Favorite Bogie movie?

So hard to pick a favorite. But, to me, the most entertaining is "The Maltese Falcon." Bogie, Greenstreet and Lorre, what a combination. As well as Mary Astor and Elisha Cook, Jr. (Wilmer the Gunsel). The stuff dreams are made of.
 
A bit of Bogie movie trivia regarding guns:

According to the Internet Movie Firearms Database,
he only used one Smith, a .44 revolver in The
Desperate Hours in 1955.

Before that nearly all the handguns were Colts, mostly
1911s and Official Police.

An Iver Johnson and a Remington derringer were among
the exceptions.
 
My favorite is...The Maltese Falcon.

Great film for many reasons, Mary Astor being a big reason.

Mary Astor! Definitely more to her than the subtle clues you see onscreen. You do know about her infamous diary, don't you?

She's seen below in an early publicity still, and in a still from the 1932 film Red Dust with Gable, a great film that stretched even the pre-code boundaries.

What's that ol' saying? Oh, yeah..."They don't make 'em like that any more."

b0f0f545be442ceb26b11a194ad3309e--hollywood-fashion-hollywood-style.jpg


iu
 
I have Red Dust on my DVR so I can watch it again. And again. ;)

Mary Astor! Definitely more to her than the subtle clues you see onscreen. You do know about her infamous diary, don't you?

She's seen below in an early publicity still, and in a still from the 1932 film Red Dust with Gable, a great film that stretched even the pre-code boundaries.

What's that ol' saying? Oh, yeah..."They don't make 'em like that any more."

b0f0f545be442ceb26b11a194ad3309e--hollywood-fashion-hollywood-style.jpg


iu
 
So hard to pick a favorite. But, to me, the most entertaining is "The Maltese Falcon." Bogie, Greenstreet and Lorre, what a combination. As well as Mary Astor and Elisha Cook, Jr. (Wilmer the Gunsel). The stuff dreams are made of.

Everyone thinks "Gunsel" means "Gunman". It does not, at least not until later as a result of the movie. The word was used to get by the censors back in the movie "Production Code" days. I won't say what it means, so you can have the fun of looking it up.
 
Last edited:
Has to be Casablanca, but The Maltese Falcon is right up there.

The plot of The Big Sleep is too convoluted for me to get a handle on it. What stands out for me is a line from the opening passage of the Raymond Chandler novel: "I was shaved, showered and sober, and I didn't care who knew it."

From To Have and Have Not, it's Walter Brennan's theme riff: "Was you ever bit by a dead bee. You know, a dead bee can bit you just as bad as a live one, 'specially if it was mad when it got killed. I was bit by a dead bee maybe a hundred times." Bacall is the only one who can shut him up.
 
I've seen most Humphrey Bogart movies, so many, I can't remember them all without some reference to the individual films. Most of them were certainly good films. I can recall only one dud, though there may have been one or two others. The one loser I have in mind co-starred Gloria Grahame.

As for "The Maltese Falcon", no doubt it was a good film, but perhaps I missed something that others didn't; or others saw more than was really there. I'd put it in the top five Bogart films at best.

Some think Shane and High Noon were the best Westerns of all time, but we all have different likes, dislikes, and maybe even eccentric ways of judging what makes a good film.
 
I've read all of this so far. And I do have all the movies mentioned. And a few that are not.:D

I think my favourite is "The Big Sleep". But maybe that's not because of Bogart himself but because of what Raymond Chandler wrote.:rolleyes: Quien sabe?

I also like what Dashiell Hammett wrote. But "The Maltese Falcon" is not my favourite of him. That would be "The Red Harvest".

Meaning. It's not just the actor performance I appreciate. It's the whole thing.
 
Bogie favs

Casablanca for sure
Then to have and have not Bacall and Brennan really make it
And its a toss up on the rest
 
I've read all of this so far. And I do have all the movies mentioned. And a few that are not.:D

I think my favourite is "The Big Sleep". But maybe that's not because of Bogart himself but because of what Raymond Chandler wrote.:rolleyes: Quien sabe?

I also like what Dashiell Hammett wrote. But "The Maltese Falcon" is not my favourite of him. That would be "The Red Harvest".

Meaning. It's not just the actor performance I appreciate. It's the whole thing.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think I read The Big Sleep before I saw the movie, so yeah, that may have been a factor for me, as well.

I'm also a fan of Hammett (see my username).
 
I like Casablanca but don't consider it Bogies best. I do like Doolie Wilsons music in it, esp. Knock on Wood. The best might be to Have and Have not or The Big Sleep but Maltase Falcon is up there as well.
 
Who couldn't like Casablanca? It's not in my top 3 or 4 Bogie movies, but even so I have probably seen it at least five times. I suppose everyone knows that the production was based on a forgettable and unsuccessful stage play, largely done on-the-fly with the daily shooting scripts being written just before the scenes were filmed, and most of the time the actors did not even have a chance to read and rehearse their lines before they had to say them. The sets used were all recycled from earlier movies, and everything was filmed on a Hollywood sound stage, no other locations were used except for the airport scene at the very end which was filmed at some small local airport. And a total lack of action sequences, mostly just people talking. Its huge popularity was due mainly to the fact it was released just before the allied landings in North Africa, so it was considered very timely. It was always intended to be nothing more than just another low budget quickie potboiler B-movie, not a major production or a historical classic. But it all clicked in the end, mainly because of the star power of the cast.
 
Last edited:
Casablanca is the best movie ever made! IMNHO, of course. I always loved the movie, but then I watched it HD close up. The detail in that movie is amazing. There's so much going on that's not "center stage." It's entrancing.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top