George Segal’s leading man good looks combined with a comic’s rubber faced expressions, kept him in such high demand during the 1970’s, that he appeared in a film released every year during that decade, and in The Black Bird (1975) – a send up of The Maltese Falcon (1941) – his talent and charm are on full display. After Sam Spade starts flying the tombstone kite, his son Sam Spade Jr. (George Segal) inherits his father’s San Francisco detective agency, complete with its wry secretary Effie Perine (Lee Patrick reprising her role as Humphrey Bogart’s secretary from Falcon). When Sam Jr. is approached to buy his father’s iconic bird, he soon finds himself pursued by a beautiful Russian seductress who wants the Falcon, “smashed” by Hawaiian tough guys, and interrogated by a bald Nazi midget who has “killed for it” and “will kill again for it.” With all the hilarious heat the statuette is bringing Sam Spade Jr., perhaps the Black Bird is the big score he’s been waiting for. After all, “superficial minds have never understood the falcon.”
“The general tenor of the film shows a sentimental empathy for the original material with no heartless put-downs marring the work. There are lots of smiles, many chuckles, and a few strong laughs.” – Variety
