July Film Club #2

 Our second film of the month of July is another Humphrey Bogart offering, John Huston's The Maltese Falcon.

The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 American film noir written and directed by John Huston, marking Huston's directorial debut. It is the second film adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel, following the 1931 version directed by Roy Del Ruth.

The film stars Humphrey Bogart as the hard-boiled private detective Sam Spade, in a role that would cement his status as a Hollywood icon, alongside Mary Astor as the enigmatic and manipulative femme fatale Brigid O'Shaughnessy. Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet portray the memorable villains whose shifting alliances and hidden motives drive much of the story’s tension. Set in San Francisco, the plot revolves around the pursuit of a priceless, jewel-encrusted falcon statuette, with each character willing to resort to deceit, betrayal, and even murder to claim it.

The film currently holds a 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert awarded it 4/4 stars, adding it to his list of the Great Movies, said this in his review, "

Among the movies we not only love but treasure, “The Maltese Falcon” stands as a great divide. Consider what was true after its release in 1941 and was not true before:

(1) The movie defined Humphrey Bogart’s performances for the rest of his life; his hard-boiled Sam Spade rescued him from a decade of middling roles in B gangster movies and positioned him for “Casablanca,” “Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” “The African Queen” and his other classics.

(2) It was the first film directed by John Huston, who for more than 40 years would be a prolific maker of movies that were muscular, stylish and daring.

(3) It contained the first screen appearance of Sydney Greenstreet, who went on, in “Casablanca” and many other films, to become one of the most striking character actors in movie history.

(4) It was the first pairing of Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, and so well did they work together that they made nine other movies, including “Casablanca” in 1942 and “The Mask of Dimitrios” (1944), in which they were not supporting actors but actually the stars.

(5) And some film histories consider “The Maltese Falcon” the first film noir. It put down the foundations for that native American genre of mean streets, knife-edged heroes, dark shadows and tough dames."

We will be meeting Thursday, July 23 @ 5:30 pm

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv-BPuqhW9U

Hope to see you there!

July Film Club #1

It's July! Summer is in full swing and we're onto our 3rd film in our series. Our first July film in our Noir Series is The Big Sleep.

The Big Sleep is a 1946 American film noir directed by Howard Hawks. William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman co-wrote the screenplay, which adapts Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel. The film stars Humphrey Bogart as private detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge in a story that begins with blackmail and leads to multiple murders.

The film currently holds a 96% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert awarded it 4/4 stars, adding it to his list of the Great Movies, said this in his review, "It is one of the great film noirs, a black-and-white symphony that exactly reproduces Chandler’s ability, on the page, to find a tone of voice that keeps its distance, and yet is wry and humorous and cares. Howard Hawks is one of the great American directors of pure movies (“His Girl Friday,” “Bringing Up Baby,” “Red River,” “Rio Bravo”), and a hero of auteur critics because he found his own laconic values in many different kinds of genre material."

We will be meeting Thursday, July 16 @ 5:30 pm

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-K49CUaeto

Hope to see you there!