The Black Bird

Well, it took a few decades, but I finally saw The Black Bird, a detective movie spoof from 1975 that’s extremely hard to find; like many obscure movies, it’s turned up on YouTube to enlighten the hardy few who seek these things out. A specific parody, a sequel and almost remake of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, itself a remake of a 1930s version, it’s the only directorial effort of David Giler, who was a producer on Alien four years later, and it’s got a certain cache amongst noir fans because it features returning actors Elisha Cook Jr and Lee Patrick playing the same characters from the classic John Huston version, very meta for 75…..