THE BLACK BIRD
US, 1975, 98 minutes, Colour.
George Segal, Stephane Audran, Lionel Stander, Lee Patrick, Elisha Cook.
Directed by David Giler.
The Black Bird is a slight, humorous film, full of laughs, especially for those who revere The Maltese Falcon (but not for the many who really reverence it). A floppy George Segal is Sam Spade Jr. (Humphrey Bogart turning in his grave!) and the Falcon is in his filing cabinet. Parodying the original, its characters and themes of greed, the film pokes fun at private-eve films and audience expectations. Lee Patrick repeats her secretary role 34 years on (is that what happened to U.S. women!) and Lionel Stander is a self-confessed conservative thug. Stephane Audran is the cool heroine. Enjoyable, broad humour which culminates with a nod to Jaws!
1. How enjoyable a comedy? Audience interest in the film because of the original 'Maltese Falcon'? The film as a treat for film buffs who would recognise the allusions and the parody? For the ordinary audience?
2. Did the parody destroy the impact of the original? Or did it do homage to the original by using it creatively?
3. Comment on the echoes of the original film: the lettering and styles of the credits, the music, San Francisco locations and the allusions to locations for murders etc. in the original, the recapitulation of names, the use of Lee Patrick and Elisha Cook again, the various lines and references to the original?
4. How much was the film a film of the 70s? The references to more recent films. e.g. the cars and Bullitt, Jaws at the end? The use of the 'Blackbird' song at the end?
5. How successful was the film in borrowing details of plot from the original? The linking of the original murder of the Fat Man, Wilma Cook arriving again, the use of various details e.g. the secretary?
6. How did the film borrow the themes from the original? The complicated plot and greed? Used in more knockabout fashion?
7. How did the film reflect the mood of the 70s in its humour, in its nostalgia for the past? The parody of the private eye genre?
8. How enjoyable a character was Sam Spade Jr.? (The ironic jokes of blacks as 'spades'?) George Segal's style compared with Humphrey Bogart's in the original? The deadpan narrative of a non-heroic private eye who didn't want to be one? His explanation of his career? Effie’s comment on his career and his relationship with women? His attitude towards money? His capacity for detecting, his greediness in taking clients? The intrusion of Immerman and Anna into his life and his relationship with both?
9. His gradual involvement with the question of the Maltese Falcon? His initial arrival and the police pushing him off while wanting to arrest him for murder,, the Maltese Falcon in the filing cabinet, his pawning the falcon, the attempted murder and his growing involvement?
10. The satire on the police. their trigger-happiness in wanting to arrest people, their inefficiency, their misreading of clues?
11. How humorous a character was Immerman? His intrusion,, his working for Du Quay? His explanation of himself as a conservative gangster? His incessant talking, his turning up at various times, rescuing Sam from the yacht,, wanting to be a partner at the end? A humorous comment on the duo detectives of recent films?
12. Anna as the cool heroine? The first meeting in the restaurant, the dancing, the quick escape,, the car and its crashing, the various chases, the parody of sex in her getting into the bed after he had been drugged etc.? The revelation about her father, about Litvac as her husband, her being with Sam and Immerman at the end? An attractive heroine, parodying the style?
13. The satire in having Litvac as the villain? The power-hungry dwarf? His entourage and way of life, Nazi overtones? The Hawaiians as his bodyguards? Their efficiency and inefficiency, being puffed out running up hills etc.? The satire on Litvac's death of a heart attack when he gets the Falcon back?
14. The minor criminals? Du Quay at the beginning, Wilma Cook and his death in the restaurant? The humorous sequence of finding Du Quay dead and the house detective watching television and then being arrested?
15. The contribution of Dr Crippen and her decoding the Aramaic? The revelation of the truth? The humour of the car parked on the hill outside her house? Expectations that the rubbish bin would go into flames and the car go down the hill etc.?
16. How much attention was given to small detail, visual and verbal detail, allusion to other films, the climax with 'Jaws'?
17. How enjoyable and American kind of film is this with its homage, parody treatment of themes and humour?
