Popular reviews

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  Review by Patrick Willems ★★★★ 7

  Gotta love Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, a wacky duo bumbling around the world for decades, killing random people because they want a dumb bird really bad

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  Review by Adam Friedland 15

  A femme fatale is just a woman with bpd

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  Review by Rida ★★★★★ 41

  Here's what I love about film noir: nobody gets to be an angel. No sentimentality, no melodrama, just tough characters who quip their way in and out of unsavory situations. Needless to say, The Maltese Falcon ticks every box on my list. And it isn't just a film noir; it's the first major film to be recognized as such, and therefore one of the most influential films in the genre. And boy, does it live up to expectations.

  Being both a cinephile and a bibliophile, I felt obliged to read the The Maltese Falcon before watching the film adaptation. Dashiell Hammett's novel was a perfect candidate for the big screen: minute descriptions, unique characters, and colorful dialogue that was just…

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  Review by eely ★★★½ 1

  there’s a scene where humphrey bogart rolls, lights, and takes a drag off a cigarette and then gets held at gunpoint, disarms the man holding him at gunpoint, punches him in the face hard enough to knock him out cold, and then goes through all of his belongings all while the cigarette is perfectly balanced between his teeth, and that my friends is what i call talent

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  Review by Jizzmonkey ★★★★ 3

  An unfamiliar time. Men were men, dames were dames, and smoking was good for you.

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  Review by Matt Singer ★★★★ 1

  Always thought this was about a pet falcon owned by Leonard Maltin. Oh well.

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  Review by Mr. DuLac ★★★★★ 10

  I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble.
  -Sam Spade

  Some films are credited with defining a particular genre. The Maltese Falcon didn't define a genre, but it helped create one. It was film-noir before the term film-noir existed. While it's arguably not the first to be considered noir, it is still regarded as the first by a major studio. It isn't however the first adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's novel, but actually the third.

  For John Huston's directorial debut it seems odd that he would attempt a third adaptation of a novel that was barely over 10 years old, but he had an idea that stood out from the others. The script is practically a direct translation of Hammett's novel.…

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★★ 3

  huston weaves hammot's rigid, economical writing into an aggressively blunt style that is deeply unforgiving to all the callous, deceitful characters involved in this vicious, fatalistic farce. bogart cynically smirks and snarls his way through the abyss like he's seen it all, like he's better than it—that he's eventually reduced to just another greedy scumbag (albeit one with "honor", whatever that means) feels like an important step for future noirs.

  full discussion on episode 48 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.

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  Review by Justin Peterson ★★★½ 2

  (The Average Joe’s Movie Club Cast)

  Sometimes all-time classics simply aren't the stuff your personal dreams are made of.

  "When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it."

  I admit Humphrey Bogart as Samuel Spade is a great character in this, but even all his cynically slick dialogue could not get me to care about the murder mystery this essentially boils down to. Sam's secretary Effie was a great character, but I thought the femme fatal and his partner's widow were just obnoxiously melodramatic. Peter Lorre's eccentric character was also a highlight, and it was fun to see Sam push him and the other little guy with guns around.

  I am glad I checked out the Angry Video Game Nerd…

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  Review by cassandra ★★★★ 16

  Humphrey Bogart may be 98 years older than me (and dead) but that's not going to stop me from having a crush on him! Also, I've been into watching film noirs lately but I'm still fairly new to the genre. Any recommendations?

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  Review by sydney ★★★★★

  rewatched for the first time since teenhood, so now i'll tell you why it's in my four favorites and will always stay there. i watched and loved it as a kid, i loved lots of old movies but this one in particular enchanted me. there's something so dangerous and adult about it though this viewing revealed it as a near comedy? an over-the-top romp at least. it's basically the simplest distillation of every noir/pulp/detective landmark, which is a positive or a negative depending on your point of view. for mine, its workmanlike avoidance of any frills and its dedication to doing not much more than put a novel on a screen works in its favor, and it's a top five…

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  Review by CinemaCl🎃wn ★★★ 2

  Jam-packed with twists n turns from start to finish, presenting Humphrey Bogart in one of his most impressive roles, and also marking the feature film debut for esteemed filmmaker John Huston, The Maltese Falcon is regarded by many as one of the first examples of film noir and although its plot is always on the move, I wasn't entirely enthralled by it.

  Based on the novel of the same name, the story follows a private investigator in San Francisco who takes on a case that results in his partner's death on the very first night, and involves not only his beautiful client who's very manipulative but three more eccentric criminals, who are on a quest to obtain a priceless statuette.…