found the movie a little hard to follow, and everything moves so fast that if you zone out for a second you miss a lot. I've found this before with old movies, I think honestly in large part because the black and white make every place and person less distinguishable and it's hard to tell where the characters are and who they're talking to.

So yeah, a fun look back at early noir if you're into that kind of thing, and always fun to watch Bogart. He definitely has a few problematic aspects, but heck so do movies today and I'm a little more forgiving of movies that came out while Hitler was still alive.