No no no!

the maltese falcon my arse......

where were the cowboy hats, the six shooters, the stagecoaches, the horses...

And more to the point the vision of america as a great frontier waitng for the brave and the hopeful...When you respect the form its still possible, as in Wyatt earp. The lyricism of lawrence Kasdan's work is breathtaking - even to think about.

The Maltese Falcom is film noir.........decadent forces of law and order chasing after social misfits.

and thats what its about really. the grace of the actors, the epic sense of human possibilty - whether it be for good or evil, the dramtic backdrop of one of the most interesting periods of history.....

Rather like Isherwood's Berlin novels have a dramatic backdrop because they prefigure th holocaust.

some times in our history just seem to have a special significance.