BUCKET LIST UPDATE No. 177: Watch “The Maltese Falcon” (1941)

Last December, I read “The Maltese Falcon” by Dashiell Hammett, which is considered one of the greatest detective novels ever written. Originally published in 1930, the novel features Sam Spade, the quintessential hardboiled private detective. A beautiful woman hires Spade for help, and he quickly becomes enmeshed in a plot involving a rare, historic statue of a bejeweled falcon. Spade’s partner gets gunned down right out of the gate, and bullets continue to fly right up to the end of this suspenseful thriller.

The novel left me wanting to watch the 1941 film adaptation of the novel, a movie classic that was directed by John Huston and starred Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade. I put this movie on my “bucket list” last year and watched it from start to finish yesterday thanks to NetFlix. I thought the movie was great, and I highly recommend it to those of you who enjoy older movies.

Like Hammett’s original novel, the motion picture version of “The Maltese Falcon” can also be found on many “best of” lists. In 1989, it was selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress’ prestigious National Film Registry. In 1999, Entertainment Weekly ranked it No. 31 on its list of “100 Greatest Movies of All Time.”

Several years ago, The Art of Manliness web site included “The Maltese Falcon” on a “best of” list it called “100 Must See Movies: The Essential Men’s Movie Library.” In 1998, the American Film Institute also ranked it No. 23 on its list of “AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies” and No. 31 on it’s 2007 (10th Anniversary Edition) list of “AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies.” Film critic Roger Ebert also ranked it among the best movies of all time.

I was interested to learn that the “Maltese Falcon” referred to in the movie’s title is a reference to a prized, much sought after “Golden Falcon encrusted from beak to claw with rarest jewels.” It was a tribute paid to Charles V of Spain by the Knights Templar of Malta, but was stolen during a pirate raid. This is something that, to the best of my knowledge, isn’t discussed in the novel (that is, unless I’ve just forgotten about it or missed it entirely).

As it turns out, the "Maltese Falcon" is a factually based. Centuries ago, the Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem had to make an annual tribute to Charles V, who was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. On All Saints Day (Nov. 1), they had to pay this tribute in the form of a falcon, which was symbolic for a number of reasons. Apparently this was done up until 1798, when the Order of St. John of Jerusalem was kicked off the Maltese Islands by the French.

In the end, how many of you have watched “The Maltese Falcon”? What did you think about it? Did you like it or not? How many of you have read Hammett’s novel? Let us know in the comments section below.