I’ve read the Dashiell Hammett novel “The Maltese Falcon” and can tell you that John Huston’s 1941 film follows the novel virtually word-for-word of dialogue. You’ll never find a more faithful film adaptation.
Agreed. I had the same impression when I read the book. One of the best adaptations ever. However, the movie does have one thing that the book does not. One of my favorite lines, "the stuff that dreams are made of," was not in the book and perfectly encapsulates what living a life searching for the truth/falcon is.
The best thing is that Bogart makes it believable. The book often reads puerile and cartoonish, particularly the exposition. But Bogart was able to give it life which makes the film far surpass the source material.
As long as I remember from the book, Spade and O’Shaugnessy had an affair during the case, a disfunctional one if you will, but true... in the movie this is not as clear. In the book you could feel empathy for her, which makes the ending really crude. Reading that novel is like descending into the hell of human behaviour, It's really like a trip. The movie lacks from that in a way... we need to have in mind that this was a cheap movie and Huston didn't have the luxury of portraying certain subtleties. Instead of building that ominous atmosphere from the book, he built a sophisticated narrative device with no imperfections
Here's more John Huston/Humphrey Bogart movies: Across The Pacific, 1942 The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, 1948 Key Largo,1948 The African Queen, 1951 Beat The Devil, 1953.
This is a fine film. My favorite from the time is CASABLANCA (1942) and I hope you would see that one, but I would also second HIS GIRL FRIDAY, an underrated, under viewed, and definitely under-reviewed film. It is fantastic and really deserves so much more attention than it garners.
"The stuff that dreams are made of." Fun Fact: Three of the statuettes still exist and are conservatively valued at over $1 million each. This makes them some of the most valuable film props ever made; indeed, each is now worth more than three times what the film cost to make. Also, The Maltese Falcon is one of the great film noir-mysteries of the 1940s. The Maltese Falcon made a star of Humphrey Bogart, who until then had mostly been consigned to villain roles, usually as a gangster. It's one of the great classics of its genre.
That's Shakespeare Spade is quoting: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep." Bogart, who knew his Shakespeare, is said to have improvised that line.
Not nearly enough of them do, not enough to suit me anyway. RUclips reactors seriously talk like movies from the 80's are "old" movies and act like the great classics don't even exist. I've only found one reactor who does the great classics but unfortunately I find her, like 95% of reactors, far too insufferable to sit through.
@@catherinelw9365 It's nothing against her personally, and I purposely did not name her, it's completely my own issue that I can only stand about a half dozen of the movie reactors out there for longer than 10 minutes. It's entirely on me that all the rest of them get on my nerves unbearably, either because of the way they show the movie itself or because some quirk of their personality quickly gets on my nerves. For instance, there's a girl who snorts loudly like a horse every time she talks. Plus she makes sea lion sounds when she laughs. Or there's a guy who shows 5 seconds of the movie, then talks for 15 seconds, and it goes on in that pattern without any variance, like clockwork, throughout the whole video, 5 seconds of the movie then 15 seconds of him talking. So, like I say, it's all on me and it's 100% my issue, I'm not blaming anyone else.
@Sir Watchalot I'm with you all the way. I've actually only been able to find 5 or 6 where I actually like the people because they're genuine and not annoying. Daniel and Samantha here being one, although I don't watch their overly long chats afterwards, Cassie at Popcorn In Bed is far and away my favorite, although I prefer her by herself and not when her sister joins her, there's a real sweetheart thoughtful Russian girl with a great accent named Dasha at Dasha Reacts, and there's Addie at Addie Counts who I enjoy, there's a good guy named George at Close Up. Pretty much everybody else just gets on my nerves either with their blatant phoniness, or usually simply the particular quirks of their personality or behavior and I fully realize that all of that is totally on me. I always think to myself, you'd think they'd see themself on video being this goddamn annoying and stop it but they don't. Lol!
The last 5 minutes of this film are Iconic. The way Sam sends Brigid to prison (the gallows) is so cold, and devastating. Mary Astor in the lift with the bars across her face, looking so forlorn and sad, is one of the greatest movie endings ever. The same year Mary Astor won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for a comedic role in 'The Great Lie.'
Of course, if they found The Maltese Falcon confusing I can guarantee they'll be confused by The Big Sleep, even when it is over. It took me at least three or four viewings to get the story straight, but it is so entertaining scene by scene I really didn't mind.
I have a dvd of "Treasure" that is in "night at the movies" format. It has coming attractions, two newsreels, a Looney Tunes cartoon and a Joe McDoakes comedy short before the feature. Speaking of great ones and reminded by Peter Lorre, "Arsenic and Old Lace" would be a fun reaction for the gang.
'The Maltese Falcon' was the movie that started the "Film Noir" era of the 1940s in Hollywood. If you have the time, I highly recommend another film noir classic from that era, 'Double Indemnity' from 1944 with Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray.
@@HappyHarryHardon I absolutely love the Thin Man movies, even if the last two aren't my favorites, they're still one of the greatest film series of all time.
Not quite. True "noir" (in which the protagonist is almost always destroyed by the femme fatale) doesn't come in until AFTER the war, when a new strain of hard-edged cycnism begins to infect the American character.
@@josephdemartino6053 Not really. The first hard-boiled fiction from writers like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler that inspired the film noir genre was originally published in Black Mask magazine during the Great Depression of the 1930s; and the style of "noir" filmmaking using low-key lighting was inspired by German Expressionist cinematography that was previously used in Universal horror films from the 1930s like Dracula and Frankenstein. The Maltese Falcon (1941) has been cited as the first major film noir, followed by Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Double Indemnity (1944), and Murder, My Sweet (1944), all of which were released PRIOR to the end of World War II.
The Maltese Falcon is a hard boiled mystery novel by Dashiell Hammett. Hammett worked as a detective for the Pinkerton Agency until tuberculosis forced him to retire and turn to writing. In the 1920s, he wrote stories for the pulp magazines in which he pioneered the hard boiled detective genre. Main characteristics are tough PIs who don’t always play by the rules, run foul of the police but live by their own code and always get their man. Femme fatales are another feature of the hard boiled story that Hammett pioneered. This type of story is not so much a mystery for the reader or viewer to solve, but is supposed to be more of a realistic and gritty story where sometimes chance plays a part and the detective plays people against each other or bends the rules while peeling back layers of deception to finally nail the culprit. This was the model for PI stories to this day.
I love that you're doing some older movies and hope that you will continue to do so. Since you both said you enjoy detective films, I would recommend Chinatown which stars Jack Nicholson AND has an appearance by John Huston who directed The Maltese Falcon. It's great and much like LA Confidential, it requires you to really pay attention
One thing notable about this film, Bogart is in every scene except Archer’s death. A great golden-age quote from Mary Astor conveying the brutality of Hollywood: “The five stages of a Hollywood career are: Who’s Mary Astor? Get me Mary Astor. Get me a Mary Astor look-alike. Get me a young Mary Astor. Who’s Mary Astor?”
He was so busted up by Archer's death that, out of respect, Spade waited a half a business day before telling his assistant to take Archer's name off the office window. You should really see Casablanca. That's the movie Bogart said he was most proud of (though this one really set the stage for noir detective films). I love your work!
Sydney Greenstreet played Jaspar Gutman aka The Fatman. This was his first time onscreen - he had been in a lot of plays but this was his very first movie. What a debut.
Yes indeed. I remember seeing that one on tv for the first time, a couple of decades ago, when I was young and still thought old black and white movies would be boring or dead serious (except for Chaplin or Buster Keaton or so)... but what a revelation when I had to laugh out loud throughout this entire early 40s movie.
This is one of my favorite movies. I highly recommend "Laura" for another amazing film noir mystery. If you want something a little bit newer, but still old, check out "Chinatown." Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Houston directed by Roman Polanski.
Peter Lorrie who played the creepy little guy was also in Casablanca. He was the guy who got arrested in Rick's Place. Also the guy who plays the fatman in this movie was in Casablanca too. He owned a club and eventually bought Rick's place near the end of the movie.
If it makes you feel any better - Bogart stars in a detective movie called The Big Sleep, based on the book by Raymond Chandler. Chandler watched the movie and he himself got lost and couldn't figure out what was happening!
Is that the one where someone's driver is killed and nobody in the movie, and nobody working on the film including Chandler who wrote the script, knows who did it or why?
I thought I heard that Chandler even once said that he wasn’t even really sure who the murderer was in his own book! He made it purposely different than a straightforward mystery, because it wasn’t really even about solving the case.
Yeah, I watched that film several times, always getting lost. Still loved it, because Bogie & Bacall, but when I read the novel, and then watched it, I could almost follow it. 😂
@@joeconcepts5552 I've heard that Chandler didn't outline when writing. He was more interested in throwing characters together and figuring out what they would say so his plots often became twisty and confusing because he wasn't paying much attention to what was happening in the story.
“CHARADE “ With Audrey Hepburn and Carey Grant is a great mystery movie , who done it.. I read that a reactor said you can react to it free they let something run out so you can do it free
The next Dashiell Hammett mystery novel that was adapted to film is _The Thin Man_ (1934) which is a wittier take on the murder mystery. A thoroughly entertaining movie due to the leads' fabulous chemistry.
It's great for rewatching many times. So many great lines that are easy to miss the first time. Sam Spade is so cold, partly to keep an image that's good for business. He's honest though. He's the prototype tough guy film noir detective. But the way he toys with Brigit at the end: "with luck you'll be out in 20 years, I'll be waiting. If they hang you , I'll always remember you."
One fun thing in the (not nearly as good) 1930 version of Falcon is a final scene showing that he really means it. He visits her in prison, and while they spend the time bantering it seems like he's going to keep doing it until she's out.
This is a classic Film Noir. One of the best. Here are my favourites, all well worth checking out: • Double Indemnity (1944) • Laura (1944) • The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) • The Maltese Falcon (1941) • The Big Sleep (1946) • I Wake Up Screaming (1941) • Sweet Smell of Success (1957) • Ace In The Hole (1950) • White Heat (1949) • Build My Gallows High / Out of the Past (1947) • Detective Story (1951) • Casablanca (1942) • Sunset Boulevard (1950) • Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Very cool to see you doing true classics 🙂 Would love to see your reactions to a few of my favorites... Sullivan's Travels with Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake (1941) Gunga Din with Cary Grant and Sam Jaffe (1939) Mr Smith Goes To Washington with Jimmy Stewart (1939... a good year for movies) To Kill A Mockingbird with Gregory Peck (1962, but set in the 30's) Grapes Of Wrath (1940) with Henry Fonda
Bogart never made a bad film. Extraordinary actor! You should see him in what I feel to be the greatest love story ever put on film. Casablanca. Y'all be safe.
So glad you're reacting to these classics. Casablanca, The Big Sleep, Sunset Boulevard, The Third Man are just a few recommendations from the golden age of Hollywood. And if you like to have some fun with these movies I suggest Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid with Steve Martin. Not from that era (1982) but an hillarious hommage to the Film Noir.
This is my favorite "noir" film. It's like a blueprint for a lot of other detective films which came along after WWII. Bogey's Sam Spade was the epitome of the hard-boiled private eye. John Huston's choice of Bogey for the key role was perfect. Likewise, for Peter Lorre as the glass-jawed little worm Joel Cairo and Sydney Greenstreet as the creepy and ruthless Gutman. Mary Astor was terrific as a lying conniving femme fatale. Elisha Cook Jr. was perfect as the punk-weasel gunsel (Wilmer). Barton McClain and Ward Bond were the two cops trying to gum up Spade's investigation. Thanks, TBR Schmitt.
Thanks for the reaction to a movie I've never seen, pretty cool. There's a 1976 movie named Murder by Death that has a Sam Spade character (Sam Diamond) played by Peter Falk along with an A-list cast playing some of the best literary detective characters brought together to solve a murder mystery. A ton of laughs with plenty of twists, I highly recommend it if you should find the time.
And Neil Simon's 1979 film "The Cheap Detective" is a Naked Gun-style spoof of both "The Maltese Falcon" and "Casablanca." It also stars Peter Falk as the Humphrey Bogart character.
Casablanca is an absolute must watch, arguably the most classic movie of all the classics. If you guys end up getting back to classic Hollywood I hope it would make the poll
Yes this is a classic, Casablanca is another classic # 3 on the AFI list & what Humphrey Bogart is most famous. Also Citizen Kane which is considered the greatest movie of all time at #1. Just in case you were wondering The Godfather is #2
The guy who stumbles in with the bird and then dies is Walter Huston, the father of the director John Huston, and a great actor, best known probably for another Bogart film, Treasure of the Sierre Madre, also directed by John Huston, who appears in it as well.
There was actually a sequel to this in 1975 called The Black Bird. It’s sort of a dark comedy with the son of Sam Spade (George Segal), following in his father’s footsteps, getting involved with the Maltese Falcon. Effie and Wilmer reprise their roles.
And that was the follow up film that they were asking for since it was the right Falcon after all it was just the lead coating was thicker than Gutman thought it was and gave up on it too easily
@@ArgonTheAware Another film that feels kind of like a Falcon sequel is John Houston's Beat The Devil, with Bogart & Lorre though with Robert Morley being Sidney Greenstreet's British equivalent, and yeah it does have to be a comedy at that point.
As you asked for recommendations at the end: the obvious Humphrey Bogart recommendation is Casablanca, which a lot of people will surely mention here in the comments. It also has Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, who you saw both in The Maltese Falcon. By the way, speaking of Peter Lorre: another great movie of that era in which he plays is Frank Capra's "Arsenic and Old Lace", with Cary Grant (who you also already saw on your channel as well). It's a great comedy - I suppose most of us haven't watched many 1940s comedy films, so that would be an original novelty for the channel, I think?
All the actors in this movie were regular Warner Brothers employees. You'll see the same actors in some other films made during this period. They cranked these movies out pretty quickly to satisfy the public's thirst for film noir. Great movie.
Nominated for 3 Oscars Best Picture, lost to How Green Was My Valley Best Supporting Actor, lost to Donald Crisp for How Green Was My Valley Best Screenplay, lost to Here Comes Mr. Jordan.
At 8:42, that is Elisha Cook. This actor has been in many productions. His later work was the underworld figure known as Ice Pick in Magnum P.I. Also, if you like Humphrey Bogart in this movie you'll love him as Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny.
Peter Lorre first became famous for a German silent horror movie called M. He caricatured alot in cartoons. He was in Casablanca a few years later and had noticeably gained weight. His last movie was The Patsy, in which he played one of a number of Hollywood execs who make a guy off of the street.who supposedly has no talent, into a big star. The main character is played by Jerry Lewis. Peter Lorre had died befor it was released. He was alsot in a numbe of movies directed by Roger Corman, and starring Vincent Price that were loosley based on Edgar Allan Poe stories; including The Raven, which was one of Jack Nicholson's first starring roles.
Great reaction! This is classic noir. There are no good characters, everyone lies, everyone has an angle they're playing, and the end either doesn't resolve anything and/or everyone gets screwed to some degree. Even the protagonist isn't the classic "good guy" detective and is more than willing to lie, cheat, or steal to get what he wants. The snappy dialogue and quick pace is part of what made the genre so popular. They also had lots of interesting slang that's fun to hear now. I hope you guys go further into the noir genre with some of the classics and then watch some modern neo-noir films as comparison. Body Heat and Basic Instinct are two films that defined the neo-noir genre so you should check those out.
Great great dialogue and you 2 were right on top of it all. John Huston was directing his 1st film and even yrs later Bogart said "It was practically a masterpiece. I don't have many things I'm proud of but that's one." Bogart so respected John Huston and the Sam Spade character that he searched until the end of his life for a script that recaptured the excitement he found in this film.
How about reacting to a classic comedy from 1963, "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" with so many stars like Milton Berle, Spencer Tracey, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, Jonathan Winters, Donn Knotts and probably 15 or so more. This is one of the all time classic comedies!
I definitely vote for "I't's a Mad, Mad, Mad World." Every person in it is a star. Over three hours of laughs. The director's cut was over five hours, but the studio made him cut it down. I sure would like to see the long version.
I just re-watched Mad World last night, currently free on RUclips. I've seen one millennial reaction to it, and because the marvelous cast was unrecognizable to her, she hated it. I think Mad World only works for those of us boomers who remember the 20th century's greatest comedians all in one epic movie.
I think you guys would love "His Girl Friday" by Howard Hawks. It's one of Tarantino's favourite films. He designed the opening diner dialogue in Pulp Fiction to be like this film. It's also funny. Cary Grant & Rosalind Russel at their prime. Such a good movie.
This was John Huston's first film (Director) he was the Old dad in Chinatown, most say this is like the first Film Noir (at least American noir). Sam Spade is noted as the coolest detective in movie history.
Yeah Spade is almost too good, he's so far ahead that it's hard to fully appreciate him on first watch. Though I think Effie would be within her rights to confront him with: "You had her stay with me when YOU ALREADY KNEW that she killed Miles?!?"
It's a classic for a reason. If you'd like to see another film noir, you should see The Third Man (1949) with Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles. Other great Humphrey Bogart films are Casablanca, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, and The African Queen. Samantha said at the beginning she thought this was about a plane. If you want to see a great classic movie about a plane named for a bird, see the original The Flight of the Phoenix (1965).
CASABLANCA, The Big Sleep and Maltese Falcon are all class. Also Treasure of the Sierra Madre AND finally The Caine Mutiny, Bogie is AMAZING in Caine (which is how Michael Caine got his name).
@7:04 - Is he just robbing her? Actually, Spade is taking away her ability to leave town by taking nearly all of her money and jewelry; at best he left her cab fare. He was on to her from the very start; he just needed to know the details by eliminating everyone else that could have killed Archer so it would be easier to prosecutor her. This was never really about the black bird: it was all about her.
The man who delivered the falcon and then died was a famous actor, Walter Huston, father of famous director, John Huston. Another great crime caper: "The Asphalt Jungle" 1950
Happy that you're diving into classic noir, with its dark sets and darker characters. There's so much gold to mine in there, but I particularly hope you get to Double Indemnity sooner rather than later. One of my favorite films of all time and with THE femme fatale (Astor is great here, but Stanwyck is much closer to the archetype that has endured to this day). Some of my favorite cinematography in classic film too.
I love this movie and the book. Dashiell Hammett wrote the Sam Spade detective stories and I think Bogey was great in that role. The style of this movie is fast paced and uses the parlance of the 40’s detective novels. I recommend The Thin Man for more of this type. It’s every bit as good if not better and it’s a series of movies. Great reaction.
From a novel by Dashiell Hammett by the same name. The street where Miles is killed is Burritt Alley, a real SF street. A brass plaque is at the intersection of Burritt and Bush, above the Stockton St tunnel referring to the movie. Hammett, a Pinkerton detective in real life, lived a block above on (not coincidentally) Dashiell Hammett St. In the book, he goes to John's Grill on Ellis St. It's still there and you can order the same thing Sam Spade did and also see a duplicate of the falcon. Pretty fun. For a movie with many of the same actors (Bogart, Greenstreet (Fat Man), and Lorre (Cairo)) see CASABLANCA, an even better film.
A few comments: 1. At the very start of the movie we see the Bay Bridge from Spade's office window; that bridge hadn't yet been built 11 years earlier, when the novel was published. 2. There is a plaque in San Francisco where Miles Archer was murdered; when I saw the plaque, back in the 80's, it was (and may still be) one of only two plaques in the nation commemorating a fictional event. 3. We get some idea of what Spade thought of Archer from the fact that Spade has been having an affair with Archer's wife, whom he doesn't even like. 4. Spade calls Wilmer a "gunsel," a direct quote from the book. The book censors of the time didn't catch that, as the author figured they wouldn't, because it sounds like it means "gunman" -- and since that time it has even come to be used sometimes with that meaning, precisely because of its use in The Maltese Falcon. But actually the term implies that Wilmer is a kept boy used for sexual purposes, which of course throws some light on the relationship between Gutman and Wilmer that could not have been handled more explicitly in a book or movie of that time.
That was no "strange man who dropped the bird and died"... it was the film director John Huston's brother Walter Huston. He gave his brother a cameo part.
Someday please consider reacting to MURDER BY DEATH(1976) wherein Peter Falk plays Sam Spade and a host of famous actors (Peter Sellers, David Niven, Alec Guinness, Maggie Smith, and even Truman Capote!). The movie is a spoof of the detective genre, so it is best that you know the major detective names of the detective era (San Spade, Hercule Poirot , Miss Marple , etc.). Hilarious movie!
Great reaction. Others have probably pointed out how this film was important in the career of Bogart (film that made him a A picture lead), John Huston (his first film as a director) and as the start of film noir. The film itself is one of the best cinematic depictions of hardboiled detective fiction, which involves cynical, jaded detectives dealing with duplicitous clients, dangerous criminals, tough, witty dialogue, and complex plots (watch THE BIG SLEEP, MURDER MY SWEET, OUT OF THE PAST, THE LONG GOODBYE & CHINATOWN when you get a chance), The other thing about this film it is based on a novel by the great Dashiell Hammett (who invested the hardboiled detective novel). Dashiell himself used to work for the Pinkerton Agency, and based his novels on his experiences and, even more so, on the worldview they developed in him. For Hammett the world of private investigators is one where you can't trust anyone, not even your clients, and the only way to get to the "truth" is by pitting everyone's lies against each other until it finally gets out. PS - Watch THE THIN MAN (also based on a Dashiell Hammett book) when you get a chance, but make sure you have a drinking game going that you take a drink every time Nick or Nora have a drink.
Great party movie - everybody has to take a drink when they say "Thursby" :) Rapid fire dialog - great writing - and Sam Spade. One of my favorite movies.
You have to see Humphrey Bogart in one of the most classic films ever, Casablanca. Just fantastic actors all over, with Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre returning, and the luminous beauty of Ingrid Bergman.
VERY much enjoyed watching you two watch this classic beauty!! I've lost track of how many times I've seen this gem, but having used it in my high school film classes, it's a LOT of times. This was screenwriter/director John Huston's first directing job believe it or not. (He'd written some films before. Captain Jacoby was played by Huston's dad, long time actor Walter Huston.) It was fun watching you talk about the pacing and dialogue, too. Many of my students had a hard time following the 1930s and 1940s films I showed because the dialogue was so briskly delivered and editing was quite tight in many older films. Fun reaction!
Three of the actors in this film were in a movie made the next year. "Casablanca" starred Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet. Personally, I think George Lucas modeled Jabba the Hutt after Sydney Greenstreet. Wilmer, the bumbling thug, also appeared in the television series "Magnum P.I." as "Icepick", a mobster. The guy who played the detective named "Tom" had played a Union officer also named Tom a year earlier in "Gone With the Wind". His name was Ward Bond he also starred in the television series "Wagon Train."
5:45 *Effie:* "Spade and Archer!" *TBR Schmidt:* "It's not 'Spade and Archer' any more." *Sam Spade:* "... and have 'Spade and Archer' taken off all the doors and windows."
Hope you do a lot more of these great classic movies. Bogart has so many great movies. High Sierra, In a lonely place, Treasure ethe Sierra Madre, Casablanca, The Cain Mutiny and so many others are all great.
Miles Archer is played by the same actor who played the DA in Miracle on 34th Street. He also played Dagwood's boss, Mr. Radcliffe, in a series of movies based on the "Blondie" comic strip. He was on an episode of "The Twilight Zone" called "The 16 Milimeter Shrine," in which he played a retired movie star. It sure is a good thing the plot device of having the detective called up, and being told to meet somebody in the bad part of town, in the middle of the night, was never used again.
My favorite Humphrey Bogart film is "The Caine Mutiny" (1954), a World War II movie where Bogart plays the captain of a ship who seems to be unhinged in some way. As for other older films... "East of Eden" (1955) is one of the few major films James Dean starred in before dying too young in a car accident. It's an adaptation of one of the great American novels by John Steinbeck. It's a pretty intense slow burn of a dysfunctional California family in the 1910s and acts as a kind of metaphor for the Cain and Abel story in Genesis. "Grapes of Wrath" (1940) is also an adaptation of a classic John Steinbeck novel. It's a haunting cinematic masterpiece with amazing performances led by Henry Fonda. It follows the tribulations of a destitute Oklahoma family during the depression when the farmlands were "dust bowls." Other must-see classic epics are "Ben-Hur" (1959), the story of a prominent Jerusalem family run afoul of Roman oppression during the time of Jesus Christ which includes the legendary chariot race scene, and "The Ten Commandments" (1956), the story of Moses and the Exodus. It's pretty kitchy while at the same time being gorgeously larger than life and fascinating to watch. Both of them star Charlton Heston in his most iconic roles. Another masterpiece adapted from a great American novel is "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962). This is by far my favorite Gregory Peck role (and I think most everybody else's too). It's also Robert Duvall's first Hollywood movie appearance. It's a study of race relations during the depression from the point of view of three children in a small Alabama town. It's both utterly delightful and utterly tragic. Veering away from the intense dramas above is "Arsenic and Old Lace" (1944) where Cary Grant puts his slapstick comedy chops on display. He plays a fellow bringing his newlywed wife to meet his two sweet aunties, only to discover they've been harboring a dark secret for years. All kinds of silly antics ensue. The cast also includes Raymond Massey, the father of the family in "East of Eden," and Peter Lorre, the bug-eyed dude in "Maltese Falcon" and "Casabanca," both playing against type in this farcical film. And finally another comedy, "Life With Father" (1947), a delightful romp of a character study of a family at the beginning of the 20th century where the father rules his wife and five boys (all redheads) with an iron fist---or so he thinks. Mischief abounds, and yet the love the family members have for each other comes through loud and clear. William Powell and Irene Dunn star as the parents, two names that may not be well known now, but were big stars in those days, plus a very young Elizabeth Taylor. I do not suggest these films lightly. You are simply not sufficiently cultured cinematically until you've seen them all.
Okay, I know everyone loves Bogart here, but I am going to recommend Peter Lorre films as my little guy needs love. Both he and Greenstreet went on to make 7 films together (I did a video on that), but also watch M. I honestly think it's the best, most powerful film from the early sound era and Lorre gives the best performance of the period. There's also Arsenic and Old Lace, which is dark, screwball comedy.
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I’ve read the Dashiell Hammett novel “The Maltese Falcon” and can tell you that John Huston’s 1941 film follows the novel virtually word-for-word of dialogue. You’ll never find a more faithful film adaptation.
I've read that Howard Hawks gave Huston a copy and said, "Just film the book." True or not, I don't know, but good advice.
Agreed. I had the same impression when I read the book. One of the best adaptations ever. However, the movie does have one thing that the book does not. One of my favorite lines, "the stuff that dreams are made of," was not in the book and perfectly encapsulates what living a life searching for the truth/falcon is.
The best thing is that Bogart makes it believable. The book often reads puerile and cartoonish, particularly the exposition. But Bogart was able to give it life which makes the film far surpass the source material.
@@TheRedWaltz24 Someone mentioned this already, but it's a paraphrase of a line from Shakespeare's The Tempest.
As long as I remember from the book, Spade and O’Shaugnessy had an affair during the case, a disfunctional one if you will, but true... in the movie this is not as clear.
In the book you could feel empathy for her, which makes the ending really crude.
Reading that novel is like descending into the hell of human behaviour, It's really like a trip. The movie lacks from that in a way... we need to have in mind that this was a cheap movie and Huston didn't have the luxury of portraying certain subtleties.
Instead of building that ominous atmosphere from the book, he built a sophisticated narrative device with no imperfections
Here's more John Huston/Humphrey Bogart movies:
Across The Pacific, 1942
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, 1948
Key Largo,1948
The African Queen, 1951
Beat The Devil, 1953.
All are terrific
This is a fine film. My favorite from the time is CASABLANCA (1942) and I hope you would see that one, but I would also second HIS GIRL FRIDAY, an underrated, under viewed, and definitely under-reviewed film. It is fantastic and really deserves so much more attention than it garners.
Hey, if they thought the dialogue in this one was fast, wait until they see His Girl Friday. 🙂
The Big Sleep is another good Bogey detective film.
They say in the video (maybe only the full-length) that they've both seen Casablanca.
I agree! They’d need to be very well-rested to keep up with the pace of His Girl Friday.
@@anthonyleecollins9319 right? The movie that invented rapid-fire overlapping dialog. If you're not used to it you don't have a chance.
"The stuff that dreams are made of."
Fun Fact: Three of the statuettes still exist and are conservatively valued at over $1 million each. This makes them some of the most valuable film props ever made; indeed, each is now worth more than three times what the film cost to make.
Also, The Maltese Falcon is one of the great film noir-mysteries of the 1940s. The Maltese Falcon made a star of Humphrey Bogart, who until then had mostly been consigned to villain roles, usually as a gangster. It's one of the great classics of its genre.
Leo DiCaprio owns one of those three statues.
Leo ought to remake it in Bogey's role. It's not like the movie hasn't been remade 1000 times already.
That's Shakespeare Spade is quoting: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep." Bogart, who knew his Shakespeare, is said to have improvised that line.
@@melenatorr...Thanks, and a tip of the hat to you!!
@@jeffreyjeziorski1480 And a return tip back to you!
The great classics will never die. Thanks for helping to keep them alive. All reactors who go back to the Golden Age get my appreciation and respect.
Not nearly enough of them do, not enough to suit me anyway. RUclips reactors seriously talk like movies from the 80's are "old" movies and act like the great classics don't even exist. I've only found one reactor who does the great classics but unfortunately I find her, like 95% of reactors, far too insufferable to sit through.
@@dggydddy59 I hope you're not talking about Mia Tiffany. I love Mia and she is a super, well-informed reactor.
@@catherinelw9365 It's nothing against her personally, and I purposely did not name her, it's completely my own issue that I can only stand about a half dozen of the movie reactors out there for longer than 10 minutes. It's entirely on me that all the rest of them get on my nerves unbearably, either because of the way they show the movie itself or because some quirk of their personality quickly gets on my nerves. For instance, there's a girl who snorts loudly like a horse every time she talks. Plus she makes sea lion sounds when she laughs. Or there's a guy who shows 5 seconds of the movie, then talks for 15 seconds, and it goes on in that pattern without any variance, like clockwork, throughout the whole video, 5 seconds of the movie then 15 seconds of him talking. So, like I say, it's all on me and it's 100% my issue, I'm not blaming anyone else.
@Sir Watchalot I'm with you all the way. I've actually only been able to find 5 or 6 where I actually like the people because they're genuine and not annoying. Daniel and Samantha here being one, although I don't watch their overly long chats afterwards, Cassie at Popcorn In Bed is far and away my favorite, although I prefer her by herself and not when her sister joins her, there's a real sweetheart thoughtful Russian girl with a great accent named Dasha at Dasha Reacts, and there's Addie at Addie Counts who I enjoy, there's a good guy named George at Close Up. Pretty much everybody else just gets on my nerves either with their blatant phoniness, or usually simply the particular quirks of their personality or behavior and I fully realize that all of that is totally on me. I always think to myself, you'd think they'd see themself on video being this goddamn annoying and stop it but they don't. Lol!
Another absolute classic film noir is The Third Man from 1949. I highly recommend it.
The Third Man is SO good!
Yes! The Third Man is far and away my favorite noir.
The Third Man is, frankly, in the top ten movies of all time. In my personal top 3.
Yeah, The Third Man is amazing.
The last 5 minutes of this film are Iconic. The way Sam sends Brigid to prison (the gallows) is so cold, and devastating. Mary Astor in the lift with the bars across her face, looking so forlorn and sad, is one of the greatest movie endings ever. The same year Mary Astor won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for a comedic role in 'The Great Lie.'
Another terrific Bogart detective movie is "The Big Sleep", which also stars Lauren Bacall. It's suspenseful, thrilling and awesome!
Of course, if they found The Maltese Falcon confusing I can guarantee they'll be confused by The Big Sleep, even when it is over. It took me at least three or four viewings to get the story straight, but it is so entertaining scene by scene I really didn't mind.
Would like them to see “To Have and Have Not”
@@BEBruns Agreed. The author was asked who killed one of the characters (I'm not naming him/her so as not to spoil it) and he said he had no idea!
Treasure of Sierra Madre is my favorite Bogart movie. Like this, it was also directed by John Huston.
Agree 💯%
Huston was also planning to make "The Man Who Would Be King" with Bogart and Clark Gable but Bogart died before the project could get underway.
@@auerstadt06 I didn't know that. That would have been awesome!
@@auerstadt06 The ultimate dream movie that was never made.
I have a dvd of "Treasure" that is in "night at the movies" format. It has coming attractions, two newsreels, a Looney Tunes cartoon and a Joe McDoakes comedy short before the feature.
Speaking of great ones and reminded by Peter Lorre, "Arsenic and Old Lace" would be a fun reaction for the gang.
The Big Sleep is another classic Bogart noir, great film.
'The Maltese Falcon' was the movie that started the "Film Noir" era of the 1940s in Hollywood. If you have the time, I highly recommend another film noir classic from that era, 'Double Indemnity' from 1944 with Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray.
Double Indemnity is a top 5. The Thin Man, My Man Godfrey, 42nd Street and Close Encounters.
@@HappyHarryHardon I absolutely love the Thin Man movies, even if the last two aren't my favorites, they're still one of the greatest film series of all time.
Not quite. True "noir" (in which the protagonist is almost always destroyed by the femme fatale) doesn't come in until AFTER the war, when a new strain of hard-edged cycnism begins to infect the American character.
Double Indemnity is the best film noir ever made.
@@josephdemartino6053 Not really. The first hard-boiled fiction from writers like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler that inspired the film noir genre was originally published in Black Mask magazine during the Great Depression of the 1930s; and the style of "noir" filmmaking using low-key lighting was inspired by German Expressionist cinematography that was previously used in Universal horror films from the 1930s like Dracula and Frankenstein. The Maltese Falcon (1941) has been cited as the first major film noir, followed by Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Double Indemnity (1944), and Murder, My Sweet (1944), all of which were released PRIOR to the end of World War II.
The Maltese Falcon is a hard boiled mystery novel by Dashiell Hammett. Hammett worked as a detective for the Pinkerton Agency until tuberculosis forced him to retire and turn to writing. In the 1920s, he wrote stories for the pulp magazines in which he pioneered the hard boiled detective genre. Main characteristics are tough PIs who don’t always play by the rules, run foul of the police but live by their own code and always get their man. Femme fatales are another feature of the hard boiled story that Hammett pioneered. This type of story is not so much a mystery for the reader or viewer to solve, but is supposed to be more of a realistic and gritty story where sometimes chance plays a part and the detective plays people against each other or bends the rules while peeling back layers of deception to finally nail the culprit. This was the model for PI stories to this day.
One of Bogart's best movies is The Caine Mutiny. Great performance and movie,
Especially the courtroom scene! Johnny Carson had that scene memorized and would do it at parties, in character.
I love that you're doing some older movies and hope that you will continue to do so.
Since you both said you enjoy detective films, I would recommend Chinatown which stars Jack Nicholson AND has an appearance by John Huston who directed The Maltese Falcon. It's great and much like LA Confidential, it requires you to really pay attention
One thing notable about this film, Bogart is in every scene except Archer’s death.
A great golden-age quote from Mary Astor conveying the brutality of Hollywood: “The five stages of a Hollywood career are:
Who’s Mary Astor?
Get me Mary Astor.
Get me a Mary Astor look-alike.
Get me a young Mary Astor.
Who’s Mary Astor?”
Welcome to film noir. Bogart is one of the kings of Noir. You should definitely put The Big Sleep on your list. Key Largo, too.
The Maltese MacGuffin is one of the best examples of writing a story.
I saw what you did there! Ha!
He was so busted up by Archer's death that, out of respect, Spade waited a half a business day before telling his assistant to take Archer's name off the office window. You should really see Casablanca. That's the movie Bogart said he was most proud of (though this one really set the stage for noir detective films). I love your work!
I have a replica statue of the falcon from years ago. One of my favorite birthday gifts.
Sydney Greenstreet played Jaspar Gutman aka The Fatman. This was his first time onscreen - he had been in a lot of plays but this was his very first movie. What a debut.
Classic film noir. Another great Bogart film is “The African Queen” with Katherine Hepburn . Great job you guys.
I don't much like the movie itself but very much worth watching to see Bogart and Hepburn together.
Which he got a well deserved Oscar😀
You should add Arsenic and Old Lace to your golden age poll... hilarious movie.
Yes indeed. I remember seeing that one on tv for the first time, a couple of decades ago, when I was young and still thought old black and white movies would be boring or dead serious (except for Chaplin or Buster Keaton or so)... but what a revelation when I had to laugh out loud throughout this entire early 40s movie.
Casablanca, Key Largo, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, some of Bogart's other great films.
This is one of my favorite movies. I highly recommend "Laura" for another amazing film noir mystery. If you want something a little bit newer, but still old, check out "Chinatown." Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Houston directed by Roman Polanski.
Another good '70s noir is The Long Goodbye with Elliott Gould.
@@zufgh It's ok with me
This reaction made me laugh! Ha! "Exactly how fat is this fat man?" Then your verdict: "Eh!" 🤣
The Big Sleep, Casablanca, The African Queen and The Roaring Twenties are some other great Humphrey Bogart movies to react to
Got to love classic Film Noir. Movies like this define that genre IMHO.
Peter Lorrie who played the creepy little guy was also in Casablanca. He was the guy who got arrested in Rick's Place. Also the guy who plays the fatman in this movie was in Casablanca too. He owned a club and eventually bought Rick's place near the end of the movie.
If it makes you feel any better - Bogart stars in a detective movie called The Big Sleep, based on the book by Raymond Chandler. Chandler watched the movie and he himself got lost and couldn't figure out what was happening!
Is that the one where someone's driver is killed and nobody in the movie, and nobody working on the film including Chandler who wrote the script, knows who did it or why?
I thought I heard that Chandler even once said that he wasn’t even really sure who the murderer was in his own book! He made it purposely different than a straightforward mystery, because it wasn’t really even about solving the case.
Yeah, I watched that film several times, always getting lost. Still loved it, because Bogie & Bacall, but when I read the novel, and then watched it, I could almost follow it. 😂
@@joeconcepts5552 I've heard that Chandler didn't outline when writing. He was more interested in throwing characters together and figuring out what they would say so his plots often became twisty and confusing because he wasn't paying much attention to what was happening in the story.
Also, Elisha Cook, in a very different role than 'Wilmer'.
“CHARADE “
With Audrey Hepburn and Carey Grant is a great mystery movie , who done it..
I read that a reactor said you can react to it free they let something run out so you can do it free
The movie is out of cpoyright, but Charade's music is still under copyright.
The next Dashiell Hammett mystery novel that was adapted to film is _The Thin Man_ (1934) which is a wittier take on the murder mystery. A thoroughly entertaining movie due to the leads' fabulous chemistry.
It's great for rewatching many times. So many great lines that are easy to miss the first time. Sam Spade is so cold, partly to keep an image that's good for business. He's honest though. He's the prototype tough guy film noir detective.
But the way he toys with Brigit at the end: "with luck you'll be out in 20 years, I'll be waiting. If they hang you , I'll always remember you."
One fun thing in the (not nearly as good) 1930 version of Falcon is a final scene showing that he really means it. He visits her in prison, and while they spend the time bantering it seems like he's going to keep doing it until she's out.
@@adamwarlock1 really? The thing i couldn't believe from the way the Houston version plays is that Spade actually fell for her
This is a classic Film Noir. One of the best.
Here are my favourites, all well worth checking out:
• Double Indemnity (1944)
• Laura (1944)
• The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• The Big Sleep (1946)
• I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
• Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
• Ace In The Hole (1950)
• White Heat (1949)
• Build My Gallows High / Out of the Past (1947)
• Detective Story (1951)
• Casablanca (1942)
• Sunset Boulevard (1950)
• Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Very cool to see you doing true classics 🙂
Would love to see your reactions to a few of my favorites...
Sullivan's Travels with Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake (1941)
Gunga Din with Cary Grant and Sam Jaffe (1939)
Mr Smith Goes To Washington with Jimmy Stewart (1939... a good year for movies)
To Kill A Mockingbird with Gregory Peck (1962, but set in the 30's)
Grapes Of Wrath (1940) with Henry Fonda
The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.
Yes all these need to be seen! Believe it or not great movies were made before 1990.
@@keithbrown8490 TONS of great movies. 😊
No one reacts to Sullivan's Travels! It's so good. And a great reference point for Veronica Lake's famous hairstyle.
Bogart never made a bad film. Extraordinary actor!
You should see him in what I feel to be the greatest love story ever put on film. Casablanca.
Y'all be safe.
Fact.
He died too young at age 58,who knows what other films he could have brought us if he'd lived longer
@@marcdewey1242 Yeah, for sure. He was amazing.
So glad you're reacting to these classics.
Casablanca, The Big Sleep, Sunset Boulevard, The Third Man are just a few recommendations from the golden age of Hollywood. And if you like to have some fun with these movies I suggest Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid with Steve Martin. Not from that era (1982) but an hillarious hommage to the Film Noir.
"You need a cup of my Java...."
@@TheDietrichDaniels 🤣🤣🤣
Truly a Friend of Carlotta 😉
"Cleaning woman! Cleaning woman!"
This is my favorite "noir" film. It's like a blueprint for a lot of other detective films which came along after WWII. Bogey's Sam Spade was the epitome of the hard-boiled private eye. John Huston's choice of Bogey for the key role was perfect. Likewise, for Peter Lorre as the glass-jawed little worm Joel Cairo and Sydney Greenstreet as the creepy and ruthless Gutman. Mary Astor was terrific as a lying conniving femme fatale. Elisha Cook Jr. was perfect as the punk-weasel gunsel (Wilmer). Barton McClain and Ward Bond were the two cops trying to gum up Spade's investigation. Thanks, TBR Schmitt.
"The stuff that dreams are made of" is a famous quote from this picture.
Though Spade got it from Shakespeare ("The Tempest").
@@wwoods66 I didn't know that. Great point.
Thanks for the reaction to a movie I've never seen, pretty cool. There's a 1976 movie named Murder by Death that has a Sam Spade character (Sam Diamond) played by Peter Falk along with an A-list cast playing some of the best literary detective characters brought together to solve a murder mystery. A ton of laughs with plenty of twists, I highly recommend it if you should find the time.
And Neil Simon's 1979 film "The Cheap Detective" is a Naked Gun-style spoof of both "The Maltese Falcon" and "Casablanca." It also stars Peter Falk as the Humphrey Bogart character.
“To Have and Have Not” with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. I really like the chemistry between them.
Casablanca is an absolute must watch, arguably the most classic movie of all the classics. If you guys end up getting back to classic Hollywood I hope it would make the poll
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1947) is a must see...Casablanca, Maltese Falcon and Treasure are my holy trinity when it comes to Bogey!
you guys gotta watch some James Cagney! The Roaring Twenties which also co-stars Bogart!!
Yes this is a classic, Casablanca is another classic # 3 on the AFI list & what Humphrey Bogart is most famous. Also Citizen Kane which is considered the greatest movie of all time at #1. Just in case you were wondering The Godfather is #2
-What is your name, Wanderley or Le Blanc?
-Actually, it's O'Shaunessey. Bridget O'Shaunessey.
-What the f**k! 😂😂😂
The guy who stumbles in with the bird and then dies is Walter Huston, the father of the director John Huston, and a great actor, best known probably for another Bogart film, Treasure of the Sierre Madre, also directed by John Huston, who appears in it as well.
There was actually a sequel to this in 1975 called The Black Bird. It’s sort of a dark comedy with the son of Sam Spade (George Segal), following in his father’s footsteps, getting involved with the Maltese Falcon. Effie and Wilmer reprise their roles.
"Get up, Spade!" 😂
Fantastic film choice!
I would like to recommend “The Apartment” (1960) for the Golden Age series. You CANNOT go wrong with Billy Wilder.
The African Queen is my favorite Bogart movie, and it also stars Katherine Hepburn. Another favorite is the Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Big shout out to Elisha Cook Jr, playing Wilmer Cook. He reprised the role in the 1975 movie 'The Black Bird.'
And that was the follow up film that they were asking for since it was the right Falcon after all it was just the lead coating was thicker than Gutman thought it was and gave up on it too easily
@@ArgonTheAware Another film that feels kind of like a Falcon sequel is John Houston's Beat The Devil, with Bogart & Lorre though with Robert Morley being Sidney Greenstreet's British equivalent, and yeah it does have to be a comedy at that point.
As you asked for recommendations at the end: the obvious Humphrey Bogart recommendation is Casablanca, which a lot of people will surely mention here in the comments. It also has Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, who you saw both in The Maltese Falcon. By the way, speaking of Peter Lorre: another great movie of that era in which he plays is Frank Capra's "Arsenic and Old Lace", with Cary Grant (who you also already saw on your channel as well). It's a great comedy - I suppose most of us haven't watched many 1940s comedy films, so that would be an original novelty for the channel, I think?
Consider reacting to the 1951 film "The African Queen" starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.
All the actors in this movie were regular Warner Brothers employees. You'll see the same actors in some other films made during this period. They cranked these movies out pretty quickly to satisfy the public's thirst for film noir. Great movie.
“It Takes A Thief”
with Carey Grant and Grace Kelly is very clever
I didn't think I could love Samantha any more than I already do, until "Wilmer, where ya' goin'?"
John Huston played the official who told Spade that everyone escaped the ship's fire.
Nominated for 3 Oscars
Best Picture, lost to How Green Was My Valley
Best Supporting Actor, lost to Donald Crisp for How Green Was My Valley
Best Screenplay, lost to Here Comes Mr. Jordan.
At 8:42, that is Elisha Cook. This actor has been in many productions. His later work was the underworld figure known as Ice Pick in Magnum P.I. Also, if you like Humphrey Bogart in this movie you'll love him as Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny.
Peter Lorre first became famous for a German silent horror movie called M. He caricatured alot in cartoons. He was in Casablanca a few years later and had noticeably gained weight. His last movie was The Patsy, in which he played one of a number of Hollywood execs who make a guy off of the street.who supposedly has no talent, into a big star. The main character is played by Jerry Lewis. Peter Lorre had died befor it was released. He was alsot in a numbe of movies directed by Roger Corman, and starring Vincent Price that were loosley based on Edgar Allan Poe stories; including The Raven, which was one of Jack Nicholson's first starring roles.
Also, he became as fat as Sidney Greenstreet, after calling him a "stupid fat-head," and a "fat, bloated idiot."
Now you've got to watch Casablanca. The very definition of a movie classic.
Great reaction!
This is classic noir. There are no good characters, everyone lies, everyone has an angle they're playing, and the end either doesn't resolve anything and/or everyone gets screwed to some degree. Even the protagonist isn't the classic "good guy" detective and is more than willing to lie, cheat, or steal to get what he wants.
The snappy dialogue and quick pace is part of what made the genre so popular. They also had lots of interesting slang that's fun to hear now. I hope you guys go further into the noir genre with some of the classics and then watch some modern neo-noir films as comparison. Body Heat and Basic Instinct are two films that defined the neo-noir genre so you should check those out.
Great great dialogue and you 2 were right on top of it all. John Huston was directing his 1st film and even yrs later Bogart said "It was practically a masterpiece. I don't have many things I'm proud of but that's one." Bogart so respected John Huston and the Sam Spade character that he searched until the end of his life for a script that recaptured the excitement he found in this film.
How about reacting to a classic comedy from 1963, "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" with so many stars like Milton Berle, Spencer Tracey, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, Jonathan Winters, Donn Knotts and probably 15 or so more. This is one of the all time classic comedies!
I definitely vote for "I't's a Mad, Mad, Mad World." Every person in it is a star. Over three hours of laughs. The director's cut was over five hours, but the studio made him cut it down. I sure would like to see the long version.
@@randybass8842 It is one of the all time greats, something the whole family can watch.
I just re-watched Mad World last night, currently free on RUclips. I've seen one millennial reaction to it, and because the marvelous cast was unrecognizable to her, she hated it. I think Mad World only works for those of us boomers who remember the 20th century's greatest comedians all in one epic movie.
I’ve watched it three times in the last year…..it seems to get better with age and definitely high on my ‘feel good’ list😊
I think you guys would love "His Girl Friday" by Howard Hawks. It's one of Tarantino's favourite films. He designed the opening diner dialogue in Pulp Fiction to be like this film. It's also funny. Cary Grant & Rosalind Russel at their prime. Such a good movie.
This was John Huston's first film (Director) he was the Old dad in Chinatown, most say this is like the first Film Noir (at least American noir). Sam Spade is noted as the coolest detective in movie history.
Yeah Spade is almost too good, he's so far ahead that it's hard to fully appreciate him on first watch. Though I think Effie would be within her rights to confront him with: "You had her stay with me when YOU ALREADY KNEW that she killed Miles?!?"
Gutman may have inspired Bob Kane to create the Penguin. The actor who plays him, Sidney Greenstreet, is also in Casablanca.
It's a classic for a reason. If you'd like to see another film noir, you should see The Third Man (1949) with Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles. Other great Humphrey Bogart films are Casablanca, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, and The African Queen.
Samantha said at the beginning she thought this was about a plane. If you want to see a great classic movie about a plane named for a bird, see the original The Flight of the Phoenix (1965).
Bogie at his absolute best. Full of swagger
CASABLANCA, The Big Sleep and Maltese Falcon are all class. Also Treasure of the Sierra Madre AND finally The Caine Mutiny, Bogie is AMAZING in Caine (which is how Michael Caine got his name).
@7:04 - Is he just robbing her?
Actually, Spade is taking away her ability to leave town by taking nearly all of her money and jewelry; at best he left her cab fare. He was on to her from the very start; he just needed to know the details by eliminating everyone else that could have killed Archer so it would be easier to prosecutor her. This was never really about the black bird: it was all about her.
Double indemnity with Fred Mcmurray and Barbara Stanswick is my favorite film noir.
The man who delivered the falcon and then died was a famous actor, Walter Huston, father of famous director, John Huston.
Another great crime caper: "The Asphalt Jungle" 1950
Happy that you're diving into classic noir, with its dark sets and darker characters. There's so much gold to mine in there, but I particularly hope you get to Double Indemnity sooner rather than later. One of my favorite films of all time and with THE femme fatale (Astor is great here, but Stanwyck is much closer to the archetype that has endured to this day). Some of my favorite cinematography in classic film too.
I love this movie and the book. Dashiell Hammett wrote the Sam Spade detective stories and I think Bogey was great in that role. The style of this movie is fast paced and uses the parlance of the 40’s detective novels.
I recommend The Thin Man for more of this type. It’s every bit as good if not better and it’s a series of movies. Great reaction.
A good percentage of the cast reunited a couple years later for the film Casablanca.
‘Treasure of the Sierra Madre’ is awesome
From a novel by Dashiell Hammett by the same name. The street where Miles is killed is Burritt Alley, a real SF street. A brass plaque is at the intersection of Burritt and Bush, above the Stockton St tunnel referring to the movie. Hammett, a Pinkerton detective in real life, lived a block above on (not coincidentally) Dashiell Hammett St. In the book, he goes to John's Grill on Ellis St. It's still there and you can order the same thing Sam Spade did and also see a duplicate of the falcon. Pretty fun. For a movie with many of the same actors (Bogart, Greenstreet (Fat Man), and Lorre (Cairo)) see CASABLANCA, an even better film.
"The Trouble with Harry" 1955
After "North by Northwest" this is my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie.
A great comedic spoof of these film noir is "Cheap Detective" with Peter Falk. Very funny.
Agreed. The more Bogart movies you've seen, the funnier it is.
A few comments: 1. At the very start of the movie we see the Bay Bridge from Spade's office window; that bridge hadn't yet been built 11 years earlier, when the novel was published. 2. There is a plaque in San Francisco where Miles Archer was murdered; when I saw the plaque, back in the 80's, it was (and may still be) one of only two plaques in the nation commemorating a fictional event. 3. We get some idea of what Spade thought of Archer from the fact that Spade has been having an affair with Archer's wife, whom he doesn't even like. 4. Spade calls Wilmer a "gunsel," a direct quote from the book. The book censors of the time didn't catch that, as the author figured they wouldn't, because it sounds like it means "gunman" -- and since that time it has even come to be used sometimes with that meaning, precisely because of its use in The Maltese Falcon. But actually the term implies that Wilmer is a kept boy used for sexual purposes, which of course throws some light on the relationship between Gutman and Wilmer that could not have been handled more explicitly in a book or movie of that time.
An absolute classic piece of cinema
Two male actors in this movie were also in Casablanca with Bogart...Cairo and the fat man.
That was no "strange man who dropped the bird and died"... it was the film director John Huston's brother Walter Huston.
He gave his brother a cameo part.
Someday please consider reacting to MURDER BY DEATH(1976) wherein Peter Falk plays Sam Spade and a host of famous actors (Peter Sellers, David Niven, Alec Guinness, Maggie Smith, and even Truman Capote!). The movie is a spoof of the detective genre, so it is best that you know the major detective names of the detective era (San Spade, Hercule Poirot , Miss Marple , etc.). Hilarious movie!
Great reaction. Others have probably pointed out how this film was important in the career of Bogart (film that made him a A picture lead), John Huston (his first film as a director) and as the start of film noir. The film itself is one of the best cinematic depictions of hardboiled detective fiction, which involves cynical, jaded detectives dealing with duplicitous clients, dangerous criminals, tough, witty dialogue, and complex plots (watch THE BIG SLEEP, MURDER MY SWEET, OUT OF THE PAST, THE LONG GOODBYE & CHINATOWN when you get a chance),
The other thing about this film it is based on a novel by the great Dashiell Hammett (who invested the hardboiled detective novel). Dashiell himself used to work for the Pinkerton Agency, and based his novels on his experiences and, even more so, on the worldview they developed in him. For Hammett the world of private investigators is one where you can't trust anyone, not even your clients, and the only way to get to the "truth" is by pitting everyone's lies against each other until it finally gets out.
PS - Watch THE THIN MAN (also based on a Dashiell Hammett book) when you get a chance, but make sure you have a drinking game going that you take a drink every time Nick or Nora have a drink.
They should definitely watch "The Thin Man", but don't do a drinking game if you want to finish the movie.
Great party movie - everybody has to take a drink when they say "Thursby" :)
Rapid fire dialog - great writing - and Sam Spade. One of my favorite movies.
You have to see Humphrey Bogart in one of the most classic films ever, Casablanca. Just fantastic actors all over, with Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre returning, and the luminous beauty of Ingrid Bergman.
VERY much enjoyed watching you two watch this classic beauty!! I've lost track of how many times I've seen this gem, but having used it in my high school film classes, it's a LOT of times. This was screenwriter/director John Huston's first directing job believe it or not. (He'd written some films before. Captain Jacoby was played by Huston's dad, long time actor Walter Huston.) It was fun watching you talk about the pacing and dialogue, too. Many of my students had a hard time following the 1930s and 1940s films I showed because the dialogue was so briskly delivered and editing was quite tight in many older films. Fun reaction!
Three of the actors in this film were in a movie made the next year. "Casablanca" starred Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet. Personally, I think George Lucas modeled Jabba the Hutt after Sydney Greenstreet. Wilmer, the bumbling thug, also appeared in the television series "Magnum P.I." as "Icepick", a mobster. The guy who played the detective named "Tom" had played a Union officer also named Tom a year earlier in "Gone With the Wind". His name was Ward Bond he also starred in the television series "Wagon Train."
5:45 *Effie:* "Spade and Archer!"
*TBR Schmidt:* "It's not 'Spade and Archer' any more."
*Sam Spade:* "... and have 'Spade and Archer' taken off all the doors and windows."
My second favourite Bogart film just after Casablanca. You guys really should watch that if you haven't already. One of the all time classics.
Hope you do a lot more of these great classic movies. Bogart has so many great movies. High Sierra, In a lonely place, Treasure ethe Sierra Madre, Casablanca, The Cain Mutiny and so many others are all great.
Miles Archer is played by the same actor who played the DA in Miracle on 34th Street. He also played Dagwood's boss, Mr. Radcliffe, in a series of movies based on the "Blondie" comic strip. He was on an episode of "The Twilight Zone" called "The 16 Milimeter Shrine," in which he played a retired movie star. It sure is a good thing the plot device of having the detective called up, and being told to meet somebody in the bad part of town, in the middle of the night, was never used again.
I recommend “Dead End” from 1937. Humphrey Bogart plays the bad guy in that film, and it’s a supporting role. Such a great movie
Another Bogart and Huston collaboration I recommend is The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which also stars John Huston's father Walter Huston.
Had to watch this in a college film class back in the 70s. It showed the first time certain lighting and filming techniques were used to set the mood.
My favorite Humphrey Bogart film is "The Caine Mutiny" (1954), a World War II movie where Bogart plays the captain of a ship who seems to be unhinged in some way.
As for other older films...
"East of Eden" (1955) is one of the few major films James Dean starred in before dying too young in a car accident. It's an adaptation of one of the great American novels by John Steinbeck. It's a pretty intense slow burn of a dysfunctional California family in the 1910s and acts as a kind of metaphor for the Cain and Abel story in Genesis.
"Grapes of Wrath" (1940) is also an adaptation of a classic John Steinbeck novel. It's a haunting cinematic masterpiece with amazing performances led by Henry Fonda. It follows the tribulations of a destitute Oklahoma family during the depression when the farmlands were "dust bowls."
Other must-see classic epics are "Ben-Hur" (1959), the story of a prominent Jerusalem family run afoul of Roman oppression during the time of Jesus Christ which includes the legendary chariot race scene, and "The Ten Commandments" (1956), the story of Moses and the Exodus. It's pretty kitchy while at the same time being gorgeously larger than life and fascinating to watch. Both of them star Charlton Heston in his most iconic roles.
Another masterpiece adapted from a great American novel is "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962). This is by far my favorite Gregory Peck role (and I think most everybody else's too). It's also Robert Duvall's first Hollywood movie appearance. It's a study of race relations during the depression from the point of view of three children in a small Alabama town. It's both utterly delightful and utterly tragic.
Veering away from the intense dramas above is "Arsenic and Old Lace" (1944) where Cary Grant puts his slapstick comedy chops on display. He plays a fellow bringing his newlywed wife to meet his two sweet aunties, only to discover they've been harboring a dark secret for years. All kinds of silly antics ensue. The cast also includes Raymond Massey, the father of the family in "East of Eden," and Peter Lorre, the bug-eyed dude in "Maltese Falcon" and "Casabanca," both playing against type in this farcical film.
And finally another comedy, "Life With Father" (1947), a delightful romp of a character study of a family at the beginning of the 20th century where the father rules his wife and five boys (all redheads) with an iron fist---or so he thinks. Mischief abounds, and yet the love the family members have for each other comes through loud and clear. William Powell and Irene Dunn star as the parents, two names that may not be well known now, but were big stars in those days, plus a very young Elizabeth Taylor.
I do not suggest these films lightly. You are simply not sufficiently cultured cinematically until you've seen them all.
Now you have to watch "The Cheap Detective." It's based on a play by Neil Simon and is a spoof of both The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca.
Actually there was no play beforehand; it was a Neil Simon screenplay from the start.
Okay, I know everyone loves Bogart here, but I am going to recommend Peter Lorre films as my little guy needs love. Both he and Greenstreet went on to make 7 films together (I did a video on that), but also watch M. I honestly think it's the best, most powerful film from the early sound era and Lorre gives the best performance of the period. There's also Arsenic and Old Lace, which is dark, screwball comedy.
To Have and Have Not (1944) is also a great one with Bogart and of course the magnifique Bacall. A Mystery in Martinique during WWII