The Maltese Falcon ending explained

What happens

Spade tells Brigid he knows she killed Archer and, despite his feelings for her, hands her to the police. Gutman finds the falcon is a fake and sets off after the real one.

The last line

"The stuff that dreams are made of."

What it says

Spade's code survives, but it costs him the woman he wants. Everyone else chased a dream and lost, and the film ends on that bitter note: integrity means being left with nothing but your own rules.