Key Largo

Bogey and Bacall. What can you say? Those two generated sparks from the first of the four times they appeared together, in To Have and Have Not. This is their last pairing. Then we have Edward G. Robinson as a gangster with four thugs along with him. He has taken over the Largo Hotel, owned by Lionel Barrymore and his daughter-in-law, Bacall. Her husband died in the war in Italy, with Bogey, who has come to offer his sympathy. Add into the mix some escaped Seminole Indians and an approaching hurricane and you’ve got one hell of a good story. There’s a good tense shoot-out on a boat, which had me remembering that famous line from Little Caesar, where Robinson says “Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?” It was directed by John Huston, and co-written by him and Richard Brooks, from a stage play by Maxwell Anderson. Claire Trevor won the Best Supporting Actress for her role as an alcoholic. The Academy has always loved alcoholics and other impaired people.