Word: falcon
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Success in the ministry, says Smith, comes from meticulous conformity to "the right professional stance." A clergyman must never even think, for example, of driving a red Corvette convertible. For beginning preachers, a black, two-door Falcon is ideal; a dark green Chevy II with automatic transmission is "safe" for the pastor of a small congregation. But a substantial urban congregation may expect its minister to drive something a bit larger and less austere, such as a blue Mercury Comet or a Pontiac Tempest...
...Maltese Falcon" (1941) was, in several respects, a significant "first" in Hollywood history. Not only was it the first American detective movie and John Huston's first job as a director, but it also gave Bogart his first full-fledged hero role and was the first of the four all-time classic Bogies ("Casablanca", "To Have and Have Not", and "The Big Sleep" are the others). Adapted by Huston almost word for word from the Dashiell Hammett novel, "The Maltese Falcon" is a tough-minded, unpretentious little mystery, which may critics feel is still the best ever produced...
...complex plot revolves around a couple of murders and a frantic search for, strangely enough, the Maltese Falcon, a sixteenth century jewel encrusted gold statue worth an estimated two million dollars. The film's most notable feature, however, is not the mystery of its plot but the awesomely rugged character of its hero, private detective Sam Spade...
...probably the most thoroughly intimidating character Bogie ever portrayed. Sydney Green-street is just right as the jovial, pedantic Fat Man, obsessed with the "black bird." His great line: "Well, by Gad, if you lose a son it's possible to get another, but there's only one Maltese Falcon," is perhaps the best in a movie full of great lines. Peter Lorre is suitably effete and prim as the foppish Joel Cairo...
...Sleep" (1946) is producer-director Howard Hawkes' version of "The Maltese Falcon." Based rather closely on the Raymond Chandler novel, which, in turn, seems to have borrowed heavily from Hammett's, "The Big Sleep" has several important elements in common with the earlier movie: Philip Marlowe (Bogart) is a just-barely-watered-down Sam Spade - a little more romantic, but otherwise every bit as hard and even more violent; he has to contend with a similarly secretive and much more attractive client (Lauren Bacall); and he, like Spade, has to keep the police at bay so they...