Capturing the Falcon

I recently found out that one of my friends has never seen the classic Humphrey Bogart film The Maltese Falcon. Since we were just then sitting at the bar in John's Grill, "Home of the Maltese Falcon" -- the spot author Dashiell Hammett chose in both his life (he ate pork chops here) and his fiction (Hammett's famous gumshoe Sam Spade eats a pork chop here in the novel on which the movie is based) -- I was deeply shocked. I had to order another martini to steady my jangled nerves. Pondering my buddy's sad fate, I wondered if she was beyond help. What could I do?

John Huston

The Gang and the Dingus: The Maltese Falcon.

Details

Opens Saturday, April 16, at 1 p.m. (and continues through May 11)

Admission is $6-8.50

221-8184

w w w.balboamovies.com

Balboa Theater, 3630 Balboa (at 38th Avenue), S.F.

Related Content

• Guilty Until Proven Innocent
  September 28, 2011
• "Shame": Body Horror Underlines Chronicle of Extreme Sex Addiction
  November 30, 2011
• Arthouse Movie Listings January 18-24
  January 18, 2012
• Sam Spade in a Chariot
  January 26, 2011
• Fall Arts: Nato Green Brings S.F. Truth to Red-State America
  September 7, 2011

More About

• Dashiell Hammett
• Gary Meyer
• Sam Spade
• Humphrey Bogart
• Lenny Bruce

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Just in the nick of time, the Reel San Francisco film festival is on hand to save her -- and any others who may share her Falcon-less situation. The fest is dedicated to movies set in San Francisco, and programmer Gary Meyer must have had a hell of a time narrowing it down to a mere month's worth of screenings, because this is a deep pool to choose from. But the selections he's made are brilliant, from the inclusion of several 1950s B-grade noirs to the self-explanatory Lenny Bruce: Performance Film to the underappreciated The Conversation, a 1970s thriller starring Gene Hackman and Shirley from TV's Laverne & Shirley. Beware: The latter contains scenes of unfettered mimes in Union Square.

Not only has Meyer thoughtfully included all the classic S.F. flicks that most folks know and love -- like Vertigo, Harold and Maude, and Bullitt (vroom, Steve McQueen, vroom!) -- but he's also done The Maltese Falcon one better. I'll be able to bring my friend to see the Bogie version anda pre-Code production of Hammett's novel, made in 1931 (aka Dangerous Female) with a Sam Spade who, according to Anita Monga's hilarious film notes on the theater's Web site, "beds every dame that crosses his path."