10 Movie Sequels That Were 30 Years In The Making

5. The Black Bird (1975)

Time Between: 34 years, 83 days

The Maltese Falcon is one of the greatest - if not the very best - film noirs ever made and Humphrey Bogard's Sam Spade is easily one of the coolest protagonists. Without him, we wouldn't have antiheroes like Han Solo, so you owe him a lot, basically.

There had been plans to make an immediate sequel to the original in 1942, called The Further Adventures of the Maltese Falcon, but director John Huston's high demand as a director the unavailability of the cast meant it didn't go ahead. Instead, more than 30 years later, we got a satirical sequel in the form of The Black Bird.

Was It Worth The Wait?

Not really. It has its moments, but it's arguably more famous for the on-set clashes between George Segal (playing Sam Spade in place of Bogart) and producer Ray Stark. It's a little too sentimental and misses the tone of the original, even while affectionately paying homage to it at times.

And it does feature the greatest dying words of all time ever: "It's black and as long as your arm."