# Please Spoil The Maltese Falcon for Me -- Open Spoilers Welcome **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953 "2007-03-07T15:09:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/21 "2007-03-08T14:10:46Z")
For me, what keeps this from being an all time classic is Mary Astor- she may be a fine actress and all, but not nearly as pretty as other actresses of the period, and this role needed a bombshell to merit classic status. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/22 "2007-03-08T14:20:38Z")
I actually own a replica\* Maltese Falcon\* bought from _The Mysterious Bookshop_ in New York. Once a visitor was admiring it and hefting its considerable weight in his hand asked, “What’s it made of?” “The stuff dreams are made of,” I promptly replied but he didn’t get the joke. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/23 "2007-03-08T15:04:06Z")
[QUOTE=outlierrn] He bettered himself in prison through education. . [/QUOTE] Don’t forget the other Bogie movie he was in, _The Big Sleep._ ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/24 "2007-03-08T15:50:44Z")
gunsel meaning homosexual? I didn’t know that. I hate to be the kind of person who asks for a cite, but is there a cite on that? In the book, Wilmer does die at the end of the story (in an offstate shoot-out with the police). Also in the book it is clear that Wilmer and Cairo had a relationship, but also that Wiler has a crush on Gutman’s daughter. I didn’t notice anything in the book to indicate that Gutman was a homosexual, but maybe I missed it. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/25 "2007-03-08T16:10:46Z")
[Gunsel](http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-gun1.htm) [Slang terms for homosexual men](http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/ranger/whitman&wilde/definitions.html), including “punk” and “gunsel” (taken from the OED, according to the page). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/26 "2007-03-08T17:04:59Z")
Just to pile on, here is the OED’s entry: > [@OED](#): > > 1. A (naïve) youth; a tramp’s young companion, male lover; a homosexual youth. > > 1914 JACKSON & HELLYER Vocab. Criminal Slang 40 Gunshel, current amongst yeggs chiefly. A boy; a youth; a neophyte of trampdom. 1923 N. ANDERSON Hobo vii. 101 Gonsil, youth not yet adopted by jocker. 1927 Amer. Speech II. 387/2 Men can be observed traveling with boys… The boy has many names,{em}punk, gazooney, guntzel and bronc. Punk, guntzel and gazooney are also used to refer to any sort of green lad. 1929 D. HAMMETT in Black Mask Nov. 43/1 Keep that gunsel away from me while you’re making up your mind. 1931 G. IRWIN Amer. Tramp & Underworld Slang 88 Gonsil, a young tramp, not yet taken in hand and bent to his will by an older man. A boy. A passive male homosexual, usually a youth or younger man. Also gunsel. 1946 MENCKEN Amer. Lang. xi. 582 The tramp..carries a boy with him, to rustle food for him and serve him otherwise..the boy is a punk,..guntzel. Ibid. 584 Gonov, which means a thief to thieves, means a fool on the carnival lot, and the same meaning is given to guntzel, which means, in the jungles, the boy companion of a tramp. “Gunsel” as “gunman” dates from 1950, long after the movie came out. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/27 "2007-03-08T18:16:06Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] For me, what keeps this from being an all time classic is Mary Astor- she may be a fine actress and all, but not nearly as pretty as other actresses of the period, and this role needed a bombshell to merit classic status. [/QUOTE] She’s pretty enough; it’s just that in MF she was handicapped by having the Worst Haircut of All Time. [http://www.movieactors.com/freeseframes-1026/Kennel11.jpeg](http://www.movieactors.com/freeseframes-1026/Kennel11.jpeg) [http://www.flickr.com/photos/snitfit/13785638/in/set-505632/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/snitfit/13785638/in/set-505632/) [![](http://www.cineyestrellas.com/Elenco/Actrices/A/Astor_Mary_1.jpg) ](http://www.cineyestrellas.com/Elenco/Actrices/A/Astor_Mary_1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/28 "2007-03-08T18:34:42Z")
So having seen _The Maltese Falcon_ I reccomend _Casablanca, The Big Sleep,_ and the epitome of Bogart movies, _The Cheap Detective._ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/29 "2007-03-08T19:23:51Z")
No, no, no – the epitome of Bogart Movies That Don’t Actually Have Bogart In Them is **Play it Again, Sam**. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/30 "2007-03-08T19:31:00Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] No, no, no – the epitome of Bogart Movies That Don’t Actually Have Bogart In Them is **Play it Again, Sam**. [/QUOTE] I beg to differ, Sir, if only for the last few lines in _Cheap Detective._ I’d like you to meet the girls… ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/31 "2007-03-08T19:32:56Z")
I’ll add _[Beat the Devil](http://imdb.com/title/tt0046414/)_ to the list of Bogart recommendations. Bizarre little film that reunites Bogart and Lorre (Greenstreet was supposed to play the part that Robert Morley ended up playing but IIRC was too ill to do it). Meandering disjointed film and tremendous fun. And now I’ll create a firestorm of controversy and tell you not to watch _The Treasure of the Sierra Madre_. What a hideously overrated movie that is. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/32 "2007-03-08T19:37:06Z")
[QUOTE=Campion] Heh. You rock. 😉 [/QUOTE] :o 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/33 "2007-03-08T19:50:36Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] Don’t forget the other Bogie movie he was in, _The Big Sleep._ [/QUOTE] I think it came on right after _The Maltese Falcon_ the same night on TCM. And it featured a bit of homosexual tomfoolery as well. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/34 "2007-03-08T20:52:34Z")
Then there was the equally bizarre reference (book only) to the “gooseberry lay”, which couldn’t have been understood by more than one reader in a thousand, but which apparently anticipated Arnold Layne by several decades! ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/35 "2007-03-08T22:43:26Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] There was a George segal comedy called **The Black Bird** , in which it turns out that the Maltese Falcon was _not_ a fake – it was the real, jewel-encrusted bird, mistaken for a fake. Sam spade’s secretary returned to reprise her role (as did at least one other character, I think – pretty impressive for a semisequel made thirty years after the original). I never saw it, and i don’t think it fared well with critics. [/QUOTE] I saw it in a movie theater 30 years ago. It was dismal, and included a very lame scene with an Afro-American street hustler (a Huggy Bear clone, IIRC) who resents Segal’s character because he (the street hustler) thinks the name “Spade” is racist. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/36 "2007-03-08T22:53:09Z")
Bogart’s best performance & film, hands down, IMO, is **In a Lonely Place** , starring the otherworldly Gloria Grahame. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/37 "2007-03-08T23:11:35Z")
The film is a really nice adaptation of the book. And, if you can, borrow the audiobook from your local library. I listened to it on my way to work. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/38 "2007-03-08T23:20:15Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] And the reaction by Effie and Sam to Cairo’s calling card is also a sign. . [/QUOTE] What was the reaction? I don’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/39 "2007-03-09T00:05:59Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] What was the reaction? I don’t remember. [/QUOTE] It was scented, was it not? Maybe that was the hankie… ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953/40 "2007-03-09T00:16:38Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] The film is a really nice adaptation of the book. And, if you can, borrow the audiobook from your local library. I listened to it on my way to work. [/QUOTE] If I recall correctly, whoever reads the audiobook does a superb job. He riffs off the movie’s actors without being imitative. It was one of the best audiobooks I’ve heard. Daniel [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-spoil-the-maltese-falcon-for-me-open-spoilers-welcome/394953.md?page=3)