San Francisco-based Dashiell Hammett, trying to put his Pinkerton detective days behind him while establishing himself as a writer, finds himself drawn back into his old life one last time by the irresistible call of friendship and to honor a debt. In 1928, Hammett, known to his librarian neighbor Kit and other acquaintances as "Sam" is holed up in a cheap apartment, hard at work at his typewriter each day. He drinks heavily, smokes too much and has coughing fits. One day, a friend and mentor from his Pinkerton days, Jimmy Ryan, turns up with a request, that Hammett help him track down a Chinese prostitute named Crystal Ling in the Chinatown district of San Francisco, an area Hammett is more familiar with than Ryan. Hammett is soon pulled into a multi-layered plot, losing the only copy of his manuscript, wondering how and why Ryan has vanished, being followed by a tough-talking gunsel, discovering a million-dollar blackmail scheme and being deceived by the diabolical Crystal, right up to a final confrontation near the San Francisco wharf.
German director Wenders was hired by Francis Ford Coppola to direct this film, his American debut feature. Coppola and the film's studio, Orion, were dissatisfied with the original cut and reshot nearly the entire film. This has subsequently led to allegations that the majority of the final cut was not directed by Wenders but by Coppola. Wenders made a short film called Reverse Angle documenting his disputes with Coppola surrounding the making of Hammett. As The A.V. Club review states, "A Coppola or Wenders commentary track might have sorted things out a bit—or at least settled an old score—but the bare-bones DVD release leaves viewers with a fascinating mess". The reviewer never reveals the source of his information and the degree and nature of Coppola's involvement in the directing of the film remains open. The confusion surrounding the making of the movie "would certainly explain some of the film's oddities". In a 2015 interview, Wenders claimed that he directed the entirety of the released version. He also stated that the first version was junked and is now lost.
Casting
Boyle took over the role of Jimmy Ryan from Brian Keith, who left allegedly because the lengthy production conflicted with other commitments. Keith can be seen in some long shots in the film. A number of actors from the "Golden Age" of Hollywood were cast in the film, including Hank Worden, Royal Dano and Elisha Cook, Jr..
