Sam Spade Sam Spade Sam Spade is a fictional private detective and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel, "The Maltese Falcon". Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett. "The Maltese Falcon", first published as a serial in the pulp magazine "Black Mask", is the only full-length novel in which Spade appears. The character, however, is widely cited as a crystallizing figure in the development of hard-boiled private detective fiction—Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, for instance, was strongly influenced by Spade. Spade was a departure from Hammett's nameless and less-than-glamorous detective, The Continental Op. Spade combined several features of previous
The Falcon in Mexico and boards an aircraft bound for home. Principal photography on "The Falcon in Mexico" took place from mid-March to April 4, 1944. At the time of its release, "The Falcon in Mexico" earned high critical marks, with "Boxoffice" declaring it, "... one of the best of the tried-and-true whodunit series." In a recent review of the Falcon series for the "Time Out Film Guide", Tom Milne wrote, "Conway, bringing a lighter touch to the series (which managed its comic relief better than most), starred in nine films after The Falcon's Brother, most of them deft and surprisingly enjoyable." The Falcon