This is a movie review challenge from Benn Farrell to me. Actually I set the parameters of the challenge this month because I know Benn dislike most movies made before 1970. The challenge for us this month is to review two movies made before 1970, one of them has to have been made before 1960.
I am a fan of the late great Humphrey Bogart. Every one of his movies that I have seen, I have enjoyed. I haven’t seen a lot of them but the ones I have seen are enjoyable. He seems like he is one of the original tough guys of Hollywood. He isn’t a physically imposing figure on screen like Arnold or Stallone or even Clint Eastwood. In movies like The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, or The Big Sleep, it’s the way he carries himself in the movies that makes him a tough guy. I don’t know, maybe it’s the era that these movies were made because I wouldn’t really call him a cerebral tough guy either. It’s the style he has that displays toughness in all of his films I have seen. Well except for this one. In the case of the film noir classic Key Largo, he comes across as a tough guy almost by being insubordinate which is kind of weird. But I still like.
Frank McCloud, played by Humphrey Bogart (The Maltese Falcon,) is a World War II veteran heading to Key Largo Florida. He is heading there to meet Nora, played by Lauren Bacall (The Big Sleep,) and her father James, played by Lionel Berrymore (It’s a Wonderful Life,) who are the wife and father of Frank’s good friend that was killed during the war. When Frank arrives at the hotel that James and Nora own, he runs into a strange cast of characters who have rented every room in the hotel. It turns out that these men are henchman for famous mob boss Johnny Rocco, played by Edward G. Robinson (Double Indemnity,) who is hiding out in the hotel with his girlfriend Gaye, played by Claire Trevor (Stagecoach.) Frank is stuck trying to keep Nora and James safe and not appear to threating to Rocco until the mob guys leave for Cuba.
Bogart approached the character of Frank McCloud in a fairly interesting way. McCloud seems like a damaged WW II vet and shows no over the top heroism. There is a scene where Rocco offers up a handgun to McCloud and tells him to shoot him with it. McCloud grabs the gun but makes no threatening jesters with it and quietly puts it back down. Both James and Nora look at him with some surprise considering his war history. The deputy who is the captive of Rocco takes the gun and aims at Rocco as he tries to work his way out of the room. He gets to the door and tries to use the gun only to discover it is empty at which time Rocco shoots the deputy. Both James and Nora look at Frank differently. Here is the interesting part, when James asks Frank if he knew that the gun was empty almost begging Frank to say yes. Frank vehemently denies that he did saying that he wanted no part of the heroism that there was nothing to risk his life for and he just wanted to live, almost sheepishly. However, every time James or Nora acts rebellious against Rocco Frank makes sure to get in between Rocco and the two and sometimes take the punishment for them. In fact the fun scene was the result of one of those interferences. To me this is a different character to the one he played in Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep but more like is Casablanca character.
I would be remiss in my man duties if I didn’t mention the hotness of Lauren Bacall. She is an absolutely lovely woman in this film and she can act. Of course it’s the 1940’s so there is no skin at all but I would argue that it makes her even that more attractive in the film. I will also say she is quite the actress. In this film she comes off as a very strong woman who isn’t afraid to stand up to Rocco as he weasels his way around her. I will say that it is somewhat odd that while her character has mourned for the loss of her husband that she so quickly latches on Frank. Although I have seen other old films and that seems to help the romance of the movie along.
The one odd thing about this film is that Claire Trevor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in this roll. She plays the alcoholic sex object of Rocco and that’s it. I called her girlfriend in the write up but I really wouldn’t call her that. There is nothing spectacular about her performance as this kind of character. I suppose if it’s the first appearance of this type of character in movie history then I suppose it is worth an award. But that would be the only reason. Else it’s just like every other performance of a woman, or a man for that matter, who is under some kind of addiction that has lead their life astray but does the right thing at the end of the movie.
The last thing I will say, which is kind of odd because it should have been the first, is that this film has what became every Hollywood cliché mocked in it. I remember as a child growing up the Bugs Bunny cartoons and whenever Bugs had to deal with a mobster type character, Edward G Robinson would be that character that Bugs or Daffy or whomever would have to deal with. Even Bogart’s damaged veteran look with shoulders hunched over was mocked in Warner Brothers cartoons. So if you want to see where WB came up with so many of its mob or dramatic type characters then watch this film.
Overall I would say that this is a good film if you like Film-Noir. It has the classic elements of water and women and drama. It does drag a little in parts and the whole Indian sub plot was kind of annoying, especially the part that shows this really old Indian woman smoking a cigarette handed to her by Bacall’s character. Other than that you could do a whole lot worse if you want to see a classic film noir film. If you haven’t ever seen a Bogart film before, I would still start off with Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon, but Key Largo is a good film to go to after those two.
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