The most famous screen version of Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel of the same name is a quintessential Hollywood film noir as private detective Sam Spade gets wrapped up in a web of deception, all surrounding a gold-encrusted life-sized statue of a falcon.

After making such American noir classics as The Naked City and Brute Force, blacklisted director Jules Dassin went to Paris and embarked on a tale of four ex-cons who hatch one last glorious robbery in the City of Light.

The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.

A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he’s investigating.