"The Maltese Falcon" (1941) - RE-WATCH

Rank on the AFI List: #31

Synopsis (according to AFI):
Bogart's Sam Spade is the detective whose partner is murdered.  The cops are after him and he's after the woman who hired his partner, which leads them to Greenstreet and Lorre, who are all after a priceless statuette.  Bogart suggested the take on Shakespeare: "The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of."

LET ME EXPLAIN...
I'm a bit confused.  I remember watching this movie in my American Film class in college.  I remember being utterly confused by the plot.  And, I remember thinking the movie was over at least two times before it actually ended.

I prepped myself to pay extra close attention to what's going on this time.  However, when it ended, it felt like a completely different movie: the plot wasn't THAT complicated, and there weren't any "false endings" like last time.  This may beg the question: Are you sure this was the movie you saw in your film class?  Yes, it was.  I remember Humphrey Bogart (as this was the first Bogart film I had ever seen), and I remember the maltese falcon.

What makes this a "Top 100" Movie?
This has been one of the more difficult films to analyze with this question.  In fact, while I've generally based this answer for every other film I've watched during My Quest solely on my own personal opinion, I actually went digging online to see what others say about it.  I just don't know why this is considered such a great movie because nothing really stood out to me.  I'd say the best part is probably the acting (Bogart was great, but I still like him better in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre).  Besides that, I didn't find it to be much of a thriller, or mystery, or even film noir (there are elements of film noir in it, but Double Indemnity is, in my opinion, a much better film noir - and better movie overall).

So what did I find in my online search for why this is one of the greatest films ever made?  Not a whole lot.  It's apparently considered the first film noir (please see above for my opinion of this).  It's also considered a great mystery/thriller.  It actually reminded me a lot of Charade with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, but I found "Charade" to be much more entertaining.

Complaints:
While I can't point out any specific complaints, I just wasn't that entertained by this film.

LET ME SUM UP...
It's a better than average film, but not by much.  Humphrey Bogart does a good job in his breakout role, but that's about it.  "Double Indemnity" is a better film noir, and "Charade" is a better movie with a similar plot.

MY RATING: 5.5/10 (1.5 higher from my previous rating)