Sam Spade

"The stuff that dreams are made of."

- Sam's most famous quote.

Samuel "Sam" Spade is the main protagonist of the 1929 Dashiell Hammett novel The Maltese Falcon, and its 1941 film adaptation of the same name. He's a private eye detective who has a keen eye for women and wants to avenge his deceased partner.

Wonderly's Case
Sam Spade is first seen in his detective office (Spade and Archer) located in San Francisco sharing an office with his partner, Miles Archer. Spade's secretary, Effie Perine enters his office where he is by himself rolling a cigarette. She tells him that there was a new "customer" who went by "Miss Wonderly" - to see him.

"Ruth Wonderly" walks into Spade's office and confronts Spade to talk about a situation. In a desperate and tense mood, "Wonderly" tells Spade that she is from New York and that her younger sister (Corinne) is missing. She ostensibly asks Spade for help in locating her sister, who vanished after writing that she was in San Francisco (she had left General Delivery as her only address). Supposedly, Corinne had been seduced by a man named Floyd Thursby while her parents were in Honolulu, and then ran away with the man. Miss Wonderly claims that she is hoping to find Corinne before her parents return. She met Thursby at the post office when he was picking up her second (and last) letter to Corinne. Thursby said that an appointment-date had been arranged to meet her sister that evening (after 8 o'clock) at the St. Mark Hotel.

Then, Spade's partner, Miles Archer walked in the room and Spade fills him in on the details of the woman's story. Before they looked for "Wonderly's" "sister", "Wonderly" warns them about Floyd's violent nature and how she was afraid of him. Archer volunteers to step up to the case (while secretly trying to get to know "Wonderly") As Ruth leaves the room, Miles states that he has an interest in the seemingly helpless woman, unfortunately he ended up lured into a dark street and shot by an unknown shooter.

Miles' Murder
Moments later, Sam Spade gets a phone call informing him that his partner was shot, he then phones Effie to notify Iva, Miles' wife.

Spade arrives at Miles' crime scene in a taxi where talks with Police Sergeant Tom Polhaus who shows him the location of Miles' body sprawled near some rocks and the murder weapon. The sergeant explains the events of the murder to Sam. Polhaus asks Sam if Miles was working, but Sam refuses to tell the police a lot about their case, and is in too much of a hurry to view his dead partner's body closeup. Spade telephones "Miss Wonderly"'s hotel, but finds that she has checked out without leaving any forwarding address. He returns to his dingy apartment, where he sleeps in the living room. He is visited in the dark, early morning by Polhaus and his superior, Lieutenant Dundy. Surrounded by the two cops, he is grilled and forced to repeat that Miles was tailing Thursby for an unnamed client. The cops, especially the Lieutenant, act suspicious since Spade refused to get to in depth about the case.

The next day, the city published a newspaper with the headline: "Thursby, Archer Murders Linked! - Private Detective Was Shadowing Thursby". Then, Iva, Archer's widow, is waiting for Spade in his office the day after the murders. Effie had unsuccessfully tried to keep Iva away. After closing the door to his PRIVATE office, the Spade and Iva embrace passionately - they have been having an affair for quite a while, but Spade had lost interest. Through her tears, a half-hoping Iva asks Spade if he killed Miles so they could get married. Spade denied doing so, and brushed her off, not wanting to get involved in anymore of her problems.

Effie enters his one-person office, and in a comfortable pose, sits up on his desk to light his cigarette. She asks for her opinion about his guilt. She avoids his question by asking if he would marry Iva. When Effie accuses Iva of killing Miles, Spade calls Effie "an angel, a nice, rattle-brained little angel" and says she didn't kill him. Their conversation turns to her concern about the many risky predicaments he often finds himself enmeshed in - but he evades her devoted worry. Spade receives a call from 'Miss Wonderly.' She has left the St. Mark Hotel and is now at the Coronet Apartments on California Avenue, under the name of "Miss Leblanc". As he burns the phone message in his hands (Effie wrote down the details of the call as he dictated them), Sam asks Effie to have Miles' desk moved out of the office and Miles' name removed from the office door since Miles was dead.

When Sam arrives at the Coronet, Brigid's wearing a striped robe, and she confesses that she previously made up the story about her sister from before, and that her real name was Brigid O'Shaughnessy. Spade and Archer already assumed this, but he forgives her since she warned them about how dangerous Thursby was. She expressed regret at the murder (which he didn't know was her fault), and tried to charm Sam into hiding her from the police knowing how brave and strong he was. Sam Spade complimented her act, knowing how untrustworthy she was. Brigid explains her relationship with Thursby and continues to be worried the police will find her. Spade's about to give up on her case, when she claims she would take her chances, finally getting Spade to cave in and help her with the case.

Joel Cairo
Spade returned to his office when Effie alerted Spade to a homosexual client who has just arrived in the outer office and presented her with a gardenia-perfumed business card. Spade sniffs the card, reacting with a bemused expression. A strange man named Joel Cairo confronts Spade in his office and askes if he could offer support for Miles' death. While fondling his cane, Cairo also asks if there is any relationship between Archer's and Thursby's death. He is searching for a statuette of a black bird.

Cairo offers Spade the sum of $5,000 for the missing bird's recovery on behalf of the figure's "rightful owner." After Effie leaves the outer office for the night and Spade has turned away, Cairo surprises and threatens Spade in his office with a drawn gun. Cairo checked to see if Spade was armed, but Spade catches him off guard, easily disarms him and knocks him out cold with one quick punch to the jaw. While Cairo is unconscious on the sofa, Spade empties his pockets' contents, which included:
 * a Greek passport with Cairo's name and picture
 * other passports - French and British
 * an orchestra seat ticket to the Geary Theater in San Francisco for the evening performance on Wednesday the 18th (that evening)
 * a wallet containing a wad of money
 * a scented silk handkerchief (Spade smells it and reacts quizzically)
 * $5,000, the price that Cairo offers to pay, isn't there.

Cairo regains consciousness, and looks at his face in a mirror - but Spade's image is all that the mirror reflects. Upset, Cairo whines that his shirt is ruffled. Keeping his cool, he re-states his "offer" to pay $5,000 for the figure's return, but is confused by Spade's defense of his office space.

Cairo apologizes for not divulging the identity of the bird's owner or the statuette itself. Spade demands a retainer of $200.00 (double Cairo's first offer) for assisting Cairo in locating the bird. Spade denies having the black bird, or knowing where it is (or where he can get it), but would agree to be hired, for a profit, to reclaim without having to hurt anyone. Cairo informs Spade that he is staying at the Hotel Belvedere, Room 635 and can be contacted there. Cairo tells Spade that he expected the greatest mutual benefit from their team up. Cairo gets his returned to him and immediately threatened Spade again, but Spade's not worried.

Spade's Third Encounter With Brigid
As Spade left Brigid's place, he realized he was being followed and evaded the thug on the street (later revealed to be Wilmer Cook) and revisited Brigid in her hotel room. She still looked fearful but cautious. After Spade observed her suspicious behavior, Brigid offers an understated confession of her base nature, while still looking for sympathy from Sam. Sam wasn't interested in her trying to play innocent and tried getting more information out of her. Sam tells Brigid that he encountered Cairo earlier, and Brigid asks about Cairo and learns that he "offered $5,000 for the black bird." as she goes around the room straightening things up and hiding the truth. Spade says Cairo was willing to pay a lot of money and Brigid responded by saying it was more than she can ever offer Spade if she had to fight for his loyalty.

Eventually, Spade confronted Brigid and asked what she's given him other than money. Brigid states she doesn't know what else she can buy Spade with, then Spade takes her face and kisses her roughly. He demanded to get more information if he would be her protector. Brigid once again tries to hold back, but she agreed to speak to Cairo.

Spade phones and leaves a message at Cairo's hotel to meet them in his apartment later that evening. After a wipe left dissolve, they take a cab there. Brigid (wearing the fur that she said she would pawn) and Spade walk by an expectant Iva furtively waiting for him in a black convertible parked out front.

Cairo's Apartment
Cairo joined the group and greeted Brigid with fake compliments. They spoke about Cairo's $5,000 cash offer for the Maltese Falcon and the bird's whereabouts. After admitting that she didn't the Falcon, Brigid promised that she would have it back in about a week from where Floyd hid it. She claimed that she is selling the bird and disposing of it because she is fearful of the bird's deadly trail and how it led to Thursby's murder. As they guardedly discuss their past dealings with references to the "Fat Man", Cairo gets tense when Brigid mentions he's in San Francisco and she gets excited when he repeats a warning about "the boy outside" (Wilmer, who was spying on the conversion from the outside.) Cairo and Brigid openly detest and mutually insult each other.

Spade disarms Cairo as he tried to shoot Brigid and slaps Cairo hard in the face. Brigid reaches for the gun as they are interrupted by loud knocking at the door and the sound of the buzzer. In the hallway, Spade talks to police detectives Polhaus and Dundy in a second after-hours call. The cops are there because Iva Archer -- Miles' wife -- has informed them that Spade was romantically involved with her and killed Miles to marry her.

The police tried to enter the room, but Spade blocks the doorway. Just as they are about to leave, they hear a scuffle inside between O'Shaughnessy and Cairo. Spade is forced to let the cops in and they barge into the apartment where a fracas in progress. They witness Joel Cairo (who is now covered in blood) complaining that Spade had left him in the apartment where Brigid attacked him and was threatening to kill him. Dundy stands between Brigid and Cairo as he listens to their conflicting versions and explanations of what happened. When Brigid counter-accuses Cairo of lying and then kicks him, Dundy threatens to run everyone into the police station. To extricate them from a possible jailing, Spade explains their rough interrogation of Cairo; a story consistent with their somewhat limited knowledge.

The police still threaten to take them away, but Spade further jokes that the theatrics were all planned. He presses his explanation, exaggerating their conflict and making an intimidated Cairo confess that his questioning was all a joke.

One of the officers tries to punch Spade, annoyed from his impatience and snark, but Brigid and Cairo back Spade up, preferring not to press charges against each other, since that would involve them further with the police - and compromise their ability to swiftly search for the falcon. Then, the bewildered police have no choice but to leave, even though they want to get contact information for both Brigid and Cairo.

Cairo leaves the room along with the officers and then Brigid gives Spade another seductive compliment. Spade asks about the black bird again with Brigid trying to avoid specific details by explaining the statue appearance. Spade is more interested in why it's so important to so many people. Brigid avoids the subject again by telling yet another tale. She said she was offered the sum of 500 pounds to steal the bird in Turkey, and Cairo and Thursby were in on the heist. However, she and Thursby learned that Cairo had planned to desert them, so they double-crossed Cairo and took off with it. However, Floyd had no intentions of keeping his promise to share the falcon equally with her either.

Sam easily sees through the lie and Brigid admits that she rarely told the truth to him. However the two of them still spend the night together although this is shown offscreen.

Spade Meets the Window Boy
The next day, at Hotel Belvedere, Spade enters the hotel, uses the desk phone and asks to speak to Cairo. He spots the gunsel-tail again sitting in a lobby chair facing away from him and reading a newspaper. He hangs up the phone and sits down next to the boy was constantly spying on Spade - Wilmer. Deducing from the vague conversation between Brigid and Cairo that the "boy" was hired by either the 'Fat Man' or Cairo to follow him, he says he would have to talk to him before he's through.

Wilmer doesn't take this well, and tries to make him go away and ineffectually threatens Spade. He reprimands him, telling the young, insulting thug that he should be polite. He then signals the house detective Luke to run Wilmer, wearing an oversized overcoat, out of the hotel lobby. As Wilmer is rousted out, Spade blows smoke in his face.

Just then, Cairo returns to the hotel lobby still all beaten-up, disheveled and tired. Spade confronts him and explains his motives. Cairo was uneager to he another conversation after what happened the night before. He wants to be left alone so that he wouldn't be further beaten up.

Iva's Suspicions
When Spade eventually gets back to his office, Effie tells him about his phone calls and informs that she's admitted Brigid into Spade's inner office where she is waiting for him. When Spade arrives, Brigid appears distraught and tells Spade that her apartment was being thoroughly searched. Effie is very warming to Brigid and agrees to let her stay at her own apartment for safekeeping since Brigid couldn't return to her own place.

After Spade phones the DA's office to set up an appointment for 2:30 that afternoon, Iva Archer shows up and admits she sent the police to Spade's apartment the previous night and begs for his forgiveness. He gets suspicious and wonders if she had murdered Miles. Impatient to deal with her and revealing his misogynistic tendencies, he sends her along on her way. His ringing phone brings an invitation to see Gutman immediately.

Mr. Gutman
Spade proceeds to Gutman's hotel suite (Room 12C), where he is greeted at the door by Gutman's gunsel, Wilmer. Spade meets Cairo's partner, Kasper Gutman or the 'Fat Man', wearing a black penguin-like waistcoat. He puts both of his hands on Spade's right arm as he leads him to a chair. Gutman is supremely interested in retrieving the bird and outfoxing Spade, as he speaks in oratorical fashion and peppers his words with aphorisms. Likewise, Spade is intent on trapping Archer's killer and discovering how Gutman is involved in the conspiracy to acquire the falcon. In their competitive jockeying for position, Spade compliments Gutman for being the only one to fully understand the nature of the "black bird" and know its real value. Spade also reveals that he knows the bird's location, but waits for Gutman to release further information first. And then he has a temper tantrum, and forced Mr. Gutman to make his decision some time soon. Smiling and laughing to himself in the hallway while departing, Spade is self-satisfied with his dramatic false display of rage as a man with a temper. But he still he glances down at his hands at the elevator, noticing that they are visibly trembling as a result of his violent outburst. He enters a descending elevator just as Cairo steps off the other ascending car without seeing him.

Spade's second encounter with Gutman
At the District Attorney's office, Spade is questioned about the Miles' and Thursby's murders (his responses are recorded by a stenographer), but he refuses to bend to any questions. He admits, however, that everybody had something to hide. He then demands that the law leave him alone and not intimidate him any further so that he can continue his investigation into the murder cases and clear his name.

Spade got summoned by Wilmer to meet with Gutman again. Presumably, he's decided to reveal the mystery of the bird. Wilmer conceals his guns with his hands stuck in his coat pockets. Spade looked down on him and Wilmer used another insult on him.

In the hotel corridor outside Gutman's hotel room suite, Spade moves behind Wilmer and uses the gunsel's own coat to pin his arms and then take his guns away. In front of Gutman, he embarrasses and humiliates the bungling Wilmer by handing the weapons over to the gunman's boss, saying that he shouldn't let him go around with them. Gutman appreciatively compliments Spade with a deep belly laugh. Gutman dismisses Wilmer to the back room and again sits down with Spade. Over drinks (that are replenished by Gutman), they talk about the Maltese Falcon. Spade learns about the exotic history, origin, and value of the valuable black bird statuette. Around when Gutman finishing explaining, Spade vision suddenly blurs. Drugged by Gutman during the long, drawn-out tale so that the knockout drug will take effect, Spade stands up, staggers, lurches forward and knocks into a small flower table as he grabs his hat. Wilmer is called from the back room - he trips the unsteady Spade and sends him sprawling to the floor where he passes out before he can leave. As the conspirators (Cairo, Gutman, and Wilmer) hastily depart in search of the black bird, Wilmer savagely kicks Spade in the right side of his head.

The Captain of the Ship
Several hours later (darkness has fallen), Spade regains consciousness. He calls Effie to discover that Brigid didn't show up as planned. He tells her to go to his office. In a search of Gutman's hotel suite, Spade finds a vital clue: a newspaper clipping with a notice of Shipping News. Under "Arriving Today," 5:35 pm - La Paloma from Hong Kong has been circled. Spade rushes to the docks just in time to find that the abandoned ship is on fire. One of the dock officers tells Spade that the crew and passengers have survived. Spade then returns to his office, where Effie tends to his bruised face, and he didn't know whether or not the passengers when down with the ship.

Suddenly, Captain Jacobi of the ship, who was dying staggers into Spade's inner office to deliver the black bird, crudely wrapped in newspapers. As he clutches and then drops the bundled-up bird, collapsing dead, the man murmurs some final words. Spade searches the wallet of the dead man who has been shot to death and discovers it is La Paloma's Merchant Marine Captain Jacobi. With a wide, lascivious grin, affected like so many others on the search for the bird, Spade unwraps the newspapers. Revealing that he isn't much unlike the other villainous and greedy characters, he exults to Effie that he possesses the valuable, coveted statuette.

The Gang's All Here
Brigid calls the office, and gives her location. But then she screams, signaling that she was in trouble - and the line goes dead. Effie interprets that she is in danger and needs Spade's immediate assistance. She thinks that the Captain was helping Brigid and they killed him, and Brigid is the next target. Spade orders Effie to call the police after he is gone and tell them how the captain died, without talking about the falcon.

Spade takes the newspaper-wrapped falcon under his arm to a baggage parcel area of the Union Bus Terminal and checks it, then mails himself the claim check stub. Spade hires a taxi to take him to rescue Brigid at 26 Ancho Street, but it is revealed to be an empty lot next to a Grocery and Meat Market. He suspects that she tricked him with a fake address. Spade realizes that Brigid was in with the others in the hunts for the falcon.

When he returns and is entering the outer doors of his San Francisco apartment, Spade finds a Brigid waiting for him now weak, out of breath and hiding in a doorway up the street. The two of them head up the elevator to his apartment. When he flicks on the lights, Wilmer is hiding and lying in wait with gun drawn behind the front door. Gutman and Cairo are in the living room waiting for them.

Cleverly, he brings together the alliance of self-interested, greedy falcon-seekers to find out the true story. Wilmer wants to frisk Spade, but Spade wouldn't let him. Gutman gets Wilmer to put down the gun and leave Spade alone. Tempted by the financial allure of the bird, Spade asks for his first payment for the falcon - Gutman tests Spade and hands him an envelope with $10,000 - less than the $25,000 promised earlier. Gutman stated the money was the "genuine coin of the realm" and that he can buy ten dollars of talk with one of his dollars.

Spade then decides to use Wilmer as a "fall guy" and blame him for Captain's and Thursby's deaths. Initially, Mr. Gutman refused to hand over Wilmer, since he thought he would tell the police all the details about the falcon, but Sam didn't think they'd believe him. Sam reassures Brigid who sits nervously to the side, telling her everything would be fine. Gutman calls of Wilmer again, getting Spade to suggest other fall-guy alternatives. Wilmer then threatened Spade with his gun again who shortly unarmed him and knocked him out. Eventually they agreed on selling Wilmer out to be the fall guy.

The Interrogation
Spade still know about all the important details about the falcon and everything the went through and did to try and find it. He demanded answers from Mr. Gutman who explained various points. Wilmer regained his consciousness and Mr. Gutman told him he was selling him out. When Spade received an envelope with $10,000, Mr. Gutman warns that Spade be untrusting of Brigid and not give her much of the money.
 * Brigid left the falcon with Captain Jacobi in Hong Kong and came to San Francisco with Floyd Thursby. Thursby was Brigid's loyal ally - so killing Thursby would be an intimidating show of force for Brigid and persuade her to ally with them. Gutman had tried to make a deal with Thursby before "giving him the works". He spoke to Thursby the night of his death, but failed to reach an agreement, so Wilmer followed him back to the hotel.
 * Captain Jacobi's death was Brigid's fault. She (and Thursby) manipulated Gutman and Cairo in Istanbul, Turkey. She fled with him from Turkey to Hong Kong (and then to the US) - trailed by everyone. Cairo read the docking notice in the newspaper about La Paloma. He surmised that the Captain would be delivering the falcon to Brigid when the ship from Hong Kong arrived. Cairo had also remembered that he heard in Hong Kong that Brigid and Jacobi were seen together.
 * Spade was "slipped a mickey" in Mr. Gutman's words, to keep him out of the way, so Gutman and Cairo could surprise Jacobi and Brigid at the dock. Cairo, Gutman, and Wilmer found Captain Jacobi with Brigid on the ship. She agreed to give up the black bird for a price at Gutman's hotel, but she never arrived, as promised.
 * Wilmer had clumsily set the fire on the ship while he was searching for the "Maltese Falcon"
 * Cairo and Gutman caught up with Captain Jacobi and Brigid at her apartment, with Wilmer covering the fire escape. As the Captain (carrying the falcon) attempted to elude them in flight down the fire escape, Wilmer shot him, but somehow, the sea captain still made his escape.
 * Under harsh questioning, Brigid was "persuaded" to tell them where she had told Jacobi to take the falcon - to Spade's office. She was further "persuaded" to try and lure Spade away from his office to Burlingame with a distressed phone call - before Captain Jacobi arrived. But the call was late in coming and the bird was already delivered into Spade's hands. The gang then reconvened in Spade's apartment to await his arrival, while Brigid hid in the shadows outside.

The Maltese Falcon
The next morning, Effie delivers the Falcon and it is placed on a table in front of the conspirators. The bundle is feverishly unwrapped by Gutman. Gutman stands the statue up, turns it slowly, and strokes and caresses it with lascivious lust. The others salivate at the sight of the valuable, ebony statuette. To make sure it was genuine, he repeatedly and frantically scrapes and hacks at the leaden bird with his penknife, marking it and peeling back layers, realizing that its surface can be scarred and that the coated bird doesn't contain jewels.

Spade blames Brigid for the false statue, but she denies substituting the bird, insisting that it is the bird she got from the Russian general Kemidov. Cairo throws and outburst at Gutman, calling him a fool for not realizing it was fake. Recomposing himself and accepting another failed attempt, Gutman vows to continue his pursuit of the real bird that is still in Russian hands. he decides to keep working with Gutman to find the site. But as they left the room, Spade called the police on him and made them get arrested before they left the city.

The Final Confrontation
With the criminal trio getting arrested offscreen, Spade realized he had all the information he needed and knew Brigid was involved in Miles' death. He turned towards Brigid and mercilessly forced her to talk as the police were nearby. She finally confessed that she indeed killed Miles Archer.

On the day of Miles' murder, she had hired Gutman and his team as detectives and then told Thursby that he was being followed. She was hoping that Thursby would kill - or be killed - by Archer. She had intended the murder of Archer to be pinned on Thursby, her partner, so that she wouldn't have to split the money with him once Captain Jacobi docked on La Paloma. But, Thursby was unwilling to go along with Brigid's plan, so she decided to kill Spade's partner Archer herself. She borrowed Thursby's gun and lured Archer to his death - in order to incriminate and implicate her accomplice Floyd Thursby. And then, when Thursby was murdered shortly thereafter, she understood that Gutman and Cairo were on her trail again, and she turned to Spade to be her new "protector."

The Conclusion
As a last attempt to save herself, Brigid attempts to throw herself at Spade one final time. Hoping that he will continue to protect her and conceal her crime, she wildly professes the existence of her love for him and begs him not to turn her in. It didn't work, and Sam turns her into the police for killing his partner, and states that if she's still alive after her time in prison, he might consider hanging out with her again.

Eventually, the police show up, and Brigid is handed over to the cops who get informed of Brigid's crimes. They then take her to an elevator that closes and goes down as she disappears from Sam's sight.