Note: Very minor spoilers
Thomas Hobbes once described life without government as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Film noir paints a picture of life that is quite similar, yet it somehow manages to create out of this Hobbesian muck a life filled with heroes, villains, quips, and dames. Why are some of us so drawn to film noir?
Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade is a private detective working with a partner. When his partner gets shot to death, there's little or no grief or panic, just naked wonder about who perpetrated the crime. That's what, to me, separates noir from other films - the nakedness of the characters' desires. The desire is usually quite simple, but the ability to achieve it quite convoluted. We get to see the characters' interests intertwine and clash, double-crosses, double-dealing, even triple-crosses (hat tip to Miller's Crossing). It's all so damned interesting.
The one failure of film noir is the ability to truly sympathize with the characters - as we find out more and more about what's really going on, our interest in the story's players wanes. Their role is to act out the part of these desires and little more. The Maltese Falcon is no exception, and while its final scene is tremendously well-written, it still strikes a false note to get to that point.
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Maltese Falcon is one I also saw recently but I was greatly disappointed. It's one of those old movies you hear lots about and has a lot of hype around it like Casablanca. But unlike Casablanca, I really thought this one didn't live up to the billing.
ReplyDeleteThe leading lady who is supposed to be this beautiful woman is pretty plain IMO. And there is supposed to be this great chemistry between her and Spade so that the final scene is emotionally intense but they did nothing to build it. The whole time he doesn't take her seriously and is obviously just using her, and in the end he claims he loves her? I just didn't see it.
And some of the scenes were just so ridiculous. That entire stretch at the end where they are all sitting around waiting in the apartment felt like a poorly written low budget film. The man who knows he's going to be given up to the police just lays down and takes a nap for a few hours? I mean come on.
And then the side story with his partner's widow feels so thrown in and in the end, is just sort of forgotten about and they never go back to it.
4 stars is too much IMO.
I'm a huge film noir fan and a huge Bogart fan, but haven't seen The Maltese Falcon in so long that I can't add anything intelligent other than to say that I liked it.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't already, be sure to check out The Big Sleep and Key Largo.
it's funny, rubeskies - i just saw casablanca for the first time not too long ago either, and i wasn't blown away (i didn't expect to be, either). i feel like casablanca is probably endlessly rewatchable for a certain set of people and that's where it gets its charm. anyway -
ReplyDelete'the leading lady is plain' - agreed.
'the final scene is emotionally intense but they did nothing to build it' - totally agree.
'the stretch at the end' - agree there too, the movie gets a little claustrophobic there.
'side story goes nowhere' - i like the idea of a red herring in a noir. in this film, you only really know what sam spade knows, and half the time he doesn't tell you when he's figured it out, only when he needs to tell someone else. tying up every single loose end in a noir is tiresome - IMO the resolution should be as quick as possible before we start to tire of these rotten people. this was my one problem with 'brick' a movie which if you haven't seen, you should.
anyway, all of that considered, i still give it 4 stars because while i think the love story sucks, the final bogart speech is pretty much the ultimate summation of noir logic, and the maltese falcon is just a brilliant macguffin. fwiw, i gave the asphalt jungle 5 stars and double indemnity too, so i may just think very highly of these sorts of films.
Re: Red Herrings
ReplyDeleteGood point about the Red Herring. I suppose I didn't really appreciate how important that is. Looking back, I did suspect her of something.
Interesting take on wrapping it all up quick before we get sick of these evil people. I think you may have something there. After the long drawn out apartment scene, I don't know if I could take anymore.
As for Brick, I did see it and loved it. But in Brick I didn't mind the wrap up too much because I actually liked the main character. Also, he'll always be Tommy to me no matter how many legit movies he does.