What Detective Sam Spade Really Meant in the Final Scene of 'The Maltese Falcon'

John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon ends with a punch in the gut, as detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) quips, “It’s the uhh.. stuff that dreams are made of,” at the sight of the love of his life being led away by the police to be convicted for the murder of his business partner.

A pioneer in the film noir genre, the narrative explores greed’s deadly toll, as five different people, obsessively vie for a priceless statuette, willing to betray, deceive, or even kill to possess it.

In this article, we’re examining how Spade’s response to Detective Polhaus when he asks about the black bird statuette, “It’s the uhh.. stuff that dreams are made of,” is a sardonic commentary on the fundamentally hollow nature of the quest that has driven every character in this dark tale of greed, deceit, and betrayal to their ultimate fall.

To Give You A Little Context…

The Maltese Falcon is a statuette of a bird, made of gold, studded with valuable jewels, and then covered in black enamel to hide its worth. Detective Spade gets tangled in the chaos when his partner, Miles Archer, is mysteriously killed after they take up Brigid O’Shaughnessy’s case to track a man who supposedly kidnapped her younger sister.

Brigid is also one of the pursuers for the Maltese Falcon that Spade realizes only after it is too late. By then, a lifeless bird had claimed a lot too many lives.

As if divine justice, the bird that everyone quite literally killed for, turns out to be a fake.

The Scene

It takes a while, but Spade ultimately realizes that Miller was killed by Brigid, so he confronts her. Unable to lie anymore, she finally confesses to her crime. Spade is heartbroken but tells her on her face that he would do the right thing and hand her over to the police. She tries to “simp” her way out of it, but Spade doesn’t budge. As soon as the detectives arrive, he hands her over to them and also provides them with all the evidence they might need against her in court.

As Brigid is escorted away by the police, Detective Polhaus picks up the statuette to take a closer look and asks, “What is it?” Spade takes a pause, he gently caresses the statuette and replies, “It's the uhh..stuff that dreams are made of.” He takes the fake bird from the detective and walks out to the corridor to see his lady love one last time. The lift door shuts on Brigid’s face as they make one last eye contact. Spade takes the stairs while the lift begins its descent to the ground floor.

Decoding The Iconic One Liner By Spade

Despite what Gordon Gekko says in Wall Street, greed is going to take you down. The fake Maltese Falcon and Spade’s comment about it is the greatest closure that this story could have had.

1. So Much Madness For What?

The Falcon’s value had turned everyone contending for it obsessively. Each of them goes to absurd lengths just to own the Falcon without caring the least bit for the consequences. They lie, double-cross, and even commit murders in pursuit of it. All this insanity for a worthless fake! The culmination of this dark tale in divine justice shows how ambitions, desires, and greed are built on illusions, and so, when chased obsessively, you always run the risk of ending up with something phony or insubstantial, like a dream.

That being said, the line also speaks for every character’s shattered illusions—the illusion of love for Spade, as he learned that Brigid killed his partner, and the illusion of a better life for the rest, as they discover that the black bird is a fake. For Brigid, it broke her illusion that she could get away with anything just because she had a pretty face.

2. The Echoes Of A Breaking Heart

Spade’s cynicism and gray ideals make him quite an anomaly for heroes that were created in the 1940s. His love for Brigid was deep, but her lies cut too deeply through his heart to take her back. By the end, he realized that Brigid had been deceiving him all along and even killed his partner, Miller. Suddenly, it was as if Spade was in love with a dream that never existed. So, when he says, "That's what dreams are made of,” it serves as a bookend to the narrative—the perfect closure to chaos. A little sad, yet perfect.

What is your view about the ending of The Maltese Falcon?