To Have and Have Not (1944)

Watching this one was a blast. This is a low-key, loquacious but thoroughly engaging Bogey-Bacall film [Bacall's first]. There's lots of tension and mystery [both sexual as well as situational] and a paucity of real excitment or violence until Bogey shakes things up at the end. As in several of his films [including CASABLANCA, 1942] Bogey plays a translocated American who gets himself involved in foreign sociopolitical conflicts. This time he plays a small-boat captain who takes folks out into the deep blue for bucks. This time the locale is the Caribbean island of Martinique, a territory of France. Some French undergrounders need his help---and his boat---to retrieve one of their key resistance leaders. Walter Brennan, who was so unforgettably great and nefarious in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE [1946], plays Bogey's long-time close but alcoholic first mate. Brennan is wonderfully endearing in this role as Bogey's leeching, bumbling but always cognizant and loyal friend. Bacall plays a dame who just drops into this exotic island from who knows where and who knows why. She's alluring, mysterious, mesmerizing and a pleasure to watch and listen to. The viewer is continuously fixated on her countenance and svelte moves throughout. The scene where she's in Bogey's room smoking a cig and conversing then emphatically tosses the cig over her shoulder as she leaves is as sexually cathartic as the famous "..you know how to whistle" quote. The banter and repartee between the two is now classic. Many parallels between this Bogey flick and CASABLANCA and other Bogart films. As in CASABLANCA we have a night club as the focal point of goings on, a great nightclub singer & music, a fugitive husband-wife duo that have to be scooped surreptitiously out of the country and a Frenchman who saves everyone's hide. Amazing how the French nightclub owner, who gives all the good guys refuge, resembles and sounds like actor Peter Lorre, while the corpulent Martinique chief of detectives reminded me of actor Sydney Greenstreet [both Lorre & Greenstreet starring with Bogey in the all-time classic MALTESE FALCON, 1941]. Both Bogey and Bacall are mysterious characters in this one with blurred pasts and uncertain futures. They seem to have a lot in common, though, including independence, guts, being streetwise and having a willingness to tackle the unknown and take risks. Unlike CASABLANCA, though, the unattached Bacall [aka by the cute moniker "Slim" in the film] falls for the hard-to-pin-down Bogart. She helps him as he reluctantly agrees to retrieve the unkown resistance kingpin using his boat. And just as we're being put into a trance by Slim's sleekness & style comes, right out of the blue, the 'lady in black'. Bogart arrives at the pick-up site only to find that the target to be brought back is accompanied by his wife. Actress Dolores Moran, with a remote resemblance to Ingrid Bergman, gives Slim a run for her money and she almost goes for Bogey who has nursed her spouse back from a bullet wound. Meanwhile, the nightclub owner gives everybody sanctuary at the club while the cops are hot on their trail. Things come to a head as the cops confront Bogart and Slim. Bogey finally cuts loose reaching for a gun in a desk drawer and blasting right through the desk cutting down the cops' gun-wielding bodyguard--very cool move. Bogey subsequently has the chief detective order no interference from his boys and has him sign harbor passes for their escape out of Martinique---a task made with alacrity when you have a gun barrel staring at you. Really lots of fun. Hoagy Carmichael, touthpick-in-mouth and all, was memorable with his catchy singing and songs---Slim's good-bye to her singing pal was touching. Why the intriguing Moran did not make it after this pic is beyond me. Brennan was great. Only beef is the happy but hasty ending: would have preferred some added beads of sweat as they try to get pass the harbor patrol rather than just walking out the front door with luggage.

On several occasions, I have given this DVD as a graduation or birthday gift to younger relatives. I love classic American films and this certainly qualifies. And I feel it serves as a perfect way to introduce today's kids and young adults to one of American's great 20th century authors, our quintessential American "tough-guy" leading man, and a genuine "American Beauty" leading lady.The plot itself is pretty unremarkable, and probably typical for WWII-era cinema. After he's gypped out of a rental fee by a spoiled client; stoic, self-reliant fishing-charter captain Harry, and his "rummy" friend and 1st mate, Eddie, reluctantly agree to help out Frenchy, a friend and local businessman on the French Caribbean island of Martinique after the out-break of World War 2. They're to use their fishing boat to make a night-time rendezvous to pick up a Free French agent and help him avoid the island's officials. But their plan goes awry after a brush with a Nazi U-boat leaves the agent shot and leaves Harry under the suspicion---and harassment---of the local Vichy officials who now are in control of Martinique. How Harry manages this to escape this predicament, and secure the increasing attentions of tough-but-beautiful Lauren Bacall, makes this just a great, fun movie that family and friends will love.The supporting cast are just wonderful too. Walter Brennan is in classic form as the rummy "Eddie"---once an able seaman who's slowly becoming a shadow of himself due to drink---but who is still occasionally able to "give as good as he gets" and needles strangers with the plaguing question, "Was you ever stung by a dead bee?" Hoagy Carmichael is also in good form as the fun-loving hotel bar piano player "Cricket," who gives Bacall a chance to try life as a lounge singer. Her rendition of Johnny Mercer's "How Little We Know," and the old classic, "Am I Blue?" are just lovely moments and showcase her sultry beauty.But of course it's the interplay between Bacall and Bogart that makes this film a piece of Hollywood history. Like Tracy & Hepburn or William Powell & Myrna Loy in the "Thin Man" series, it's their playfulness and watching their cool appraisals slowly turn to mutual desire that raises this from an average WW2 suspense picture into a rich portrait of human nature (and human foibles) under pressure. From Bacall's famous first line, "Does anybody have a match?," you can't take your eyes off her as you watch her dawning realization that tough-talking Harry may be the real thing, and he may be even more than the resigned hired man Harry sometimes appears to be.If you're a Bogart fan, or just want to know more about American film history---or just want to enjoy a classic movie---by all means give this DVD a try!!

Very good movie and those needing clarity in their life.