Bello is quite good, I think, for "THE Maltese Falcon." Off the top of my head, I'd look through Sudtipos' stuff; they have a number of script typefaces that might have a similar character.

Flash
Holly Script
Coronet
Futura Script
Blizzard
Metroscript
and Mark Simonson's upcoming Kinescope and Launderette which is based on the titles from Laura! Incidentally, the best way to recreate these is with a hand drawn script and Mark's your man.

thanks reed and stephen.
i would love to have mark letter this job, but i can guarantee that my client will not want be interested in paying for such gorgeous work. maybe one day.

"A story as EXPLOSIVE as his BLAZING automatics!", lol.

You could also look at the House Industries Sign Painter collection

http://www.houseind.com/index.php?page=showfont&id=23&subpage=viewfonts

or some of their other scripts such as League Night or Las Vegas Fabulous

http://www.houseind.com/index.php?page=fontsbystyle&s=9

La Salle