John Huston

I finished reading my palm pilot version the Maltese Falcon yesterday.
I was surprised how closely the movie followed the book.

They don't make movie's like that anymore but then again they don't have John Huston around anymore either.

Huston not only wrote the screenplay but he also directed it.
This was a man with incredible talent and it was not even one of his better movies.

This post was originally titled the Malese Falcon but as I was reading about Huston I changed that.

He was nominated for 15 oscars but only won once as Best Director for The Treasure of Sierra Madre which, if you have never seen it shame on you, it is a classic.

The Falcon was the first film he directed.

And then there is this from his bio at IMDB:

Huston was a licenced pilot...and a prankster. He once flew over a golf course and dropped 5,000 ping-pong balls while a celebrity golf tournament was in progress.

What a guy.