Features
Classic Movie Characters: Sam Spade Played by Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The character that made Bogie a star, gumshoe Sam Spade has seen more angles than a geometry professor and spotted more lies than a polygraph, but his latest case, involving a precious statuette known as the Maltese Falcon and the assorted (and colorful) villains scheming to get it, will sternly test his hard-boiled instincts.
He’ll solve the case, all right, but not before he loses his partner, gets hassled by the cops, has multiple guns pointed at him, gets drugged, loses the girl and wins her back and loses her again, and utters one of cinema’s most famous closing lines.
Defining Moment: When he turns over said girl (Mary Astor) to the cops, despite the fact that he loves her. Hey, he’s nobody’s sap.