The Most Iconic Book-to-Film Adaptations in the History of Cinema

22. The Maltese Falcon

Image Source: Britannica

The film is based on the 1930 detective novel by Dashiell Hammett. By the time director John Huston came to bring Hammett’s hard-boiled classic to the screen, it had already been adapted twice. This version is the one that is remembered to this day, though. Humphrey Bogart’s portrayal of the morally ambiguous private detective Sam Spade set in stone the idea of the enigmatic investigator. The film would go on to inspire the likes of Scorsese and Tarantino.