TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Micransix Crappy film

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

ElMaruecan82 Exiled in Vichy-occupied French territory, Bogart is an American whose only sympathies are minding his own business. Yet he accepts to help a French Resistance agent and his wife, officially for money.. but we understand he's good at being noble. Rich in witty dialogs and featuring a colorful supporting cast including Marcel Dalio, Dan Seymour and a sympathetic pianist, it's one of the greatest love stories ever BUT it's not "Casablanca": we're in Fort-de-France, Martinique, Bogart is Harry Morgan, a fishing-boat Captain, Dalio is the hotel owner, at the piano, it's Cricket, not Sam and no love triangle but a real romance, real underlined.This is Howard Hawks' "To Have and Have Not" adapted by Prize-Nobel winner William Faulkner from a novel written by no-less Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway, and despite that pedigree, whether you call it a rip-off, a remake or a coincidence, there's nothing that the film 'has' and its glorious predecessor 'has not'… except for one element, one thing it'll always have, the sensual, dazzling and irreplaceable Lauren Bacall. And after her recent passing, movies like "To Have and Have Not" are important to show how naturally born for gracing the silver screen, at the precocious age of 20 (looking 25), she was. Bacall had the stuff legends are made on."The Maltese Falcon" and "Casablanca" established Humphrey Bogart's stardom with his trademark macho persona: a lone ranger, cynical yet not dishonest, strong yet not invulnerable… in the heart-department anyway. And while it's Bacall who asks him for a match all through the film, she's the first actress to ignite a burning –and inextinguishable- fire of desire in his heart, ironically, he's the one who found his match. According to Hawks, a woman tailor-made for Bogie had to be as insolent and indomitable as him. Bacall, covering her nervously shaking hand under her armpit, with a cigarette and a sensual gaze and sharp lines delivered with that unique husky voice, invented the perfect attitude that would conquer the hardened heart of good old Bogie."Who was that girl... who left you with such a high opinion on women", about kissing him, "I've been wondering if I'd like it" Naturally, she needed another kiss to make up her mind. Bacall leads the show, while Bogart reacts and hesitates but she resists his attempts of feigning reluctance. Her feelings implode with her signature line "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow", to understand this metaphor so delightfully enrobed of sexual innuendo, remember what she says before "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."In other words, don't put an act, just show, like she says "I'm hard to get, all you need to do is ask". No mystery here, the whistle is the core of a relationship that would end with Bacall putting a whistle in Bogart's coffin. That whistle that started it all, not Cupid and his arrow, but two nicknames, 'me Steve, you Slim' for enduring romances are always cemented by complicity. Bogart, a Last Century man, was married, straight-laced in infidelity matters and was twice the age of Bacall, but what Bacall had, his wife had not, and "To Have and to Have Not"'s merit is to showcase the growth of a real romance, it's not Slim and Steve but Bogie and Baby, and again, it shows in the film.As critic Leonard Maltin said, actors used to play characters loving each other, but this might be the first time where actors don't have to act, and the more restrained they are according to their 'attitudes', the more obvious the love is. And what a delight to see love in live. Indeed, there are moments in the film, where Bacall looks like a gal having the time of her life, look at her when she's waving the fumes of chloroforms away clearly in the direction of her passed out rival, Dolores De Moran, with that 'ain't I a stinker?' Bugs Bunny look, Actually, Moran's Ilsa-like role had to be shortened because she couldn't possibly rival with Bacall, no one would believe it.De Moran ended up having an affair with Hawks, who envied Bogart for taking Baby away. It still cost Bogie his marriage but what a small price to pay for legend. As for the film, it's liable to be seen as a B-version of "Casablanca", adapted from what Hawks considered Hemingway's worst (a story originally set in Cuba but changed for political reasons and to fit the context of the war), but if there's no Claude Rains, there's the greatest character actor Walter Brennan who steals the show as Eddie, the brave rummy sidekick who, asking either for money for a drink, or if "you was ever been hit by a dead bee". is the second highlight of the film far behind Bacall, whose chemistry with Bogie redeemed every minor flaw.As Howard Hawks said, a good movie should 'have' three good scenes and 'have not' a bad one. Let's start the count, no bad scene, the 'whistle' line followed by Bogart's practice and his genuine smile, that other defining moment when in the darkness of a hotel room, he realizes Slim's insecurity, leans over her, gently lifts her chin, and kisses her, as we witness the genesis of a real love story. And there's that ending when Cricket asks Slim if she's happy, her off-character little hip dance perfectly captures that mix of glamor and naughty innocence, Bogart grabs her like saying 'stop fooling around, kid, you're mine, now'. Indeed, she'd never leave that arm, not with that gorgeous smile, of an enamored 20-year old girl… and Brennan handing the bags follows them, concluding the film with the perfect little pirouette.She's happy, we're happy... and they lived happily ever after.

orde wingate In 2014, one can rejoice in the fact that movies like this were made and still exist for us to enjoy. This film will only grow more dear with time, since at its most basic it is a tale that mixes two universal, albeit disparate, facets of human existence: standing up against oppression, and nascent love.Bogart is Bogart, which is to say something to forever cherish. He is exactly what one has come to expect from most any character he played. While other actors might be criticized for playing to type, Bogart is a type that never disappoints and would be a letdown if he had ever appeared in another form. Lauren Becall makes an acceptable debut, with a few slips here and there, but despite that she has enough to carry the screen when she's on it. Don't miss her little jig at the end. Walter Brennan, as a kind of comic relief, is deceptively superb, making his character seem easier to play than it must have been. His is an underrated skill, throughout his career. There are also a few pleasant surprises, too, with Dan Seymour playing a combination of Sidney Greenstreet and Victor Buono as the unctuous and rotund, and okay maybe stereotypical Capt. Renard, Marcel Dalio (of Casablanca fame) as the saloon keeper Frenchy, and the drop dead gorgeous and oddly yet powerfully sexy Dolores Moran as Madame Hellene du Bursac. She'll make you fall in love, so be careful.Accompanying the cast and story line is the piano and magnificent melodies of the great Hoagy Carmichael, who adds fun pieces (Hong Kong Blues, Am I Blue) and timeless pieces such as How Little We Know. Yes, his voice is not the best, but the delivery and his mien fit perfectly the mood of the film. His role is what helps make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.Get this on DVD or Netflix, grab a bottle of whatever makes you happy, and just sit back and enjoy. Then enjoy it all again.

AaronCapenBanner Howard Hawks directed this WWII intrigue that stars Humphrey Bogart as expatriate American Harry Morgan, who owns a boat-for-hire service on the island of Martinique with his alcoholic partner Eddie(played by Walter Brennan). Since the outbreak of WWII, business has been poor, and after a big customer fails to pay, Harry is forced to give up his neutrality and transport a French resistance member to safety. Lauren Bacall plays Marie 'Slim' Browning, a nightclub singer that Harry develops a romance with, and also wants him to help the resistance, though this does get them in trouble with the Nazis... Famous for the first pairing of future husband & wife Bogart & Bacall, film is so similar to "Casablanca" that it feels like a remake! Still, this isn't bad, with some memorable lines.

James Hitchcock The film director Howard Hawks was a close friend of the writer Ernest Hemingway and, in general, was an admirer of his works. He did not, however, have a high regard for Hemingway's novel "To Have and Have Not", and told the author so. This led to a bet between the two men that Hawks could not make a good film of the novel. This film was the outcome. The film is nominally based on the novel, but the plot has been altered virtually beyond recognition, although it does keep the main character, fishing-boat captain Harry Morgan. The film is, in fact, an unacknowledged remake of "Casablanca", with which it shares the following features:-A wartime setting in 1940 or 1941 A setting in a French colony under the Vichy regime A world-weary American hero, played in both cases by Humphrey Bogart, who is initially cynical about the war but who later changes his mind and throws in his lot with the French ResistanceA glamorous blonde (here Lauren Bacall rather than Ingrid Bergman) to act as the hero's love-interest. Scenes set in a bar with a jazz band and a pianist, here played by Hoagy Carmichael. (Carmichael was, of course, best known as a musician, but he did occasionally act in movies, generally playing a musician). A French Chief of Police, named Renault in "Casablanca" and Renard here. The name "Renard" may have been deliberately chosen because of its similarity to "Renault", although as "renard" is French for "fox" it may also be a reference to his cunning. A gallant Resistance leader with a beautiful young wife. Hemingway's book was set in Cuba and the Florida Keys, but here the setting is changed to Martinique in the summer of 1940, shortly after the fall of France. Morgan, who runs a business catering for big-game fishermen, is approached by the Resistance for assistance in smuggling two of their members onto the island. He agrees, but only because he has been promised payment and is short of money, although later, of course, he becomes an enthusiastic supporter of the Free French cause. He also finds time to conduct a romance with an American girl named Marie Browning. Morgan generally calls Marie "Slim", a reference to Hawks's model wife Nancy who was also known by this nickname; she, for some reason, always calls him "Steve", although everyone else calls him by his real name, Harry. There are a few differences between this story and that of "Casablanca". Renault was a morally ambiguous character who eventually emerges as one of the "good guys"; here Renard is a straightforward villain. In "Casablanca" the hero's love-interest and the Resistance leader's lovely young wife were one and the same person; here they are two different people, which means that there is no love-triangle as there was in the earlier film. I doubt if "To Have and Have Not" will ever rank as highly in the affections of the public as "Casablanca", one of the most beloved films of all time. The dramatic power of the earlier movie derives not only from its "heroes and villains" theme of the Resistance versus the Nazis but also from the inner struggles of Rick and Ilsa, both of whom must deal with the conflict between their desire for one another and their desire to assist the Allied cause. In "To Have and Have Not" Harry's own internal conflict is resolved pretty early on, so the only issue left is whether the French patriots or the pro-Vichy traitors will come out on top. (And, given that the film was made in 1944, we all know the answer to that one). "How Little We Know," is unlikely ever to rival "As Time Goes By" in any list of "great songs from the movies", especially as Lauren Bacall did not have the world's most melodious singing voice. (There were persistent, although untrue, rumours that she was actually dubbed by a male singer). Virtually every other line in "Casablanca" has become a famous quotation, but there is little to compare in this film except perhaps "Was You Ever Bitten by a Bee?" and "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow", a quote which has become famous largely because of the sexual innuendo with which Bacall manages to endow it. And yet "To Have and Have Not" is a very enjoyable wartime adventure film-cum-romance. Bogart gives another sterling performance in the sort of role he had made his own property, and the teenage Bacall, in her movie debut, shows that she had both the looks and the charisma which were to make her a major star. (A shame about her singing voice, though). This, of course, was the film where Bogart and Bacall first met and began the romance which was to end in their marriage. Walter Brennan provides some amusing comic relief as Morgan's drunken old reprobate of a crewman, Eddie. Besides Bacall the film also starred another beautiful young starlet, Dolores Moran, but somehow she never went on to become a star of quite the same magnitude. Hemingway's novels have not always translated well to the cinema screen; the Rock Hudson/Jennifer Jones version of "A Farewell to Arms", for example, and the Gary Cooper/Ingrid Bergman "For Whom the Bell Tolls" are both monuments of tedium. Although "To Have and Have Not", however, is generally rated as one of the author's lesser works (by many literary critics as well as by Hawks), the film version is nevertheless a pretty decent one. I think that Hawks won his bet. 7/10