"Movie Moments That Make No Sense- The Maltese Falcon" Topic

Watched the Bogart classic with my wife last night (her first viewing), and one scene had me going, "Hang on… How did that happen?"
It's the scene where the stranger with the package shows up at Spade's office, and falls dead at Spade's feet.
Spade immediately guesses it's the captain of a tramp steamer that just arrived from Hong Kong, only to be set fire at the docks. Well, okay, Sam. The heavy bird-statue sized package is certainly a giveaway, so that works. But how the heck did said captain know to come to your place? And, since he's full of bullet holes and dying, why did he come to you? How did he even know where to find you? Why not find a hospital first?
We do learn later that Wilmer ("the kid") shot the captain in the back multiple times, but the captain "got away." (Mortally wounded older man escapes unwounded young thug, runs across town to P.I.'s office, dies before he can speak… That's a very specific kind of deadly wound.)
But none of that explains why he came to Spade or how he got there.

Oh, well. Great movie. The mysteries of the deaths aren't even the point; people just die to advance the plot/add to the tension. And you gotta love lines like: "Oh, we didn't believe you. We believed your two-hundred dollars." "The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter." And "It's the stuff that dreams are made of," the film being the origin of the phrase in the modern lexicon (though it's actually a corruption of Shakespeare's "Such stuff as dreams are made on," from The Tempest).

We've also been watching the '80s show Moonlighting, and my wife commented on the similarities between camera angles and shots in the agency office in the show to scenes in Spade's office. The classics live on, even when you don't know 'em.

Thursday and O'Shaughnessy had the bird in Hong Kong, but Gutman was after them. They must have given it to the ship's captain before fleeing to San Francisco in case they were caught, or some such. The captain arrives in SF, intending to deliver the bird to Thursday,but he's been killed. I haven't read the book, but I suspect that somehow the captain connected Thursday and Archer, and heads to Archer's office if he doesn't know Archer is dead, or more likely to Archer's partner's office since that's the only connection he has toward finding O'Shaughnessy. Or Gutman and Wilma confront him on the boat and mention Spade, and he decides he doesn't like them and heads for Spade, again the only other connection he has. He doesn't realize that he's holding the treasure, he's just been promised a big payoff and he's trying to find it.

Of course, why he's still pursing a lead that might or might not lead to that payoff when he should be looking for a doctor is unanswerable, except, as we say in my family, the shows about well-adjusted people who make good life choices aren't very much fun. Maybe he was promised a really big check but had to make sure there were no "imperial entanglements".

His escape from Wilma is pretty obvious. There were witnesses, maybe they appeared suddenly, Wilma faded into the background, planning on picking up the package later.

But he did travel quite a ways with all those gunshot wounds, presumable from .45s.

And I guess Gutman and/or Cairo decided to light the ship on fire because, um, obviously to cover up, um, who knows.

Anyway, I assume the book fills in some of these details.

The reason this doesn't sink the movie is that it's not, I don't think, a mystery. It's a drama. The point is the interaction of flawed but appealing characters. I prefer my dramas with ancient treasures and .45s and burning ships to the more common dramas about adultery and family baggage. Mysteries are great, and in mysteries the plot must fit together perfectly. In dramas only the emotional side really has to make sense.

IIRC Jacobi wasn't coming from the docks, he was coming from Brigid's apartment, down the fire escape. Presumably Wilmer was up a few flights while shooting. It doesn't get explained till afterwards, when Gutman and Spade are thrashing through things.

Of course, I think I'm remembering the movie and not the novel…

I would recommend reading the novel (and even the magazine serial, which is slightly different) for the Flitcraft story, though you can probably find the text of it online. It's one big reason the novel deserves to be elevated out of a genre fiction niche and considered one of the best novels ever written. The last 30 pages or so are the another big reason.

The Big Sleep is known for its convoluted plot. During filming, allegedly neither the director nor the screenwriters knew whether chauffeur Owen Taylor was murdered or had killed himself. They sent a cable to Chandler, who told a friend in a later letter: "They sent me a wire … asking me, and dammit I didn't know either"

Oh, I've read the novel. But novels and movies are different beasts, so my point was about the movie. In general questions raised in a movie must be answered by the movie itself, not outside elements. And as I said, it's not a mystery (though it could have had more…the only real mistake of significance in the movie is the opening text identifying the bird and its history. That could have and should have been left out, so that Sam and the audience are pursuing the same questions from the start. But it's hard to knock the film; a true classic, and considered by many the first true example of film noir).

But the moment doesn't detract from the point of the film, which is the contrast between the unbridled greed of the others and the "detective's code" of Sam Spade, which he can't and won't set aside for either love or money.

I've found it in the script, the captain was coming from Brigid's apartment.

Gutman: …We then left the boat and set out for my hotel where I was to pay Miss O'Shaughnessy and receive the bird. Well, sir, we mere men should have known better. En route, she, Captain Jacoby and the falcon slipped completely through our fingers. It was neatly done, sir. Indeed, it was.

Spade: You touched off the boat before you left?

Gutman: No, not intentionally. Though, we, or Wilmer at least, were responsible for the fire. While the rest of us were talking in the cabin, Wilmer went about the boat trying to find the falcon. No doubt, he was careless with matches.

Spade: And how about the shooting?

Gutman: We caught up with Miss O'Shaughnessy and Jacoby at her apartment. I sent Wilmer downstairs to cover the fire escape before ringing the bell. And, sure enough, while she was asking us who we were through the door and we were telling her, we heard a window go up. Wilmer shot Jacoby as he was coming down the fire escape shot him more than once, but Jacoby was too tough to fall or drop the falcon. He climbed down the rest of the way, knocked Wilmer over, and ran off.

Yeah, she had time to fill him in about Spade being an ally in the city if needed.

I've said it before, but the big problem for me was that I could never buy Bogart falling for Mary Astor. She doesn't make a very convincing femme fatale, and Bogart doesn't seem very convinced either. The novel's Sam Spade was much more conflicted.

Couldn't buy her in Red Dust,either.What fool would discard Jean Harlow for Mary Astor?

I mean,c'mon!

It was all orchestrated by Kaiser Sozey….Kaiser Sozey?…KAISER SOZEY!!!!!

I agree on Spade and O'Shaughnessy. His confession of love at the end always seemed to come a little out of nowhere, but it was so dramatic I let it pass.

Surely, you can't function as a private detective too long if you fall in love with every client, as well as your partner's wife. What a maroon.

Forever a great movie. I pity the person who decides to do a remake…

The Maltese Falcon 1941 WAS a remake

link

And in between,came the "screwball comedy" version:

Bette Davis! Warren William! Arthur Treacher! What wacky hi-jinks will they get up to?

youtu.be/XeRSnZYhgeI

All three conviently packaged together here:

link

What fool would discard Jean Harlow for Mary Astor?

I would be such a fool.

If you thought Maltese Falcon had scenes that made no sense, then stay away from Ridley Scott's most recent Alien sequels!

I would be such a fool.

Me too!

Oh,good--she's all mine,then! Muahahahaha!

Sorry Hafen, I am most definitely in the Harlow camp!

Drat. Then,suh, I fear we must duel for her! And since we're both clearly living in our own imaginations, may I recommend laser cannons at ten feet?

Unless you want to opt for Mark Twain's preferred choice; brickbats at 400 paces. . .

Okay, I have a plan that will avoid useless imaginary bloodshed. You can have Jean from Red Dust, and IŽll take her from Red Headed Woman. Oh wait, she was really evil in that one, so Dinner at Eight. Deal?

Sounds eminently fair!

Though,in reality, I'm afraid she'd most likely treat me like one of these guys:

youtu.be/mdZwqwf37c0

"Reality"--sooo overrated.

No, donŽt stray, keep with the Red Dust Jean and all will be well!

Can I pick Jean and Mary? Or is that greedy?

YOU get Red Headed Woman!

Or maybe Beast of the City:

Now THAT's Chicago Style, bringing a fist to a slap fight…

All this jawin' over Jacobi makes me want to see the 1931 version again, to check how they handled the issue.