It was on the list. But as we say here, aren’t they all?
After a couple of rough outings with more high-profile shows, I got some encouragement from old friend John Marvel who said he was digging “Monsieur Spade” and then it hit me — why hadn’t I started this earlier, given how excited I was by the provenance:
Executive produced by Barry Levinson (I shouldn’t have to list his bio and won’t). Check.
Executive produced by Tom Fontana (same, but fine, this is enough: “Homicide: Life On the Street,” “Oz,” etc. Check.
Executive produced by Scott Frank (same, but here’s a taste: “Out of Sight,” “Minority Report,” “Logan,” “Godless,” “The Queen’s Gambit.” Check.
Starring (and, sure, also exec produced by) Clive Owen. Check.
Add to all this the fact that Frank and Fontana created the series with the idea of taking an older, “retired” Sam Spade from San Francisco and putting him at age 60 in the South of France where, of course, you can really retire (provided there’s not murder and mayhem and of course there is), and I was all in.
So essentially Frank and Fontana, who know exceptionally well how to make gritty, deep characters, were able to take one of the greatest of all time — Dashiell Hammett’s Spade — and dabble in the genre known, for better or worse, as “Neo-noir.”
That was a no-brainer for me. Until we insert, as always around here for all of us, “time,” “other shows,” “life,” “streaming options” etc.
There’s always road blocks to watching.
The nudge from a friend helped get past all of that. Four of the six “Monsieur Spade” episodes are up on AMC (I have AMC+ and that’s how I watched it), while the first episode is also free on Amazon Prime if you want to whet your appetite and the series is also allegedly available on Acorn (though I don’t have that subscription).
The point is, you can find it. The bigger point is that this collection of talent and a great idea make it all worth it.
So, yeah, “Monsieur Spade” easily passed the Two Episode Test, but maybe for reasons you wouldn’t expect.
A good noir mystery/thriller runs at a certain pace — a slow boil. Speed it up and you’ve got something else entirely. To me, the draw wasn’t just the shining lineage here but to sink into something a bit slower and plotted with a deft hand. All the bonafides are here with this group (and I’ll use this moment to say if you’re looking for an inspired Western that freshens the genre but keeps it bleak and mean as well, check out Frank’s “Godless” on Netflix).
The first two episodes of “Monsieur Spade” were, to my liking, right at the stop-watch pace I want for something to earn my attention and set up the elaborate mystery as well as the character development. You’re in the south of France — it should be languid.
Owen is the perfect incarnation of a 60 year old Spade. We meet him in 1955, well after the events of “The Maltese Falcon,” in, of all places, France, which is clearly part of the allure here. Spade has been paid to fly (first class) to Morocco, to pick up a young girl named Teresa (Cara Bossom) and deliver her (via coach) to her father in Bozouls.
Is there a problem with this plan? Indeed there is. Which gets things off and running, but perhaps not how you’d expect, which is in keeping with the theme here. Unable to speak French, Spade has to read his marching orders from a piece of paper. No doubt, he thought it was going to be a quick drop off and a return to San Francisco.
But the complications that keep him there will be the backbone of the story and this is where Frank and Fontana make a smart decision to time-jump the series eight years. Spade has found love (who wouldn’t?) and in that time he’s picked up passable French and a desire to while away his days smoking and swimming naked in an elegant pool (the tanned Owen has his clothes off a lot here).
At this point, you might be thinking that tackling Spade in a Hammett-free way is audacious or dumb (or both), but there would be no room for invention if we all held to some staid rules about untouchable cultural touchstones. So I give Frank and Fontana a lot of credit for even giving this a go — it’s a thrilling concept and why not is the best way to approach it.
Having only seen two episodes — the fifth will drop on Sunday — I’m going along for the ride not worrying about comparisons (though, to Frank and Fontana’s credit as writers, they hew to the Hammett speak well enough without dangerously falling into the pit of hollow mimicry; this Spade is hard boiled enough but he’s also 60 years old living in sunny-side-up France, so a little easing of his mood and world view was clearly necessary).
I trust that “Monsieur Spade” won’t fall off the same cliff that “True Detective: Night Country” has, and thus will fill my need for a good mystery story. But maybe there are bumps ahead. This is only a Two Episode Test and plenty of other good starts have faltered. But I think investing in this creative team will pay off.
I do have an Acorn subscription, and I can confirm Monsieur Spade is available there. (Which is great, because I don't have AMC+ and I was not willing to get one just for this.) I'd been meaning to try this one, so I guess I'll jump in after tomorrow. (Mine isn't really a Super Bowl household, but we are an All Creatures Great and Small household, so that takes precedence.)
Another of the Tim-Goodman-recommended shows that the downtrodden Aussies can’t easily watch! It’ll come soon enough. Thanks for the heads up.