User Reviews

Each viewing of "To Have and Have Not" earns my greater appreciation of the film. The comparisons to "Casablanca" are numerous and fans of Humphrey Bogart will have no trouble picking them out one by one. Bogey's character Harry Morgan is once again an expatriate on foreign soil, though here he has no trouble calling himself an American. The Peter Lorre part is handled by Marcel Dalio as hotel owner Frenchy, while the Sydney Greenstreet presence is given to Dan Seymour, the smarmy Gestapo captain. Add the smoldering presence of Lauren Bacall in her screen debut, and you have the ingredients for an adventure film that almost plays out stronger in each of it's mini chapters than in the sum of it's parts. That's OK though, because each tableaux presents us with rich characterization and a sense that we know who these players are and what they're up to.

As most fans know, the legendary Bogey/Bacall team up began here, so I won't dwell on that. What's worth mentioning though is Bacall's brazen confidence in carrying out her role in what looks like a casting call mismatch. Only a teenager at the time of filming, she looks to be about thirty, with dialog that belies her years. Though her scenes with Bogart are electric even to this day, it's worth noting her chemistry with Dolores Moran near the end of the film. The times "Slim" and Mrs. de Bursac appear together, their subliminal clash over "Steve" fairly screams "meow". That's why it's all the more comical when Bogey's character begins his operation on Paul, "Slim" uses a leaf fan to waft chloroform fumes in the direction of the fainted madame - outrageous!

My first introduction to Walter Brennan was his famous TV role as Grandpa McCoy in "The Real McCoys" series of the late 1950's. Here, with a hitch in his giddyup, Brennan sports an early tryout for that television role, but with a reliance on alcohol. He's fairly philosophical about it though - "Drinkin' don't bother my memory, if it did I wouldn't drink. You see, I'd forget how good it was, then where'd I be, start drinkin' water again". The best exchange between Eddie (Brennan) and Harry takes place on board the fishing boat as Harry explains the kind of danger they might be in. It's a masterful dialog that brings Eddie to sobriety real quick.

The film's sinister side is revealed when Vichy authorities intend to disrupt any activity that might prove detrimental to German interests. As the Free French resistance look for a suitable base to continue their opposition on the island of Martinique, Captain Renard (Seymour) warns Morgan and company - "We are only interested in those persons who have broken the rules laid down for their behavior". Morgan is busy breaking the rules all over the place, and gets right down to the frightening business at hand by roughing up Renard and his bunch when it appears his time on the island is growing short. Here, letters of transit are known as harbor passes, in another nod to Bogey's better known film.

Today's viewing of the film was my third, and as mentioned earlier, it gets better each time. It helps that Humphrey Bogart is my favorite actor, but that begs the question, did Bogey make the films, or did the films make the actor. As in "Casablanca", "The Maltese Falcon, "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and "The Big Sleep", the events and characters come together to create an unforgettable story. And if for no other reason, no matter how many times you watch "To Have and Have Not", it's always worth watching right to the very end, even if just to catch Lauren Bacall's sweet sashay to the strains of Hoagy Carmichael's piano.

Lauren Bacall, who gave men the license to whistle, was blessed by nature with two advantages: the personality of a buddy and the look of a Femme Fatale...

This combination initially took the only 19-years-old actress to the top with her first two films – 'To Have and Have Not' and 'The Big Sleep' – scoring a success even the deadpan expressions of a Buster Keaton could not undermine...

It helped, of course, to be co-starred in them with Humphrey Bogart who fell in love with her during shooting, and to have Howard Hawks, who deliberately set out to prove that he could make her a star, directing her every move in the same totally controlled way Joseph Von Sternberg had done with Marlene Dietrich...

'To Have and Have Not' is an almost unrecognizable adaptation of the Hemingway novel... The Rick character again appears, though with a new name... The film is a fairly routinely adventure, with a plot that isn't all that interesting, and with a frequently laughable dialog, but it sparks into life when Bogart and the leading blonde, with whom he is deeply in love and to whom he will later be married, appear...

The girl is Lauren Bacall, in her first movie... Cool, smooth, and gorgeous, she sets the screen on fire from her first entrance... She was a new kind of heroine...

Opposite Bogart she was colorful and believable... She had no illusions about herself... She was used to getting by, making out as best she could... She wanted Bogey and she let him know it... She offers herself to him, bravely and without shame: ' You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. (She opens his door and pauses.) You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together - and blow.'

With the effective use of her sexy, sultry, speaking voice and her confident eyes, Howard Hawks creates a new screen image, and one of the most sizzling yet sexual propositions on film...

Lauren Bacall has become heir to our memories of the truly memorable star of the 1940s, and, in her own way, one of them...

"To Have or Have Not" was remade as "The Breaking Point" with John Garfield and "The Gun Runners" with Audie Murphy and both were, inferior to the original

Director Howard Hawks made a bet with Ernest Hemingway, stating that he could make a good movie out of Hemingway's worst novel. I don't know who won or how much the bet was for, but my money is on Hawks.

Set on the island of Martinique, Hawks' "To Have and Have Not" stars Humphrey Bogart as a suave fisherman who rents his boat and services to anyone with money. Alongside him is Lauren Bacall's Marie Browning, a weary traveller who falls in love with him. They call each other by nicknames - she's "Slim" and he's "Steve" - but there's no mush between them. Their romantic scenes mostly consist of witty dialogue, written by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman, but played like a chess match. Consider a scene in which Bacall kisses Bogey. Bogey asks what the verdict is, she tells him she dosn't know yet and goes in for another.

Walter Brennan, in one of his greatest roles, plays the rummy Eddie, who thinks he takes care of Bogie when in reality it's the other way around. The movie never questions their relationship. Clearly Eddie is an alcoholic, and a pain in the butt, but Bogey's loyalty to him is unfaltering. We thus know that when Bogey is eventually asked to help the French resistance, he can't say no, despite his barbed dialogue and tough-guy facade.

Some scholars will tell you that Hawks' films are about male bonding, but they're about bonding, period. And notice that Bacall's character bonding with Bogey is more central to the story than even Bogey and Brennan. Of course such strong female characters are typical in Hawks' films. Consider Rita Hayworth in "Only Angels Have Wings", Bacall again in "The Big Sleep" and Ann Sheridan in "I Was a Male War Bride".

But of all these women, Bacall makes the biggest impression. She was discovered by Hawks' wife from a magazine photo, and she fell into cinema with great ease, with her gruff voice, strong face, and soft eyes. She never had another role as good as this one.

Hawks was, above all, a storyteller. His eye for characters, actors, locations, music, timing, pace, and for cutting out the boring crap, was impeccable. Take one particular moment of intensity in which Bogey shoots one of the bad guys from a gun concealed in a desk drawer. He then pulls out the gun and aims it at the remaining thugs. After a moment, he realises his hand is shaking. "Look at that," he says to the bad guys. "Isn't that silly?" He shifts the gun to his other, steadier hand. "That's how close you came."

"To Have and Have Not" offers some good adventure, romance (both on and off screen), and is a great example of a particular type of writing. The only positive that big-brother "Casablanca" has over it - both films essentially tell the same tale of war-time responsibility - is in its use of space. Rick's bar (in Casablanca) is chartered by Michael Curtiz's camera in such a way that it almost becomes a place you'd like to visit, or feel you already have. It's a three dimensional space, and we're given a tour of every nook and cranny.

In contrast, Hawks is a two dimensional director. He is unable to flesh out the bars and "Casablanca" inspired Hotel in which his film largely takes place. We get great lighting, great compositions, but it's all flat. We don't feel like this is a tangible, real space. Hawks' command of mood, editing, lighting and music almost makes up for this, but not quite.

8.9/10 - Underrated.

Once again, Humphrey Bogart is portraying a man who must face the reality of the rest of the world and forget about his own needs as he helps the French resistance in Martinique, controlled by the Nazis after the fall of Paris. With the help of a certain husky voiced blonde (Lauren Bacall) with a crack for every situation, Bogart does just that. This adaption of a Hemingway story was changed from the rum-running world of Cuba to the fishing world of Martinique. It is full of snap, crackle and pop, and plenty of humor from tipsy Walter Brennan in another fine performance filled with heart. Bogart and Bacall really know how to light up the screen and would do so in three other films. I watched three of their four pairings back to back, and there is no doubt; They have "it". Real life couples don't always sizzle on screen, but this one does, especially here as this is where they discovered each other. But this is about the story, not the real-life soon to be married couple, and it is fascinating to watch Bogart go from uninvolved boat captain to a political hero who finally decides to stick his neck out for someone. There is a nice camaraderie between Bacall and piano player Hoagy Carmichael. The scene of "Am I Blue?" is particularly memorable as Bacall steps into sing, the drummer with the brush slowly comes in, and Bogart takes notice. Dan Seymour is the slimy Nazi villain, while Dolores Moran is fine in a smaller part as the French woman Bogart is trying to get out of Martinique along with her resistance husband (Walter Molnar).

It took me a long time to get to see this film for the first time, and it was worth the wait. They showed equal spark in their subsequent films ("Dark Passage" and "Key Largo", which I had seen years before, were the other two I watched after this; I've seen "The Big Sleep" numerous times) but Bacall is at her freshest here. She is one of the few stars to be a lead in her film debut that actually had a long lasting career. It is obvious that there is a tiger under the kittenish way she plays the part, and we've had more than 60 years of her wonderful face on stage, screen and television. The fishing sequence at the beginning is a great way to start the story. This is a film worth watching once a year to recall the magic, a rarity in cinema today. While there may be the obvious comparisons to "Casablanca" (an exotic location, a friendly piano player, an anti-Nazi sentiment), the film holds up on its own.

I recognised the title, it is five stars, and as soon as I heard the famous quote I knew I had to stick with it, from director Howard Hawks (The Big Sleep, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) this is a pretty good romantic World War II drama. Basically Harry 'Steve' Morgan (Humphrey Bogart) and his alcoholic sidekick Eddie (Walter Brennan), based on the island of Martinique, have a crew boat available for hire, but business is not what it could be because of the war, and one customer owes them a large sum. They are forced to take a job for the resistance transporting a fugitive away from the Nazis, and as this goes on Morgan is having a stormy relationship with resistance sympathiser and sassy singer (where Morgan spend most of his time), Marie 'Slim' Browning (introducing Lauren Bacall). There are many moments of witty and charming dialogue in the romantic scenes, and great explosions of wartime peril that you keep you gripped, I thought Bacall's singing voice was a little weird, but she is still a sexy character with a great husky talking voice. Also starring Dolores Moran as Mme. Hellene De Bursac, Hoagy Carmichael as Cricket, Walter Szurovy as Paul De Bursac and Sheldon Leonard as Lt. Coyo. I have to admit there were moments where I trailed off and didn't understand what was going on, but I can certainly see why the critics give it high praise. Humphrey Bogart was number 36 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, he was number 1 on 100 Years, 100 Stars - Men, and he was number 27 on The World's Greatest Actor, Lauren Bacall was number 20 on 100 Years, 100 Stars - Women, the film was number 60 on 100 Years, 100 Passions, and it was number 34 on 100 Years, 100 Quotes ("You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."). Very good!

It's kind of like "Sex and the Single Girl" or "What You've Always Wanted to Know About Sex." The titles are familiar or engaging enough to justify building a complete story from scratch. (See also, "The Best of Sex and Violence," which is the greatest title ever dreamed up, far superior to, say, "Henry IV, Part Two.") The novel opens and closes with slam bang action scenes and there isn't much in between to draw us to the characters. One-armed guys can be good heroes or villains, but not heroes who lose.

The story is that Howard Hawks and Hemingway were having drinks and that Hawks claimed he could take even Hemingway's lousiest novel and make a successful movie out of it. They agreed that "To Have And Have Not" was about the lousiest and the bet was made. Evidently Furthman threw the contents of the novel out of the window except for the general Caribbean setting, Harry Morgan's occupation as skipper, and the names of some of the characters.

It's doubtful that Hawks truly enjoyed himself during the shooting. He had a habit of hiring delicious young women for his movies and then, well, then bonding with them. In this case, he had his eye on Bacall, who was 18 years old, but she bonded with Bogart instead. Hawks also had a habit of avoiding actors who stole his women and punishing the women too, so it was Bogart's next-to-last film with Hawks. It wasn't the first time. In Kirk Douglas's movie with Hawks, the actor stole Elizabeth Threatt, a major masochist, who came like water and like the wind she went. And it was good-bye to both John Ireland and Joanne Dru after "Red River." Poor Hawks.

The writers, which evidently included Jules Furthman and William Faulkner, built up a story that sizzled with sexuality at the time of its release but seems like of loose-limbed, gangly, and amusing today. (The oft-parodied scene in which Bacall tells Bogart how to whistle -- "You just put your lips together -- and blow.") Hawks had an affinity for boy's adventure book values. You know, a man rediscovers his pride or sobriety and overcomes his demons and whatnot. It's pretty lowbrow stuff unless you want to get into conjectural homoerotic themes. But Hawks had a solid sense of humor too. He had a tendency to rework scenes so that they had gag lines in them or amusing bits of business. This one has its funny moments too, as well as a bit of action.

None of it is either gripping or believable but it's fun to watch. Bogart and Bacall really hit it off on screen. Her movements are so languorous. She hunches over a bit when she walks, like some tall women do. And her voice -- it's down there in the subwoofer range. At the end, when she and Bogie and Walter Brennan walk out of the bar, Hoagy Carmichael plays a lively little tune and Bacall does a sort of shimmy that must have sent shivers up the male spines of 1944.

While I think of it, I'll give an example of what I meant by "amusing bits of business." The scene -- a French patriot must have a bullet extracted from his shoulder by Bogart. Several people stand around watching tensely. As Bogart probes the bullet hole, another beautiful woman, who Bacall is jealous of, faints to the floor. Bacall is administering ether from a spray can and Bogart tells her to fan the fumes away from the bed or they'll all be out. When Bacall notices that no one is watching her, she hastily fans the gas down towards the body of her unconscious rival. It isn't much, just a second or two, but it adds to our understanding of what's going on and is meanly funny.

Not Hawks' best but enjoyable viewing.