Dashiell Hammett: Detective, Writer

Episode aired Jun 30, 1999
TV-14

IMDb RATING

8.5/10

127

YOUR RATING

Dashiell Hammett: Detective, Writer (1999)

Biography Documentary History Music

Unlike the intellectualized mysteries of earlier detective novels, Hammett's less-than-glamorous realism transformed the genre into a serious response to the urban culture of the times.Unlike the intellectualized mysteries of earlier detective novels, Hammett's less-than-glamorous realism transformed the genre into a serious response to the urban culture of the times.Unlike the intellectualized mysteries of earlier detective novels, Hammett's less-than-glamorous realism transformed the genre into a serious response to the urban culture of the times.

Director
- Joshua Waletzky
Stars
- Kathleen Turner
- David Strathairn

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.5/10

127

YOUR RATING

Director
- Joshua Waletzky
Stars
- Kathleen Turner
- David Strathairn

2User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

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Kathleen Turner

Self - Narrator

David Strathairn

Narrator

User reviews2

8.5127

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7Dan1863Sickles

It's The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of!

Great documentary about the author of The Maltese Falcon and dozens of other great detective novels. Dashiell Hammett comes to life as a talented author who dared to write about the ugly side of American cities and American crime. David Strathairn and Katherine Turner do an amazing job of narrating the story and bringing the most dramatic passages of his greatest works to life.

The great mystery of Hammett is not how he got the ideas for his detective stories. He really was a Pinkerton detective! But what's never explained is why he stopped writing completely in the mid 1930's, and why he did nothing but drink and die slowly for the next twenty years.

Funny also that we hear nothing at all about his childhood in Baltimore. What happened to him there? What did he see?