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.
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.
Don’t forget the other Bogie movie he was in, The Big Sleep.
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.
Gunsel
Slang terms for homosexual men, including “punk” and “gunsel” (taken from the OED, according to the page).
Just to pile on, here is the OED’s entry:
“Gunsel” as “gunman” dates from 1950, long after the movie came out.
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.cineyestrellas.com/Elenco/Actrices/A/Astor_Mary_1.jpg
So having seen The Maltese Falcon I reccomend Casablanca, The Big Sleep, and the epitome of Bogart movies, The Cheap Detective. 
No, no, no – the epitome of Bogart Movies That Don’t Actually Have Bogart In Them is Play it Again, Sam.
I beg to differ, Sir, if only for the last few lines in Cheap Detective.
I’d like you to meet the girls…
I’ll add Beat the Devil 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.
:o 
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.
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!
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.
Bogart’s best performance & film, hands down, IMO, is In a Lonely Place, starring the otherworldly Gloria Grahame.
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.
What was the reaction? I don’t remember.
It was scented, was it not? Maybe that was the hankie…
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