their subjects, or victims, in their sights; both 'aim' and 'shoot"' (21).24 But the shot is

fictional, and that might be another way to characterize the relation between guns and

movies. The shot of a gun happily exposes the fictionality of cinema. What is appealing

about Classic Hollywood cinema is not that it approximates real life but that its reality is

fake. As in a children's game, a gun is pointed at its subject, and "bang bang, you're

dead." In that, the gun might be regarded as the most cinematic prop; it is entirely

fictional. Appropriately, the gun used to "kill" Miles Archer takes this idea of cinematic

fictionality to its logical extreme. When Spade gets to the scene of the crime, Detective

Polhaus shows him the weapon used in the murder. Spade recognizes it as a "Webley

Fosbery forty-five automatic, eight-shot." The caliber of the gun is one of the few

changes from the novel to the film version: Hammett's Spade identifies the gun as a

"Thirty-eight, eight shot," adding, "They don't make them anymore." As far as the film

version is concerned, the truth is that they never made them. For while the motivation for

the change is unclear, Peter P. Gillis notes that the revised caliber is an anomaly.

Although the thirty-eight was an eight-shot model, "all forty-fives are six shooters"; so,

ironically, "the film dialogue describes a gun that is nonexistent" (30).25 But that does not

distract from the appeal of the (fictional) shot. Bang bang, Archer.

 That shot is followed by another murder. Later that night, Detective Polhaus and

Lieutenant Dundy arrive at Spade's apartment to inform him that Floyd Thursby, the man

Archer was supposed to have been shadowing, has also been murdered. But, as Spade

soon realizes, the cops are also on assignment, trying to discover if he has anything to do

with the double homicide. From the moment they walk into his apartment, the scene

unfolds mostly through a series of three-figured medium shots, interspersed with close-