How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Maltese Falcon.
Quote #1
SPADE: It's not always easy to know what to do.
This innocuous little line directed toward Brigid could be a moral for the whole movie. As Spade finds himself in increasingly murky moral territory, it's never easy to know what to do, or with whom to maintain allegiances.
Quote #2
BRIGID: You've got to trust me, Mr. Spade. I'm so alone and afraid. I've got nobody to help me if you won't help me. Be generous, Mr. Spade. You're brave. You're strong. You can spare me some of that courage and strength, surely. Help me, Mr. Spade. I need help so badly. I've no right to ask you, I know I haven't, but I do ask you. Help me.
This is like Princess Leia's "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope," speech. However, Brigid is only Leia if Leia were really Darth Vader in disguise.
Quote #3
BRIGID: Only that sort could have helped me, if he'd been loyal.
It's never a smart idea to trust a criminal. But when Brigid commits criminal activity herself, her only friends, if you can call them that, are also criminals. But their loyalty is never guaranteed. That makes disloyal Lloyd's betrayal a plausible story, but we'll later learn that Lloyd did remain loyal to Brigid. She's the one who betrayed him.
Quote #4
SPADE: I don't care what your secrets are. But I can't go ahead without more confidence in you than I've got now. You've got to convince me that you know what this is all about, that you aren't just fiddling around hoping it'll all come out right in the end.
BRIGID: Can't you trust me a little longer?
SPADE: How much is a little? What are you waiting for?
Loyalty and trust are like credit in a way. Brigid keeps asking for loans that Spade is tired of giving. He needs a little bit of moral collateral if he's going to keep trusting her.
Quote #5
SPADE: I don't know where the bird is. Neither do you. She does. How'll we get it if I don't play along?
Spade plays Cairo by trying to convince him that he's playing Brigid, but he does it with such a straight face it's hard to tell if he's just pretending to sell her out or if he'd actually do it. Maybe he's pulling one over on all of them.
Quote #6
GUTMAN: I feel towards Wilmer here just exactly as if he were my own son. Really, I do.
This oath of loyalty would be reassuring if it came from anyone other than Gutman. Gutman is a man who would sell out his own son—and probably his own mother—for the Maltese Falcon
Quote #7
SPADE: The fall guy's part of the price I'm asking. As for Miss O'Shaughnessy if you think she can be rigged for the part I'm willing to discuss it with you.
This is one of those difficult-to-read moments. Do you think Spade would betray Brigid's trust for the Falcon, too? Or did she ever have his trust? Or is Spade merely trying to convince Gutman that he's as ruthless as the fat man?
Quote #8
GUTMAN: Well Wilmer, I'm sorry indeed to lose you, but I want you to know...I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But well, if you lose a son, it's possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon. When you're young, you simply don't understand these things
Perhaps Wilmer was a little naïve to think that Gutman would remain loyal to him. But is it Wilmer's fault? Wilmer didn't do anything to betray Gutman. But that doesn't change the fact that he's simply a bargaining chip.
Quote #9
SPADE: When a man's partner is killed, he's supposed to do something about it. It doesn't make any difference what you thought of him. He was your partner, and you're supposed to do something about it, and it happens we're in the detective business. Well, when one of your organization gets killed, it's…it's bad business to let the killer get away with it. Bad all around, bad for every detective everywhere.
Here, we learn what might be Spade's motivations the whole time—his loyalty to his career. He is a detective first and foremost, and everything he does is to preserve the integrity of the job. Well, as much integrity as it has in the first place.
Quote #10
SPADE: I've no earthly reason to think I can trust you. And if I do this and get away with it, you'll have something on me that you can use whenever you want to. Since I've got something on you. I couldn't be sure that you wouldn't put a hole in me someday. All those are on one side.
By this point, Spade knows the drill. Any of these people, Brigid included, might sell him out to get what they want. They're loyal only to the pursuit of riches. And Brigid only tries to earn Spade's loyalty so she can use him as protection, and get rid of him whenever she doesn't need it anymore. Ironic that her protector is the one turning her in, huh?