Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon: The Film & Book
Dashiell Hammett was a prolific writer of short stories for the pulp magazines in the 1920s-1930s, but only wrote five mystery novels. Most of his works involved his anonymous detective The Continental Op, an employee of one of the big national detective agencies. Sam Spade became popular because of the movies, but didn't feature in much of this author's work. Hammett's greatest skill was his combination of terse presentation, witty dialogue, and a plain style, which is why Hammett is so well known now. It should be pointed out that he followed the proper conventions of the detective story in presenting complex crimes that can be solved by deduction from clues. He is considered the progenitor of the hard-boiled …show more content…
A fine scene where Spade is called in to the DA's office, where the latter is trying to make a connection between murder victim Thursby's involvement with a missing gambling mobster and Spade's client which is a traditional mystery red herring not even mentioned in the movie. Spade's whole ethic throughout is to protect the privacy of his clients from meddling law folk, a theme that is basic to the book. Gutman's drugged daughter. The affectionate relationship with his pip of a secretary Effie, spade's burglary of Brigid's apartment, spade's relations and friendships as a professional private eye with the like of hotels and other aides and informers and his cop friend Polhaus, and the full and fascinating history of the Falcon itself. Above all, the parable Spade discuss to Brigid about Mr. Flitcraft. A man who abandoned his prosperous career and his family after nearly being killed by a falling piece of construction work while walking to lunch. Having an epiphany that life is worthless and subject to randomness. "He adjusted himself to beams falling, and then no more of them fell, and he adjusted himself to them not falling." (Flitcraft Parable) This defines Spade's existential attitude and explains, in a sense, his basically honorable final action, a kind of return to normalcy, to what standards he
Dashiell Hammett was a prolific writer of short stories for the pulp magazines in the 1920s-1930s, but only wrote five mystery novels. Most of his works involved his anonymous detective The Continental Op, an employee of one of the big national detective agencies. Sam Spade became popular because of the movies, but didn't feature in much of this author's work. Hammett's greatest skill was his combination of terse presentation, witty dialogue, and a plain style, which is why Hammett is so well known now. It should be pointed out that he followed the proper conventions of the detective story in presenting complex crimes that can be solved by deduction from clues. He is considered the progenitor of the hard-boiled …show more content…
A fine scene where Spade is called in to the DA's office, where the latter is trying to make a connection between murder victim Thursby's involvement with a missing gambling mobster and Spade's client which is a traditional mystery red herring not even mentioned in the movie. Spade's whole ethic throughout is to protect the privacy of his clients from meddling law folk, a theme that is basic to the book. Gutman's drugged daughter. The affectionate relationship with his pip of a secretary Effie, spade's burglary of Brigid's apartment, spade's relations and friendships as a professional private eye with the like of hotels and other aides and informers and his cop friend Polhaus, and the full and fascinating history of the Falcon itself. Above all, the parable Spade discuss to Brigid about Mr. Flitcraft. A man who abandoned his prosperous career and his family after nearly being killed by a falling piece of construction work while walking to lunch. Having an epiphany that life is worthless and subject to randomness. "He adjusted himself to beams falling, and then no more of them fell, and he adjusted himself to them not falling." (Flitcraft Parable) This defines Spade's existential attitude and explains, in a sense, his basically honorable final action, a kind of return to normalcy, to what standards he