FRIDAY MOVIE SUGGESTION NIGHT PRESENTS: "THE MALTESE FALCON!"

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Now comes the last "regular" film of 2007's "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" with John Huston's "The Maltese Falcon"--Humprey Bogart's first "A-Movie" and John Huston's first directorial effort. Can you believe 65 years later, you can curl up on a cold, winter night with some hot chocolate and enjoy a film that defines the word "gumshoe"? I'm serious! Watch the way Bogart walks on the balls of his feet. Funny!! At least once, he retracts his upper lip after making a point. Bogey is Sam Spade, a detective who is partners with Jerome Cowan as Miles Archer in a detective agency named--what else? Spade and Archer. Client Mary Astor---(who reminds me of a date with a bad liar) shows up at their office purporting to need their help in getting rid of a man who's intruding on her life. Miles Archer takes the "hook, line and sinker" of her story and pays for it early on as he cheats on his wife. Not coincidentally, Bogey has been fooling around with Archer's wife, Gladys. Fortunately, Bogey's decision making improves in this area as the story unfolds. Nevertheless, this is just enough to lead police to suspect Bogart had something to do with his partners death. A cool-headed Bogart's investigation unexpectedly leads him to a crew of kooky crooks: Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Elisha Cook, Jr. who are all in hot pursuit of a statue of a Falcon that is said to be encrusted in gold and precious jewels. NOT TO BE MISSED: Watch the scene where Peter Lorre walks into Bogart's office with a lie so outrageous that Bogart slaps him up one side and down the other. But wait! As Lorre is dabbing blood with his hanky, he comes up with an amusing proposition. Oh, this is absolutely HILARIOUS! This is also Sydney Greenstreet's film debut. Huston was previously limited to being a screenwriter and in fact he received an Oscar nomination for this film. Greenstreet earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Also, watch for Lee Patrick as Effie, the secretary at Spade & Archer. She has a huge crush on Bogart. All in all, this film flies by, it's so entertaining! Here are the players: Director: John Huston; Writers: Dashiell Hammett (the novel); John Huston (the screenplay); Humphrey Bogart is Sam Spade; Mary Astor is Brigid O'Shaughnessy; Gladys George is Iva Archer; Peter Lorre is Joel Cairo; Lee Patrick is Effie Perine; Sydney Greenstreet is Kasper Gutman and Jerome Cowan is Miles Archer. They don't make em' like this anymore! Just this year, in fact, the American Film Institute ranked "The Maltese Falcon" as the #31 Greatest Movie of All Time.

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ENJOY!