Tag Archives: Dashiell Hammett

The Bridge on the Black Sea

By Robin Bates | Published: October 9, 2022

The damaging of the Russian bridge to Crimea brings to mind “Bridge on the River Kwai”–although it’s closer to the movie than to the novel.

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Doubling Down on Trump’s Lies

By Robin Bates | Published: December 1, 2019

Defending Trump’s lies is like covering for Sam Spade’s implausible story in “Maltese Falcon.”

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Sherlock: Hard-Boiled or Soft-Boiled?

By Robin Bates | Published: June 17, 2019

Tuesday I share today an Alexis Hall essay I encountered in CrimeReads arguing that Sherlock Holmes is a hard-boiled detective. (Thanks to Literary Hub for the alert.) For those who study detective fiction, the thesis is startling because Holmes is generally grouped with the soft-boiled or puzzle-solving detectives, more like Dupin, Poirot, Miss Marple, Nero […]

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Robert Mueller as Jane Bennet?!

By Robin Bates | Published: May 30, 2019

Friday In The Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade explains to femme fatale Bridget O’Shaughnessy why he’s arresting her for the murder of Miles Archer, even though he’s madly in love with her. “When a man’s partner is killed,” he says, “he’s supposed to do something about it.” That’s essentially what Robert Mueller was telling Congress in […]

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Will “The Fat Man” Sell Out Jared?

By Robin Bates | Published: May 9, 2018

Sounding like a character in “The Maltese Falcon,” Rudy Giuliani declared that Jared Kushner is “disposable.”

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GOP Plays the Sap for Trump

By Robin Bates | Published: May 15, 2017

The ties to Russia involving Donald Trump and his associates are like the many reasons that Sam Spade has for finding Brigid O’Shaughnessy guilty in “The Maltese Falcon”: “Maybe some of them are unimportant. I won’t argue about that. But look at the number of them.”

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American Politics, Dashiell Hammett Style

By Robin Bates | Published: August 13, 2014

Dashiell Hammett’s rough and tumble novels catch some of the spirit of today’s political battles.

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Is Bridget Kelly a Femme Fatale?

By Robin Bates | Published: March 31, 2014

Christie’s Bridgegate scandal is beginning to look like “The Maltese Falcon.”

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Sam Spade Gambles with the Filibuster

By Robin Bates | Published: March 8, 2013

Is the GOP filibuster like a Sam Spade-Kasper Gutman negotiation? Is Obama like the Queen of Hearts in his drone program?

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