Starting at 8PM Eastern with the twisted Mickey Spillane flick Kiss Me Deadly, followed by Murder My Sweet, Dark Passage and The Maltese Falcon.

Did you see the Maltese Falcon? It was the original version from 1931. Weird without Bogart. The lead spent half the time smiling like a college boy from the days. Blooyah Blooyah!!
Some of the dialog was the same, but some different. Spade is told the falcon is made of gold, then later wonders why it's so valuable.
The Gunsil was the about same. Dr. Cairo was similar. The Fatman was a just Overweightman, and a bit of an idiot. There was a secret witness who saw Archer get shot. Spade visited the woman in prison.
The Falcon was more realistic looking. I wonder if they just found a statue in a store and painted in black.
This is one case where the remake is better.

Believe it or not, there's another remake as well with Bette Davis, the title escapes me(Satan Takes a Lady ?). But John Huston's was the third version, and hopefully the last.

Believe it or not, there's another remake as well with Bette Davis, the title escapes me(Satan Takes a Lady ?). But John Huston's was the third version, and hopefully the last.
SATAN MET A LADY (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028219/)

THE MALTESE FALCON is always an example I like to cite whenever someone has the knee-jerk objection to sequels. Sometimes it takes a couple tries to get it right.

Blooyah Blooyah!!??? Is that a dyslexic version of "Boolah Boolah"?

Speaking of Mike Hammer movies, has anyone seen the 1963 version of The Girl Hunters? More of an oddity than a classic, it stars Mickey Spillane playing his own creation as a somewhat older, boozier, punchier Mike Hammer. His acting really isn't bad at all (admittedly, the role doesn't call for a whole lot of emotional range — we're not talking Shakespeare here). The picture was an independent production that tried to look American though it was shot in England, which gives it a kind of netherworld quality. Worth seeing at least once, if only for the gorgeous Shirley Eaton (pre-Goldfinger) spending half her screen time lounging poolside in skimpy bikinis.

i caught a bit of that a couple of weeks ago. at least spillane realized he really wasnt an actor after this and stopped trying (are you listening mr. king?).
my late brother noticed there seemed to be a lot of looping in it. we thought it had to do with mickey's acting, but perhaps it was to eliminate the british accents.

The picture was an independent production that tried to look American though it was shot in England, which gives it a kind of netherworld quality.

I always wondered if that was why 1978 The Big Sleep remake was set in England. Though I prefer the original Bogart version, this was at least a decent and sincere remake, and Robert Mitchum was a great Phil Marlowe. And it's closer to the book, which had themes and subplots you couldn't deal with in movies in 1946.

While the '46 cast is near perfect, the '78 cast is damn good as well, Oliver Reed is a genuinely creepy Eddie Mars, ditto for Richard Boone as Kinneo. And 70's hotties Sarah Miles and Candy Clark are pretty memorable as the wild Sternwood sisters. Clark is really scary and sexy as Carmen Sternwood, tho Yvette Vickers is great in the original as well, even if she does keep her clothes on. Unlike Candy.

I've got "Kiss Me Deadly" on DVD but ran across it on TCM the other night. I love the "modernity" of that movie among other things. Meeker's Hammer was definitely the "type of man who reads Playboy". That built-in-the-wall reel to reel answering machine is a classic.

The movie "Kiss Me Deadly" was the "Starship Troopers" of it's day. By which I mean that in both movies the writers, and directors HATED the source material, made no bones about it, and went out to make it look as bad as possible.

They made Mike Hammer the lowest, of the low in private detectives, one that would manufacture photos for divorcing spouses. They also made him a thug that liked hurting people, good, bad it made no difference to him.

That being said, I do like KMD, and I think that Ralph Meeker had a lot to do with it. He somehow made his MH likeable, no mean feat.

I like "The Girl Hunters", and thought that Mickey Spillane was very good. But then he has always said that, as he wasn't that good of a writer, he used himself as the model for Mike Hammer. Some of the locations are suppose to be copies of MS's favorite haunts, and some of the actors were actually his friends.

David.

Kiss Me Deadly put Mike in a 50's corvette too. Not exactly hard boiled, but great to see one all original and new.

And in The Girl Hunters he drove a classic ’57 T-Bird, and in the ’80s TV series with Stacy Keach, he tooled around in a Mustang (a ’65, I believe). Whatever you think of the character, at least he has good taste in cars!