Monsieur Spade: Monsieur Spade
March 7, 2024 6:27 PM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe
The famous detective Sam Spade is now 60 and living as an expat in the south of France in 1963.
A special co-production of AMC and Canal+. This six episode series imagines a Sam Spade who inadvertently retires to France after failing to finish a final favor for a now dead Brigid O'Shaughnessy - deliver her daughter, Teresa, from Turkey to her n'er do well father, Phillipe Saint-Andre in his tiny village, Bozouls France.
Naturally no good detective can stay retired when murder and intrigue finds Sam Spade. The case is set against the fallout of the Algerian War.
Cast stars Clive Owen as Sam Spade, Cara Bossom as Teresa and a large confusing cast as benefits any noir story. Created by Tom Fontana (Homicide, Oz, St. Elsewhere) and Scott Frank (Logan, Minority Report, Out of Sight, The Queen's Gambit, Dead Again). Score by Carlos Rafael Rivera (The Queens Gambit, Lessons in Chemistry, A Walk Among the Tombstones) doing his best channeling of Jerry Goldsmith (Chinatown, LA Confidential)
Season 2 is not yet confirmed.
Streams on AMC+ and AcornTV (and places where you have those services attached - e.g. Amazon)
A special co-production of AMC and Canal+. This six episode series imagines a Sam Spade who inadvertently retires to France after failing to finish a final favor for a now dead Brigid O'Shaughnessy - deliver her daughter, Teresa, from Turkey to her n'er do well father, Phillipe Saint-Andre in his tiny village, Bozouls France.
Naturally no good detective can stay retired when murder and intrigue finds Sam Spade. The case is set against the fallout of the Algerian War.
Cast stars Clive Owen as Sam Spade, Cara Bossom as Teresa and a large confusing cast as benefits any noir story. Created by Tom Fontana (Homicide, Oz, St. Elsewhere) and Scott Frank (Logan, Minority Report, Out of Sight, The Queen's Gambit, Dead Again). Score by Carlos Rafael Rivera (The Queens Gambit, Lessons in Chemistry, A Walk Among the Tombstones) doing his best channeling of Jerry Goldsmith (Chinatown, LA Confidential)
Season 2 is not yet confirmed.
Streams on AMC+ and AcornTV (and places where you have those services attached - e.g. Amazon)
I watched it as it released, usually before or after the latest episode of True Detective.
Transposing 1940's San Fran noir to 1960s French neo-noir worked for me here even if the result was a bit too sunny and bright. Clive Owen did a credible job of portraying Sam Spade's weariness although sometimes it became a Bogart impression, and he made no attempt to Americanise when speaking French.
By the final episode and the reveal of actions, reactions and consequences it seemed to fall foul of the Raiders Minimization problem - Monsieur Spade's overall impact on events was almost entirely passive.
posted by Molesome at 12:49 AM on March 8 [2 favorites]
Transposing 1940's San Fran noir to 1960s French neo-noir worked for me here even if the result was a bit too sunny and bright. Clive Owen did a credible job of portraying Sam Spade's weariness although sometimes it became a Bogart impression, and he made no attempt to Americanise when speaking French.
By the final episode and the reveal of actions, reactions and consequences it seemed to fall foul of the Raiders Minimization problem - Monsieur Spade's overall impact on events was almost entirely passive.
posted by Molesome at 12:49 AM on March 8 [2 favorites]
I enjoyed it, especially the scenery. It seemed like there were too many characters, often similar looking ones, and it seemed unusually hard to tell when something was a flashback. The extra complexity didn’t add much because they didn’t have time to develop all the extra characters and the plot was mostly pointless in the end.
posted by snofoam at 2:00 AM on March 8 [1 favorite]
posted by snofoam at 2:00 AM on March 8 [1 favorite]
Usually for me and a noir - I kinda expect to be baffled by the cast of characters and the machinations and I know that a number of noir stories have the protagonist borne along on the current, but yes - Alfre Woodward's "Canadian ex Machina" character felt a bit far on the helpliness of Sam in that situation. Did completely setup a second season in San Francisco.
Not entirely certain how I feel about the LeCarre-esque central plot with Zaid, but it forced me to go read up on the Algerian War, so that's a plus.
Overall, I enjoyed it. Between Clive Owen, Cara Bossom, the scenery and the soundtrack (which seriously Jerry Goldmith's estate should get royalties for) I can forgive the shagginess. Also, should have had more conversations between Sam and the Chief.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:18 AM on March 8
Not entirely certain how I feel about the LeCarre-esque central plot with Zaid, but it forced me to go read up on the Algerian War, so that's a plus.
Overall, I enjoyed it. Between Clive Owen, Cara Bossom, the scenery and the soundtrack (which seriously Jerry Goldmith's estate should get royalties for) I can forgive the shagginess. Also, should have had more conversations between Sam and the Chief.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:18 AM on March 8
On one hand it was Clive Owen, the 60s, and the French countryside but right from the start, it was irritating. "Ne'er-do-well guy is back in town" "Did you see him?" "No, nobody knows where he is." That conversation was repeated at least three times. Then Spade with all his witty rejoinders. It worked for Bogart in the 40s but now it just sounds glib; he couldn't have a serious conversation without endless sardonic quips. An orphan girl with a vast fortune basically neglected by her purported grandmother and father? That's against human nature! So much plotting and then Alfre Woodward swoops in at the end to play Hercule Poirot for all the remaining characters. I missed any hints about a second season set in SF; I hope not. That village with the crazy gorge was practically the only redeeming feature (Look it up, it's a real place)
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:56 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:56 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]
Generally liked it but the ending was truly bizarre, as others have noted – feels like it was cut to bits.
posted by adrianhon at 8:07 AM on March 10
posted by adrianhon at 8:07 AM on March 10
I'm another who overall liked the series except for the final episode.
posted by miss-lapin at 6:40 PM on March 24
posted by miss-lapin at 6:40 PM on March 24
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I'd be curious to hear what others thought of the final resolution
posted by drewbage1847 at 10:51 PM on March 7 [2 favorites]