To Have and Have Not

... Bogart is held in high esteem for his career of acting. He was just that damn good.

Forget all of the top ten lists, awards, honorable mentions, etc. It's really hard to put a finger on it exactly, but his ability to transform what in a script is a mediocre character with average, even sometimes corny lines, into someone who you always seem to be rooting for - someone who's delivery is always convincing - has to be proof of natural skill.

The interplay between he and Bacall is some of the most unforced, natural acting ever to grace the big screen. And what could be sexier than Bacall's flirting before they kissed? One not to be missed.

Harry Morgan owns a fishing boat for hire on the small island of Martinique. France has fallen and tensions are high, although Harry is happy to stay out of it and just earn his money. However an offer to carry some revolutionaries off the island sees him caught up in police suspicions when the deal comes to light. This, combined with his attraction to fellow American "Slim" Browning forces Harry to re-evaluate his "out for himself" values.

Although the continued success of this film owes a lot to the pairing of Bogart and Bacall, there is enough going for the rest of the film to make it stand up down the years. The plot is very interesting in Hawks look at a man who tries to take a distanced approach to the problem of others before standing up to be counted; I don't know enough about the period to really know what context he was putting this forward in but it is still interesting enough and does make the character of Steve/Harry a lot more complex. The plot goes down a standard road of wartime thriller but it is still very engaging and well told. The direction is top notch and has a real sense of atmosphere despite the production being limited to soundstages.

Of course a major reason the film works is the cast. Bogart does "downbeat but ultimately heroic" better than many others and he does it well here – tough, smart and morally challenged. Bacall has less of a character to speak of but she makes up for that by sheer force of personality; personally I don't find her that attractive but she fair sparks across the screen and her delivery is very sexual throughout. The two fell in love during the film and it does show on screen, with a great chemistry and real sexual tension between them – a heavy amount of classic scenes and hot moments also helps. Support is good from Brennan and Seymour but the "Free French" are not that well developed and are not as interesting as they should have been.

Overall this is a classic film with an interesting plot, interesting characters, a tough and heavy atmosphere, good performances and a central duo that really spark off each other. It may be a standard wartime thriller on the surface but everything seems to come together really well and produce a film that is memorable for a collection of reasons.

There's not a lot of difference from before, as Martinique trumps Morocco and takes the floor, for two people to engage, to take true love right off the page, along with passion, feeling, fire, it's still amour. This time it's Steve, or is it Harry, could it be Rick, who sides against the baddies with their stick, although Dan Seymour isn't Claude, and his accent is a fraud, Slim as Ilsa brings the right amount of click. Perhaps events that happened away from the screens, suggests this film has more importance than it seems, but I'm not sure just what arouses, Lauren's interest in those trouser, as men of a certain age, should not wear jeans.

Well, was you? That's Eddie's (Walter Brennan) inexorable question all throughout "To Have and Have Not" to anyone within earshot. And it's only the 3rd or 4th best line in the movie. Seems there's this one line where one person tries to teach another person how to whistle. And another one after a passionate kiss when a gal tells a guy that it's even better when he helps. Duh! But I like what happens after yet another passionate smooch between Bogie and Bacall. She pulls away and says to him, "You need a shave," after which she immediately love-slaps his unshaven face. It's her way of telling him without words that she's attracted to him and she really doesn't give a good hoot whether he shaves or not.

By now, just about everyone knows that this movie is all about "Steve" (Humphrey Bogart) and "Slim" (Lauren Bacall). In their first movie together, the two exhibit an explosive chemistry rarely seen from any other actor-actress combo. As one watches the movie, with the great Howard Hawks putting the two thru their various paces, one simultaneously imagines the two of them falling in love offscreen -- which they did! -- just as they do in this movie. For more on this, I highly recommend Lauren's autobiography -- "By Myself." In that book, she talks about the two of them sneaking around to see each other like a couple of teenagers -- which she was! As I recall, Bogie was still married at the time -- though estranged from Mayo Methot.

As for "T H a H N," there are many other fine elements that make it well worth one's time. A pretty good storyline revolving around the Free French contesting the Vichy French (Nazi collaborators) in Martinique during the early days of World War II. A strong supporting cast much reminiscent of the one in "Casablanca." Great dialogue by novelist William Faulkner and Jules Furthman. Also, a strong musical score ("Am I Blue?" -- "How Little We Know" -- "Hong Kong Blues") by Hoagy Carmichael with a strong assist from Johnny Mercer.

In a very good Humphrey Bogart movie, which this certainly is, one would never suspect that a young ingenue actress, with little training or experience, could scene-steal from a polished veteran like Bogie. And I won't say that she does such in this movie. I do know that she did not want to and was not trying to (her autobiography). The fact is, however, that it took a star actor of Bogie's magnitude to keep Betty from dominating the screen with her earthy sex appeal and pure luminescence. Her sashay out of the bar in the last scene here is enough to make any man weak in the knees. No wonder Bogie tumbled! Both onscreen and off!

So ..... tell me, now ..... WAS you ever bit by a dead bee?

This movie was criticized upon its release for being too much of a ripoff of Casablanca and that is very true.

This is a cheaper version of that classic and too similar.

But it is a must-see for the interactions of Bogart and Bacall, who famously fell in love on the set. There are a bunch of great lines in the script co-written by Faulkner based on a book by Hemingway.

It was directed by the great Howard Hawks, who directs some real great shots here. There are many memorable scenes.

In the end, it is a little too long, disjointed, and drags out too much, with some non-plausible scenes as well.