The Maltese Falcon, first published as a serial in the pulp magazineBlack Mask, is the only full-length novel by Hammett in which Spade appears. The character, however, is widely cited as a crystallizing figure in the development ofhard-boiled private detective fiction—Raymond Chandler'sPhilip 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 detectives, most notably his detached demeanor, keen eye for detail, and unflinching determination to achieve his own justice.
Spade was a new character created specifically by Hammett forThe Maltese Falcon; he had not appeared in any of Hammett's previous stories.[3] Hammett says about him:
Spade has no original. He is a dream man in the sense that he is what most of the private detectives I worked with would like to have been and in their cockier moments thought they approached. For your private detective does not—or did not ten years ago when he was my colleague—want to be an erudite solver of riddles in the Sherlock Holmes manner; he wants to be a hard and shifty fellow, able to take care of himself in any situation, able to get the best of anybody he comes in contact with, whether criminal, innocent by-stander or client.[4]
From the 1940s onward, the character became closely associated with actorHumphrey Bogart, who played Spade in thethird and best-known film version ofThe Maltese Falcon.[5] Though Bogart's slight frame, dark features and no-nonsense depiction contrasted with Hammett's vision of Spade (blond, well-built and mischievous), his sardonic portrayal was well-received, and is generally regarded as an influence on bothfilm noir and the genre's archetypal private detective.
Spade was played byRicardo Cortez in thefirst film version, released in 1931. Despite being a critical and commercial success, an attempt to re-release the film in 1936 was denied approval by theProduction Code Office due to the film's lewd content. SinceWarner Bros. could not re-release the film, a second version, this one a comedy,Satan Met a Lady (1936), was produced. The central character was renamed Ted Shane and was played byWarren William. The film was a box-office failure, and eventually resulted in a new version being made starring Bogart and directed byJohn Huston, which closely followed the novel, with a few exceptions.
George Segal played Sam Spade, Jr., son of the original, in the film spoofThe Black Bird (1975).The Black Bird was panned by critics.Peter Falk delivered a more successful spoof the following year as Sam Diamond inNeil Simon'sMurder by Death. This was preceded by the spoof character Sam Diamond inThe Addams Family episode "Thing Is Missing" (1965) portrayed by Tommy Farrell.
The 1946-1951 radio showThe Adventures of Sam Spade (on ABC, CBS, and NBC) starredHoward Duff (and laterSteve Dunne) as Sam Spade andLurene Tuttle as Spade's devoted secretary Effie Perrine, and took a considerably more tongue-in-cheek approach to the character.
In 2009, with the approval of the estate of Dashiell Hammett, the veteran detective-story writerJoe Gores publishedSpade & Archer: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett's THE MALTESE FALCON withAlfred A. Knopf, the original publisher of Hammett'sThe Maltese Falcon.
Satan Met a Lady (1936, Warner Bros.) (based onThe Maltese Falcon, with the character names and the object of their search changed), starringWarren William in the lead role
Maxwell House Coffee Time (aka The Burns And Allen Show): "Gracie Sends Sam Spade to Jail" (February 10, 1949NBC) a 30-minute episode starringHoward Duff—both as himself and as Sam Spade.[8]
The Adventures of Babe Lincoln (circa 1950, CBS): unaired, starringHoward Duff
Single-page comic strips, appeared in newspapers, magazines, comic books. Tie-in with radio showThe Adventures of Sam Spade, which Wildroot also sponsored. Artist:Lou Fine.
Spade was highlighted in volume 21 of theDetective Conan manga's edition of "Gosho Aoyama's Mystery Library", in the section (usually the last page) where the author introduces a different detective (or occasionally, a villain) from mystery literature, television, or other media.
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