Hammett (1982)

PG06/09/1982Drama, Thriller1h 38m
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He created "The Maltese Falcon," "Sam Spade" and "The Thin Man." But he didn't write this mystery thriller...he lived it.

Overview

Chinatown, San Francisco, 1928. Former private detective Dashiell Hammett, a compulsive drinker with tuberculosis who writes pulp fiction for a living, receives an unexpected visit from an old friend asking for help.

Top Billed Cast

  1. Cast 1

    Frederic Forrest

    Hammett

  2. Cast 1

    Peter Boyle

    Jimmy Ryan

  3. Cast 1

    Marilu Henner

    Kit Conger / Sue Alabama

  4. Cast 1

    Roy Kinnear

    English Eddie Hagedorn

  5. Cast 1

    Lydia Lei

    Crystal Ling

  6. Cast 1

    Elisha Cook Jr.

    Eli the Taxi Driver

  7. Cast 1

    David Patrick Kelly

    The Punk

  8. Cast 1

    R.G. Armstrong

    Lt. O'Mara

  9. Cast 1

    Richard Bradford

    Detective Bradford

She's a disaster. Hammett is a fictional story about the great writer Dashiell Hammett (played by Frederic Forrest). The story finds the writer retired from the Pinkerton Detectice Agency and nursing bad lungs and a taste for the liquor. When old colleague Jimmy Ryan (Peter Boyle) comes a calling, Hammett finds himself down in Frisco's Chinatown district in it up to his neck in muck and grime. The back story to the production of Hammett is long and disappointing, all of which makes for fascinating reading and available at the click of a mouse. The film we have to view now may not be th...