To Have and Have Not (1945)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

As Good As It Gets

Blistering performances.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I have always been a Casablanca fan and considered it my top movie, for some crazy reason I never really gave this a serious look until this week. Bogie is a boat captain in Vichy Martinique who gets caught between the Nazis and Free French wanting to get onto the island. Just the idea of Nazis legitimately in the Caribbean during WWII is something to work with. Into the mix steps Bacall, looking and acting more than her 19 years. And there's the Walter Brennan lovable drunk character (which I found annoying), Bogie employs him and is particularly attached to him. There's a lot in this reminiscent of Casablanca, including the casino manager, here as hotel operator ("ah, a few thousand less than I expected...."), but the mood is lighter than in Casablanca. Some of the story is a little bit much, but over all this the interplay between Bogie and Bacall is absolutely sexy, fresh and enchanting. The back and forth can look very staged when the feeling isn't really there, but the chemistry between the stars on this one is as good as it gets. Particularly amusing is the way Bogie grudgingly appreciates and even encourages the scoundrel side of Bacall, while wondering if she's working that side on him too. So to sum up, intriguing location, average plot but great leads, it's worth watching just for them.

This is not a great movie, not another Casablanca, but it is certainly a fun one to watch.The black and white cinematography is worth the price of admission itself. That is truly first-rate.The dialogue - as distinct from the plot - is also good, intelligent. There are some good lines in it, and the two main characters come alive.And, of course, Bogart and Bacall do a wonderful job of creating those two characters.But the rest of the movie is not at the same level. The other characters are all paper thin, whereas in Casablanca they too were interestingly developed.And the plot here isn't particularly interesting. The character of Eddie is annoying more than anything else.Still, if you ignore the negatives, there are a lot of positives here to enjoy.

A Bogart-Bacall classic.Martinique in the Caribbean, 1940. France has fallen to Germany and the Vichy French are now in charge of the island. An American, Harry Morgan (played by Humphrey Bogart) runs a charter boat and is determined to stay out of politics and not get involved in the war. However, there are Free French sympathisers and agents who would dearly like his help. To make things more complicated, a beautiful American woman, Marie "Slim" Browning (played by Lauren Bacall) keeps drifting across his path... An excellent drama, based on the Ernest Hemingway novel and directed by Howard Hawks. Solid, intriguing plot. Does resemble Casablanca at times - at one point I thought it was just Casablanca transported to the Caribbean - but ultimately differentiates itself quite well from that other classic Bogart movie.Has the legendary Humphrey Bogart smoothness and coolness. Lauren Bacall is great in her film debut - cool, beautiful, stylish and doesn't take a backward step to Bogart. This would be the first of many collaborations between the two. Moreover, they would marry a year after the movie was released...Cast also includes Hoagy Carmichael as the bar's singer / band- leader, Cricket.Only two negative aspects. One is the Eddie character - quite irritating at times. Him and his flaws are necessary to the plot, however. Walter Brennan did a decent job playing him, but every time he appeared I lost some interest in the scene.The other negative is that the Bogart-Bacall dialogue battles sometimes felt overdone. There are some terrific quotes and word plays but it's as if the writer or director didn't know when to stop. These are minor issues, however, in what is a fantastic movie.

This might be the sexiest Hollywood movie, ever! It is fun, and there really are no noble characters in it unlike in the sanctimonious "Casablanca." It is easy now to talk about the chemistry of the stars, but if you can't see, smell and taste it, then you have to be a lousy lover. The plot is believable and never has moments where we would say "Oh, that could never happen." The lack of stars outside of the leads makes the film all the richer so that you don't stop and say, "Oh, Look! There's ..." It is all ambiance that matters. It can appear that the scenes go on too long but they feel so real, so natural that you gotta just enjoy the flavors. Everything to say about Mr. and Mrs. Bogart has been said and none of their films prove it like this one. A neglected performance is Walter Brennan's. He always had the chance to go over the top and when he did, it was great, but here he just plays a lovable guy and gives so much of the humor. The scene where he finds out why Bogart slapped him is remarkably moving. This is not a movie for everyone, but with the great songs it is almost like a musical. And how can you not feel such great appreciation to Howard Hawks for treating us like adults.