Picks and Pans Review: The Case of Dashiell Hammett

UPDATED 10/11/1982 at 01:00 AM EDT • Originally published 10/11/1982 at 01:00 AM EDT

PBS (check local listings)

When tuberculosis curtailed his career as a Pinkerton detective, Hammett turned to writing (The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man), then to booze, radical politics and seclusion (he died in 1961). Film clips and interviews (longtime lover Lillian Hellman is included) add insight to this worshipful but absorbing documentary.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7