WWII hero and busy actor stepped into Bogart and Garfield's shoes for a third version of a Hemingway story, "To Have and Have not." The film is bare-bones, budget-wise, but makes good use of its Florida locations to tell the story of gun runners and romance among the the coastal folk. Murphy isn't half-bad in the lead role of a charter boat captain caught up in a smuggling scheme, although I could not quite get used to Murphy in a boat captain's hat (I was so used to seeing him in Army helmets and cowboy hats). Eddie Albert plays a very convincing bad guy, and the film is loaded with familiar faces of the period, including Paul Birch, John Qualen, Jack Elam, Herb Vigran and Everett Sloane. Worth a look, mainly for Murphy/
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ctomvelu125 April 2010
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bkoganbing22 April 2010Ernest Hemingway's classic short story To Have And Have Not gets yet another remake, an independent production for Seven Arts that stars Audie Murphy taking the place Humphrey Bogart and John Garfield as Hemingway's iconoclastic fisherman/charter boat skipper.
No Lauren Bacall like slinky low voiced siren to take our hero's mind off business. In fact Murphy is happily married to Patricia Owens. But while he has a happy home life he owes some big money around Key West. His boat isn't even completely paid for and the bank is breathing down his neck.
Eddie Albert maybe the answer to his financial prayers. He wants to charter Murphy's boat for mysterious reasons for a trip to Cuba and remember this is 1958 and the Cuban government is rightly suspicious of strangers without proper clearance going to their island. In fact Albert is a gunrunner looking to sell to revolutionaries at a nice profit.
The film takes no political sides as to whether it favors the Batista government or the Castro revolutionaries. All you gradually learn along with Murphy is that Albert is one ruthless individual and quite the user.
Director Don Siegel shot this film on location in Newport Beach, California, curiously enough exactly where Michael Curtiz shot The Breaking Point, John Garfield's film of this story. Bogart's was done on the Warner Brothers back lot, none of them got anywhere near Papa Hemingway's beloved Caribbean waters. Siegel did keep the action going at a good clip.
Audie Murphy showed a bit of versatility here as an actor, taking a break from the B westerns he was doing at Universal. But Eddie Albert who when he does play a villain does remarkably well as he did in The Longest Yard and Attack. One never thinks of him that way, his image is forever fixed with Green Acres, but he was a favorite of mine and his range never ceased to amaze me.
The Gun Runners is your average B picture film about a controversial political issue in which it takes absolutely no sides. -
mackjay216 October 2006If we compare Don Siegel's 1958 version of Hemingway's "To Have and Have Not" to the two earlier film adaptations, it may suffer in a few ways, but it's far from a complete loss. Siegel directs Daniel Mainwaring's adaptation here and it's a solid entry in the B movie genre. Perhaps more solid than many, because it allows plenty of time for the development of the main characters and because it has intelligence and a sense of humor. The casting of Audie Murphy is just about inspired. In complete contrast to gruff Bogart and volatile John Garfield, Murphy brings his own brand of quiet, brooding containment. This is a pretty convincing characterization coming from an actor whose acting record is spotty between this film and his screen debut in John Huston's RED BADGE OF COURAGE, seven years earlier. It had seemed that Murphy would never truly live up to his sublime first appearance in that great film. Saddled (all puns intended) with mostly mediocre, if entertaining, material in the intervening years, Murphy must have appreciated this chance to show a range and depth that even his fans may not have expected. Murphy rises to every dramatic occasion in this film, from a convincingly physical, erotic relationship with wife Patricia Owens (in the same year she screamed in multiple images for THE FLY), to the high drama aboard ship in the film's climax. If this film remains unavailable for general viewers, it's a disservice to Murphy as an actor. Along for the ride are some supporting actors who tend to garner the tepid terms "stalwart" or "dependable". But Everett Sloane, Jack Elam and Richard Jaeckel bring hefty conviction to this project. Elam only has two scenes, but he makes us remember he was in the movie. And Sloane, taking the role so indelibly played by Juano Hernandez in THE BREAKING POINT (1950) with Garfield, does away with any doubt about his casting in this role. As the villain Hanagan, we have Eddie Albert. In case anyone hadn't already known it, Albert was an extremely good dramatic actor. His usual affability is used in this role, and set aside when necessary, to make a very believable criminal. The film was shot on the California coast, and we are asked to believe one sequence takes place in Cuba. It all works just fine. Siegel directs with his usual economy and sense of drama, making every scene count. This is a neglected, if minor, movie gem that deserves to be seen every now and then to remind us how satisfying a mid-budget Hollywood movie could be.
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gavin69425 June 2014A remake of "To Have and Have Not" based on the Hemingway short story. The plot is reset to the early days of the Cuban revolution. A charter boat skipper (Audie Murphy) gets entangled in gunrunning scheme to get money to pay off debts.
Director Don Siegel may be the third person to tackle this tale, but he is not working fro ma dry well. By updating the story to involve the Cuban Revolution (before its success), the film takes on new life and now works as not only a great story but something of a historical document. Assisting Cuban rebels in 1958 may have had a very different sense at the time than it does today after fifty-plus years of Castro.
This was the first feature from the fledgling Seven Arts Productions, before they went on to make "The Misfits" (1961), "Lolita" (1962), and several others, including a large number of co-productions with Hammer films. -
hitchcockthelegend16 May 2020The Gun Runners is directed by Don Siegel and adapted to screenplay by Daniel Mainwaring and Paul Monash from the Ernest Hemmingway novel, "To Have and Have Not". It stars Audie Murphy, Eddie Albert, Patricia Owens, Everett Sloane, Richard Jaeckel, Paul Birch and Jack Elam. Music is by Leith Stevens and cinematography by Hal Mohr.
It's The Cuban Revolution and boat owner Sam Martin (Murphy) finds himself unwittingly mixed up in gun running...
The Hemmingway novel had already been adapted with considerable success twice previously (To Have and Have Not (1944)/The Breaking Point (1950)), so why another variant on the source was commissioned is a bit of a mystery. As it happens, it's no dead loss without pulling up any trees.
Thematic heart comes by way of Sam Martin's moral compass, which is jarred when he learns he is quite simply in over his head. With an adoring wife at home (Owens) and his alcoholic best friend in tow (Sloane as usual good value), the human interest factor is above average. Albert gives quality villainy, with henchmen by his side, and the pic stands out for the moments of violence that take one by surprise.
There's some poor back projection work, but this is offset by some lovely location photography, with Mohr (Phantom of the Opera/The Lost Moment) also bringing some nifty monochrome shadings to key character interactions. Yet ultimately the plus point is with Murphy, who really pushes himself for Siegel, his performance deserved a better film, but as it is he lifts it above average and makes it a must see for his fans. 6/10 -
World War II's most decorated hero Audie Murphy recreates the Harry Morgan role that Humphrey Bogart originated in director Howard Hawks' "To Have and Have Not" as a Florida Key West charter boat skipper who finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place with villainous arms smugglers. Clocking in at a trim 83 minutes, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" director Don Siegel's "The Gun Runners" qualifies as a straightforward, no-nonsense, apolitical, maritime melodrama about a hard luck skipper who is literally living on a borrowed time. As Sam Martin, Murphy is so destitute that he hasn't been able to make a boat payment in three months, and the man who pumps his boat fuel hovers around him greedily in anticipation of getting his long overdue money. Nevertheless, despite these trials and tribulations, Sam enjoys a good life. He is his own boss, and he is married happily to Lucy Martin (Patricia Owens of "The Law and Jake Wade"), and he doesn't have a dishonest bone in his body.
Siegel's film isn't half as good as either Hawks' classic or director Michael Curtiz's remake "The Breaking Point" with John Garfield, but it is still an interesting film, competently made, without flashy effects or thematic pretensions. The characters constitute a motley bunch, but the level of corruption in "The Gun Runners" is nothing compared to an earlier Siegel thriller "The Line-Up." "The Gun Runners" suffers from contrivance, but the narrative generates some suspense. The cast is stellar with Eddie Albert as a despicable villain, backed up by Richard Jaeckel. This United Artists theatrical release differs substantially from the Hawks' original and the Curtiz remake. Scenarists Daniel Mainwaring of "Out of the Past" and Paul Monash of "Salem's Lot" have altered several scenes and characters. Like the previous big-screen adaptations, however, "The Gun Runners" jettisons the chief complication in the relentlessly depressing Hemingway novel. Ostensibly, Sam doesn't lose an arm like his literary counterpart and he doesn't die in a gunfight aboard his charter boat with bank robbers.
Like the earlier outings, "The Gun Runners" opens with our hero losing a fishing rod and line when a tourist lets a marlin run off with it. Peterson (John Harding of "The Joker is Wild") has spent ten days out on Sam's charter boat and he has had rotten luck. The last day out he hooks into a big one, but he fails to follow Sam's suggestion about handling the fishing rod and he loses it. In the original, the same character with a different name tried to skip out of Bogart, but he got caught in a cross-fire as Cuban authorities tried to round up revolutionaries. "The Gun Runners" is set in the days before the botched Cuban revolution and Peterson here never pays his bill. The authorities catch up with this bad check writer who has been kiting checks galores and Sam doesn't get his money. This bad luck frustrates Arnold (Jack Elam of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral") because he was counting on Sam to pay him off. Along comes a happy-go-lucky fellow Hanagan (Eddie Albert of "Attack") who wants to rent Sam's boat. Eventually, Hanagan tells Sam that he wants to go to Cuba. Sam is already leary of Cuba and Cubans. Cuban revolutionaries have tried, as they did in the earlier versions, to charter Sam's boat for subversive activities against the government. In fact, the revolutionaries kill a cop when they try to persuade Sam to join their cause. Sam wants nothing to do with the revolutionaries. Like the other versions, Sam has a deckhand, a rummy named Harvey (Everett Sloane of "Citizen Kane"), who interferes in everything that Sam does. One character asks Sam why he doesn't get rid of Harvey and stop worrying about taking care of the guy. Sam replies that Harvey believes that he is taking care of him.
Destitute for money, Sam agrees to land Hanagan and his girlfriend in Havana for an evening despite not having proper papers. Hanagan makes a deal with the revolutionaries to deliver weapons to them and he pulls Sam into the scheme. Sam learns too late that Hanagan has bought the note of his boat so Sam will have to take Hanagan back to Cuba to conclude their arms deal. Hanagan brings aboard a Cuban revolutionary who is supposed to take them to a rendezvous where they will exchange the money for the guns. The revolutionary learns too late that Hanagan had planned to double-cross him and a gunfight erupts on Sam's boat. Hanagan and his henchmen as well as the Cuban die and Sam catches a slug. Luckily for Sam, Harvey remained concealed aboard the charter boat and pilots it back to Key West. Harvey has iron-clad faith in Sam and Sam's moral values. "I knew you couldn't do it, Sam. I knew it. You know why? Because like I told Arnold, a man can't go bad if it ain't in him to go bad. And it ain't in you, Sam. Even if you tried it." Again, the performances are all good and Sloane is really good, but he doesn't surpass Walter Brennan in the original. Siegel maintains enough tension throughout the action, but he allows his protagonist to romance his wife and spend some time with the other characters at Key West. -
verbusen4 May 2010I won't remember any lines or scenes from this film like I do from the Bogart film version of this Hemingway tale, but this is a decent film and worth watching for Audie Murphy and Don Siegal fans. I actually find this version more accessible for younger viewers as I feel that the Bogart version is chock full of clichés and it's also very drawn out, IMHO. This version because it was made in the late 50's can be related to a lot more then a film from the 40's, mostly because of the lack of street slang used in this version that in the Bogart film is outdated and forgotten. It's worth watching Murphy as the law breaker, he always had such a young looking average man's face, he will never pull the weight of a Bogart, but for me it's refreshing to watch as he looks very vulnerable, much more so then a Bogart is able to come across. I was able to follow this version a lot better as it was pretty straight, with the Bogart 40's films (and a lot of Noir from that time) they took an extra turn or two to add to the suspense but also could get kind of confusing and drawn out. Everett Sloane plays the rummy, and for me he did a great job. I'm sure that Walter Brennan has a ton of fans and probably won or got a nomination for his rummy role in the Bogart version, but for me he was annoying as all get out, so much so that because of To Have And Have Not, I cringe whenever I see him in a film thinking of that way over the top role he played. Eddie Albert has a decent bad guy role, and this may be one of his first as the villain although his career goes way back before this so I don't know, but his condescending villain in such films as The Longest Yard is displayed fully here. Jack Elam and Richard Jaeckel have bit parts that do nothing much for their resumes, and Robert Phillips another henchman on the ending scene is recognizable in the Star Trek pilot "The Meangerie" talking about the dancing green Orion slave women's sexual prowess with Captain Pike, as well as a pretty decent role in another Don Siegal movie, The Killers (one of my favorites). All in all it's a straight forward crime film about people that get drawn into crime during hard times. Murphy has nothing to be ashamed of in this film, and I rate it a 7 of 10 and worth watching.
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tomsview4 December 2016Although this is a well-made film, you have to wonder why it was thought "The Breaking Point" could be bettered. However it gave Audie Murphy an opportunity to expand his range in a non-Western role.
Audie plays Sam Martin who runs a charter boat out of the Florida Keys. It's the only film version that is set in the location of Hemingway's novel. Sam's business is in trouble, and he undertakes some illegal trips to Cuba running guns for Hannigan, an affable, but ruthless businessman played by Eddie Albert - proving that a charming villain is always more effective than a straight-out evil one.
Sam is married and resists the not overly strenuous advances of Hannigan's mistress Eva (Gita Hall). Gita was underutilised here, she looked blonde, cool and interesting; a missed opportunity really, it was this relationship that created much of the tension in "The Breaking Point".
Eventually it ends with bullet holes in much of the boat and most of the protagonists.
I still find Audie Murphy a fascinating screen presence. Film allowed us to stare eyeball to eyeball into the face that was about the last thing 250 of his country's enemies ever saw. Occasionally we see interviews with war heroes, but the movies gave us an intimate acquaintance with this one.
He was a complex guy and not universally liked, some thought him dangerous; he probably was. I once read "No Name on the Bullet", Don Graham's biography of Audie Murphy. Graham interviewed many people who knew him throughout his life and shed light on some of his military exploits beyond what was depicted in "To Hell and Back". Graham tells how Audie often went on solo missions to hunt down German snipers. It took nerve and skill, forged as a youth in the Depression when he hunted food for his family - one bullet, one kill.
In "The Gun Runners", Audie is tightly controlled showing little emotion. He didn't change much from film to film, but maybe his movies reflected that iron self-control that enabled a man to stand on a burning tank destroyer firing a machine gun for an hour, holding off scores of the enemy.
But that was all a long time ago and possibly a lot of people aren't interested in the stars in that way, simply demanding that the drama hold their attention. I would say "The Gun Runners" does that pretty well. I like the ending, which leaves us with a touch of doubt. It's a very watchable film on a number of levels. -
sol121823 April 2010***SPOILERS*** It's when non smoking drinking and gambling All-American boy Sam Martin, Audie Murphy, got hit by financial hard times like not being able to pay his bills that he turned to shady dealings with international gun runner Hanagan, Eddie Albert. It was Hanagan who wanted Sam, who knew the the treacherous waters that separates Cuba from the US mainland like the back of his hand, to sail his fishing boat into Havana Cuba that at the time, the Cuban Revaluation, was off-limits to American shipping. When there Hanagan without Sam's knowledge plans to unload hundreds of rifles machine guns and ammunition to the Cuban rebels fighting the Bistista Regime. With Sam a bit hesitant at first he agrees to sail both Hanagan and his Swedish girlfriend Eve, Gita Hall the former Miss Sweden 1952, to Cuba even if caught he risks not only losing his boat but ending up behind bars in a Cuban lock-up.
What was to be a harmless night out partying in Havana turned into a night of murder when Hanagan shot and killed a Cuban policeman, for asking too many embarrassing questions, and cab driver, for knowing too much, before the evening was over. Back in Key West with his wife Lucy, Patricia Owens, Sam finds out from US Coast Guard Commander Welsh, Ted Jacques, about the murders in Havana and realizes that he unknowingly had a part in them! With a double murder rap hanging over his head and his beloved fishing boat about to be dispossessed by the local bank Sam has no choice to go along with Hanagan grand scheme to smuggle thousands of weapons into Cuba for the Cuban rebels lead by the incomparable and fearless "El Beardo" himself Fidel Castro!
Being the back-stabbing and scheming swine that he is Hanagan had no intentions to go through with his deal in supplying the Cuban rebels with guns or anything else. All he wanted was their cash and then leave them out in the cold with crates of rocks and junk instead of the weapons that they paid him for. It was Sam's 1st mate the always drunk Harvey, Everett Slone, who in a rare moment of sobriety found out about Hanagan's plan and informed Sam about it.
***SPOILER ALERT*** With Sam now knowing just what Hanagan and his hoods lead by Buzurki, Richard Jeackel, had in store for him as well as Cuban rebel leader Carlos Romero, Carlos Contreras, his only hope of surviving was to go along with the rat-fink killer until he lets his guard down and then go for the kill! That's if Hanagan and his boys don't start to suspect that Sam is on to them and end up killing him first!
P.S Strange casting of Everett Slone as the drunken rummy and Sam's 1st mate Harvey. Slone knows for his parts as a sophisticate villain, like in "The Lady of Shanghai", and conniving and unscrupulous wheeler dealer, like in "Patterns", seemed a bit out of place in that role. -
mark.waltz9 December 2012This being the third version of Ernest Hemmingway's novel "To Have and Have Not", it is updated to the Florida Keys of the late 50's where a revolution is going on in Cuba and a gun smuggling ring wants the use of Sam Martin's boat. Audie Murphy, who played himself as a World War II hero in "To Hell and Back", now takes on Bogart's classic role yet is about as far from Bogart in charisma as Cuba is from democracy. There is also the case of the missing vixen, the Lauren Bacall role in the original. Now, Sam is married (to a fairly feisty woman played by Patricia Owens) and runs a fishing vessel that is about to be repossessed for non-payment of dock fees. Everett Sloane takes on the comic relief role of Sam's drunken sidekick (played in the original by Walter Brennan) and gives basically the same performance that Brennan did. Eddie Albert is the bad guy, out to control or fleece anybody he can, and is accompanied by his mistress (Gita Hall) who adds the only heat in the film.
While the action sequences are very suspenseful, the film seems like something that was being done on television crime shows, only expanded to 93 minutes for the big screen. Albert's villain is a seemingly likable guy who goes off the nice guy wagon the moment he is confronted in Cuba by a soldier wanting to see his papers. He gives a truly memorable performance. Murphy tries his best, but there is no escaping what he was up against, and the women in the film are simply stereotypes, particularly Peggy Maley as the drunk at the bar. Gita Hall as Albert's mistress takes the role played by Dolores Moran in the original and makes it appear more important than it is. -
JohnHowardReid10 March 2007It puzzles me why producer Clarence Greene and Seven Arts thought the public would go for yet another re-telling of Hemingway's "To Have and Have Not" when both the Bogart-Bacall and Garfield-Neal versions are so widely regarded as definitive. But here it is, and I must admit that Mainwaring and Monash have added a few more suspenseful wrinkles to the screenplay and that Audie Murphy does surprisingly well by the Bogart-Garfield role. The other players are equally adept, particularly Eddie Albert as the chillingly convincing heavy and the lovely Gita Hall (in the first of only two movies, alas). And it's always good to see players like Richard Jaeckel, Herb Vigran and Jack Elam in roles that allow them to display their talents.
Beautifully photographed by Hal Mohr on actual Key West locations, the movie also gives director Don Siegel some splendid action opportunities which he handles in his usual dramatic style, although the climax itself seems somewhat truncated by comparison with the preceding versions. -
When you cast Audie Murphy, Jack Elam and Richard Jaeckel in a movie, it's pretty much going to be a Western, even if you put it on the ocean. As the story played out I had the distinct impression that it resembled Bogart's "To Have and Have Not" so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that just about every other reviewer mentioned it on this board. The main tip-off was Everett Sloan in the Walter Brennan role as the alcoholic sidekick to Murphy's Captain Sam Martin. It's too bad no one had the Lauren Bacall part, but both Patricia Owens and Gita Hall were easy on the eyes, even if they didn't get to sashay to a Hoagy Carmichael tune.
In many of my reviews of Audie Murphy films I usually mention something about his boyish good looks but this time one of the characters actually did it. When Eva Wahlstrom (Gita Hall) sidles up to the Captain for the first time on his boat she exclaims "Oh, you have such a baby face". Sam's wife Lucy (Owens) also remarks similarly later in the picture, but more along the lines of her desire to keep him safe, and not lose his looks altogether on a dangerous mission.
Regarding Sam and his wife, their scenes together as a syrupy sweet couple managed to bother me for some reason I can't explain. Maybe it was just his way of getting the blonde floozy's goat at Freddy's (Herb Vigran) gin mill. If so, looks like it worked.
Well the Bogart film gets relocated from the French island of Martinique to Key West and Porto Bello in this tale of Cuban revolutionaries and illicit arms dealers. You usually don't picture Eddie Albert as a villain but he does a pretty good job here as gun runner Hanagan, out to make a quick buck trading in Thompson Machine Guns at a grand a pop. I thought that was a little steep for the late Fifties, but I guess if you're looking to overthrow a government, money's no object. Besides, a lot could go wrong, and it did.
Funny, but even though Sam made it back to dry land in one piece, I couldn't help thinking that the story wasn't over with. The authorities came calling on just the hint that his boat made it to Cuba that one time, but now there would be dead bodies floating around the Gulf of Mexico and old Harvey with the loose lips whenever the sherry started flowing again. Maybe another remake will take care of that little problem. -
rmax30482325 May 2010It's too bad the budget was as low as it was, and that more care hadn't been invested in the casting, because this sticks closer to Hemingway's novel that the other, better-known versions like Howard Hawks'.
As it is, it was not shot in Florida or Cuba, and when Captain Audy Murphy pulls his fishing boat into a Key West harbor it looks like nothing so much as Newport Beach, California, which is what it is.
The print I saw was grainy and the filming lacking in any innovation. I know Don Siegel directed it and he could be a first-rate craftsman with no pretensions. Here, though, with the exception of Eddie Albert's evil character, nothing stands out.
Audy Murphy was not much of an actor. He turned in an exceptional performance in "The Red Badge of Courage" but in all of his other work he seemed slightly embarrassed to be in front of a camera. His relationship with Everett Sloan as "the rummy" is without depth or understanding. Aside from Eddie Albert and his smiling, back-patting, treacherous depravity, none of the other characters shine. Even Albert's character is not the maniacal killer that Siegel grew so fond of later in his career. Albert only shoots one or two people, and he uses a short-barreled revolver, not Dirty Harry's 20 mm. canon.
Patricia Owens is stunning in her modelesque way with her anthracite irises but she's there to provide Murphy's character with a home life, and too much screen time is given to her. The running time is short enough and the script could at least have had her remove some of her hampering outer garments to make up for the overabundance of her presence.
Siegel's action scenes are always good, more brutal than what we usually run into, and the climax is no exception here. By today's standards, of course, it's tepid stuff; but then by today's standards, everything more than twenty years old pales.
All in all, there's nothing at all memorable about this film. It could have been done twenty years earlier with B-list actors like Chester Morris or Stanley Clements or some other guy with a mustache and a contract. -
dglink20 December 2020Sam Martin and his wino mate, Harvey, run fishing expeditions out of Key West. However, Sam has run into bad times, and, with mounting debt, he is threatened with losing his boat and, thus, his livelihood. When a seeming tourist named Hannagan with a Swedish blonde in tow hires Sam for a quick and illegal trip to Cuba, Sam needs the money and agrees, unaware of the true nature of the cruise. Adapted from Ernest Hermingway's novel, To Have and Have Not, which was previously filmed in 1944 with Humphrey Bogart, "The Gun Runners" is a tight, engaging B film directed by veteran action director Don Siegel.
While Audie Murphy as Sam is no Bogart, he is adequate in the part, although his romantic scenes with Patricia Owens as his wife are awkward and unconvincing. However, Eddie Albert as Hannagan, the duplicitous gun runner, is colorful, and his performance stands out. Everett Sloane as Harvey is also good. Hal Mohr's crisp black and white cinematography is another major asset, especially in razor-sharp close-ups of the principals.
While not on a par with the Bogart classic, "The Gun Runners" is closer to Hemingway and restores the Key West locale, although the action is updated to feature the Cuban Revolution. The relatively short low-budget feature is worth a look and should appeal to fans of Audie Murphy and, especially, to followers of Don Siegel's career. -
LeonLouisRicci28 February 2023Most Decorated War-Hero of WWII...Audie Murphy...by 1958 had a Decade Long Career in Mostly Westerns,
would Go On to 50 Roles in Movies and TV, took the Challenge of Comparison to Humphrey Bogart and John Garfield. Both Considered Class-A Actors, and Enjoyed Great Popularity.
Murph was Never in Their League, but a Proven Fighter Nevertheless,
was Up for a Choice Icon of Literature, Ernest Hemingway, and Americana and the 2 Aforementioned Top-Notch Performers Did Not Dissuade the "Medal of Honor" Recipient and the Opportunity to "Be All That He Could Be" as an Actor.
Audie Murphy is Quoted Deep in His Career..."Acting was a battle I never won."
This Version was Directed by the Great B-Movie Director Don Sieger, who Populated the Picture with a Talented Cast. And the Script was Written by Another Proven-Pro, Daniel Mainwaring.
It's Got a Lot of Siegel's Style, of Pulp-Panache,
He Could Get "Bang-for-the Buck", and Impressed Critics and Fans with His Hard-Boiled, In-Your-Face Action, that was Economy Film-Making at its Best.
Murphy Did His Best and it's a Solid Outing. Film Critics were Never Kind to an "Audie Murphy" Movie,
with the Exception of a Few Big Pictures Like His Autobiographical "To Hell and Back" (1955) and "The Red Badge of Courage" (1951).
His Filmography is Full of Under-Rated, Low-Budget Gems, and those Critics, it can Now be Said, Historically, that His Huge Fan-Base was Right.
Most of His Movies are Above Average and Murph Always Delivered.
While this Film will Always Rank 3rd Behind "To Have and Have Not" (1944) and "The Breaking Point" (1950), but a Respectable 3rd.
It is a Fine Film and is a Must-See for Audie Murphy and Don Siegel Fans.
For All Others, it's...
Worth a Watch. -
malcolmgsw28 October 2021This is a Don Siega LL film some it's always going to be interesting. Whilst I found it entertaining the casting was unusual to say the least Audy Murphy was a bit out of his depth in the Bogart part. Eddie Albert played against type as the villain.
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byron-11622 November 2019Although babyface Audie Murphy is not cut out for this role, it's a pretty good B-film to watch....
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filmalamosa18 October 2012I picked this movie out because Don Siegel never produces garbage in fact it is almost guaranteed quality what ever the budget...and this movie has a B grade budget.
Audie Murphy and Eddie Albert star in this 1958 rendition of Hemingway's To Have and Have Not. It is an intelligent well filmed maritime adventure. Eddie Murphy is superb as the charming villain--I have never seen a better one. Audie Murphy is boyishly handsome and earnest as the hard up boat captain.
Well worth the watch. No politically correct baggage or tiresome social messages just action and gun running to Cuba.
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