The Maltese Falcon returns to the Charles' Saturday revival series at noon tomorrow. For a $5 ticket, you get both towering entertainment and a 100-minute film course.
The writer-director, John Huston, follows Dashiell Hammett's novel almost to the letter, but he heightens the greed of the characters until they become satiric, and he adds a magical curtain line - Bogey looking at the worthless title bird and calling it "The stuff dreams are made of." That line is a grace note the movie needs: an acknowledgment that no matter how ruthless Hammett's characters are, they aren't that different from the rest of us - in their minds they pursue divine fancies.
The Maltese Falcon is a marvel of adaptation. It employs a terse camera style and a virtuoso cast (Mary Astor, Elisha Cook Jr., Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet) to supply a superbly wrought narrative with sardonic humor and spontaneous feeling.
The Funk Brothers
Cinema Sundays at the Charles will showcase Standing in the Shadows of Motown, documentary-maker Paul Justman's acclaimed spinoff of Alan Slutsky's book about the Detroit musicians known as the Funk Brothers - the band that backed Motown superstars from Smokey Robinson to Stevie Wonder.
Along with recent interviews and archival footage, the movie captures new renditions of Motown staples: smoking collaborations between surviving Funk Brothers and contemporary musicians such as Joan Osborne. This Sunday's screening has turned into a poignant memorial for Funk Brother Johnny Griffith, the classically trained keyboard artist who died last Sunday at the age of 66.
Widely published music and movie critic Geoffrey Himes will lead the audience in post-screening discussion. Coffee and bagels will be served at 9:45 a.m. Show time is 10:35 a.m. Admission is $15.
East Coast premiere
The Senator Theatre is host to one of its gala galas Wednesday: the East Coast premiere of the newest James Bond movie, Die Another Day.
The late Bond producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli underwent treatment for an aneurysm at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1994; two years later, he and his wife Dana donated the money to establish the Dana and Albert "Cubby" Broccoli Center for Aortic Diseases in the Division of Cardiac Surgery at Hopkins. The proceeds from Wednesday's celebration will benefit the center.
There's a two-tier ticket schedule. $100 gets you into a 7 p.m. champagne reception and the 8 p.m. screening, both at the Senator. Those seized by Bondmania can become a "Goldfinger Sponsor" for $1,000, which includes tickets for a "Shaken, Not Stirred" cocktail reception at Pimlico at 5:30 p.m., and a limousine ride to and from the Senator. Call 410-502-8901 or go to wwww.hopkinsmedicine.org/bondpremiere for more information.
A real 'Sweetheart'
On Monday night, the Towson Fall Film Series, "Films About Films," highlights one of last year's critically underrated hits: America's Sweethearts, a twisted romantic fairy tale starring Julia Roberts and John Cusack that hurtles into comic overdrive when Billy Crystal hits the screen as a wily big-studio publicist. Crystal co-wrote the script with Peter Tolan (the pair also worked on the screenplay for Analyze This); they bring this movie the same blend of savvy, nostalgia and mischief that makes Crystal an ace Oscar host.
And Crystal does some of his most crisp, most spriest and least sentimental acting since Running Scared in 1986. Now that he's old enough to play a Hollywood veteran without makeup, Crystal can express equal affection for the high jinks of Hollywood and its talent pool without shoving that affection in your face. He stays within the bounds of his wily, goal-oriented character. It's at 7:30 p.m. in Van Bokkelen Hall. Admission is free.
Audiovisual talk
Harford Community College's Visual, Performing and Applied Arts Division presents "Intention V. Interpretation," a festival and roundtable discussion of audiovisual experiments by students, faculty and graduates, Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., in the Globe Cafe at the college's student center. Call Professor Kenneth Jones at 410-836-4326 or e-mail him at kjones@harford.edu.