A one-hour public television (PBS) biography of Dashiell Hammett, creator of the “hardboiled” modern detective novel and author of “The Maltese Falcon” and “The Thin Man.” It follows Hammett’s life from Pinkerton detective in San Francisco to his career as fiction and screen writer, companion of playwright Lillian Hellman, and leftwing political activist. The biography investigates why Hammett stopped writing at the height of his fame.
Director: Stephen Talbot.
Writer: Stephen Talbot.
Stars: Paul Frees (voice), Joe Gores, Lillian Hellman, Bill Blackbeard, Diane Johnson, Victor Navasky, Lyle Talbot (voice), Wim Wenders, William Glackin.
Cinematographer: Mahlon Picht.
Composer: Stanley Clarke.
An amazing and truly engaging PBS on a figure that so much more should be uncovered and published to the social masses. His influence is greatly felt in so muuch of 20th popular art and social politics. It leaves so many questions to be discussed! Thanks Jon for listing this.