To Have and Have Not

“You know 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. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow.” Oh my god. Is that the sexiest line of all time, delivered by maybe the sexist woman in the movies? I’d be hard pressed to think of a sexier one. Of course, it all depends on who is delivering it, and how. Lauren Bacall was nineteen when she delivered that famous line. It was her first movie. (She is still alive, I’m happy to say, and will be 88 in a month from when I’m writing this.) There she was, little Betty Joan Perske with third billing under the biggest male movie star of his day, and she just totally dominated the picture. It was Bogey who looked like the love interest, though it was supposed to be his picture. Clearly, he didn’t mind it, because he married her a year later, in one of the most legendary real-life love stories in Hollywood. This movie is a classic and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but measured against later Bogey-Bacall pics, I’d have to say it’s relatively minor. But don’t let that put you off. It’s still a great movie.