For a long time, The Maltese Falcon was my favourite movie. I’ve seen it more times than I’ve seen any other film—in theatres and on tablets, on late-night TV and on videotape, on PCs and at movies-on-the green.
Commemorative Plaque in San Francisco
Don Herron lives in San Francisco, where The Maltese Falcon takes place. Since 1977 he’s been leading the Dashiell Hammett Tour, which is now the longest-running literary tour in the US. The three-mile, four-hour walking tour takes Sam Spade fans to the buildings where Hammett lived and wrote, and to the key locations from the books and the film.
The New York Times gave the tour a nice write-up last year.
Herron leads tours for groups by appointment, and for anybody who shows up in San Francisco’s Civic Center at noon on selected Sundays in May, September, and October. This year, he’s leading tours every Sunday in October.
I’ve never taken one, but my brother David, who once considered renting Hammett’s (and Spade’s) apartment at 891 Post Street, has. He saw the Buzzcocks live before I did, too. But I’m not envious.
Sure I’m not.
Here’s the original 1941 trailer for that movie about The Bird:
More Songs about Buildings and Food 