I love the 1944 movie, it is a classic of film noir. But could such a movie be made today? my guess is NO:
-the Joel Cairo character would not be believable to a modern audience
-nobody travels by ship today, so forget the murder of captain Jacoby
-there aren’t any “sam Space” type Private detectives today
Could a modern version be made, that would be as good as the original? or is this a story of its time, which could not be translated into AD 2008?
It could be remade if set in 1940.
However, it could be easily modified for the 21st century if you concentrated on the homosexual subtext throughout. Cairo could be updated to a more modern example, and you could have, say, FedExed the the Falcon and have the delivery guy be murdered. Spade could have just been an ex-cop fallen on hard times.
I would love a remake with hard-boiled investigator “Sam Space”.
I don’t think the homosexual subtext needs to be any more explicit than it was in the original (1941, by the way, which was from a book published in 1930). I think it would be interesting to update the story, and I think you could keep most of the elements. The gunsel’s character might need to change a bit, that was the most period/cliché characterization in the movie. There are still freighters that carry passengers, and there could be a good plot reason for using that method of transporting the object.
What would be hard is finding actors to do the parts justice, without doing imitations or parodies.
Hijack: I always wondered why Gladys George got third billing, when she only had two short (and awful) scenes. It looks like she was a fairly ordinary contract actor for Warner’s. Did most of her role end up on the cutting room floor? (end hijack).
Roddy
ETA: by “the original” movie I don’t mean to imply that it was the first movie version of the book. Just that it’s the one the OP is referring to.
(crossing my fingers and closing my eyes real hard) Let it be Kevin James and let somebody put real bullets in the gun by accident!
The thing is, the Bogey version almost used the book for its script. An update would mean that it was no longer Dashiell Hammett’s voice, and it would no longer be “The Maltese Falcon.”
Now, if you’d like to remake another Bogart movie, one that had a script that was written on the fly, not taken from a respected novel, so nobody would care what you did with it, how about Casablanca?
Why would the character be unbelievable? Are there no longer cowardly petty criminals in the world?
There are thousands of cargo ships that run every day. Easily adapted.
Were there really, then? Or was Sam Spade and the whole hard-boiled detective character type made up out of the whole cloth?
Since we’re assuming you mean the Bogart version, then yes, a modern version could be made that is as good as the “original,” if a stronger female lead were cast. Mary Astor was horribly miscast.
I kind of disagree.
I can see an evil Borat.
People travel by ship constantly. There is more cruise ship travel these days than ever before. And there are more things shipped by container ship and tanker than ever before. In addition, he doesn’t absolutely have to be a ship captain. It could be an airline pilot.
Check your phone book. You would be surprised. As a journalist, I have interviewed a few (wannabes, at least, but even at the time the original was made, most were probably wannabes).
But that being said, I don’t think there are the quality of actors and director around that could pull it off. We are in an era of “pretty boy” actors, happy ending script writers and flash directors, so you are probably right. In addition, there is no car chase, no special effects, CGI or otherwise, no fights using karate and for virtually all the killings the audience has to use their imaginations and heaven knows that can’t be allowed (an audience using its imagination).
Yeah, you’re right, darn it.
Beaten by 37 years. Sam Space.
The Maltese Falcon we’re talking about was made in 1941. It had already been made in two very different versions. They got it right the third time so they haven’t found any real need to make it again. But if anybody wanted to they would just make another bunch of changes. What would be the point of making it again as the same movie?
And the same thing applies to every other product of an earlier time. We can’t remake any of them in the original sense.
Aaagghhhh! My eyes! What misbegottenly horrible sentiment have I seen expressed on my screen?
Bite thy tongue, foul serpent. She was perfect! Even Bogie thought so - “You’re good. You’re real good.”
See?
Seriously, I can’t see any other actress of that time able to pull off those last scenes in Spade’s apartment, when her whole world comes crashing down and she still can’t quite believe it. Oh, Bette Davis maybe, but she would have overpowered the whole movie, and blown even Bogie out of the water. You want a really good (and attractive) character actress in that part, and that’s what Mary Astor was.
Roddy
Wouldn’t work. One of the big themes of the movie – and the book – was that Jacobi trusted O’Shaughnessy, and died. Thursby trusted O’Shaughnessy, and died. Archer trusted O’Shaughnessy, and died. Spade slowly comes to realize this in the space of the story, doesn’t trust her, and survives. A murdered FedEx employee was just some poor schlub doing his job at the wrong time and place.
I agree with Otto. The Brigid O’Shaunessy of the novel is a femme fatal. Devious and sexual. I know that Mary Astor was quite the hot pants in her personal life, but she exudes zero sensuality onscreen.
Just because she isn’t Jessica Rabbit? She exudes sensuality in the style of the 30’s.
Maybe this is a generational thing (although I’m not *that *old). (And I’m not attracted to women anyway.) Name me someone of the right age in 1941 who would have done it better.
Hell, in the spirit of the OP, name me someone *now *who could do it better. And I mean act, not just spill her tits all over the screen.
Roddy
Wow, the 30s must have been really dull.
Joan Crawford. Norma Shearer (although she was a little old).
Angelina Jolie. Gina Gershon. Jennifer Tilly.
But she had to be sympathetic. Rewrite Gutman as a tall, slender woman, call her the Skinny Bitch…nah, Crawford’s too evil to play Gutman.
Just another thought: There was a real-life “Maltese Falcon” in the previous century, in a case of life imitating art: The 1933 Double Eagle that was sold several years ago. Acquired illegally, passing thru numerous hands, including King Farouk of Egypt. Stored in the WTC, and moved only months before the towers were leveled.
Watch “Rain” or “Grand Hotel” and Crawford’s other early films, back before she was JOAN CRAWFORD. Hell, watch “Mildred Pierce” to see her play a sympathetic woman in a noir setting. Back before Joan decided she was JOAN, she actually acted.
An interesting bit of trivia- Maltese Falcon was slapped together with a minimal budget. If you watch it, you’ll notice that almost the entire movie takes place on just a couple cheap studio sets. The idea was to use a sure fire novel to make a cheap movie quickly. It was a little surprising when it became one of the most important movies ever.
If that was the sensuality in the style of the thirties, what the hell was Jean Harlow? (No, I am not suggesting Harlow would have been right for the part, had she lived. I just found the idea of Mary Astor being the ideal of sensuality onscreen in any era ridiculous.) And no, Jessica Rabbit isn’t what I had in mind. Just someone with a less patrician manner. A little more earthy, someone who looks like her hips could actually move.
Modern, who can act, who can be both sexy and classy? Cate Blanchett. Charlize Theron. Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Otto, I don’t want to get into a prolonged argument about this, but I can’t let your suggestions for other actresses pass without comment.
Joan Crawford and Angelina Jolie are both wrong for the same reason - they would overpower the part. Repeating what I said before, I think this is not a star vehicle but a character role. You need someone who can lose herself in the role, a la Meryl Streep (who could have done it but I think she’s too old now). (Speaking to Mary Astor’s acting ability again, it was only 3 years later that she played Judy Garland’s mother in Meet Me in St. Louis, a very different sort of role. That’s the sort of acting talent this role needs.)
I don’t know anything about Gina Gershon, except she seems to be mostly a TV actress and I wonder if she has the acting chops. As for Jennifer Tilly, she looks a bit zoftig now to be convincing as a femme fatale.
Clearly this is a matter of taste and interpretation, so we might as well agree to disagree. But if I see there is actually a remake of this movie, I’ll be checking out the casting director before I go see it (to make sure it isn’t you 
).
Roddy