A FILM TO REMEMBER: “KEY LARGO” (1948)

Before I get into this, I want to make mention “A FILM TO REMEMBER” will be a series about films that have reached a milestone anniversary since their origin in being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The articles will contain the film’s plot outline, director, cast, a compilation of trivialities, various photos, movie trailer, critical reception and more. So, let’s start:

We are here to mark the celebration of the 70th Anniversary of John Huston’s “Key Largo”. Let’s take an inside look at the film:

PLOT OUTLINE:

A man visits his old friend’s hotel and finds a gangster running things. As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other.

STUDIO:

Warner Bros. Pictures

DIRECTOR:

John Huston

CAST:

• Humphrey Bogart … Maj. Frank McCloud
• Edward G. Robinson … Johnny Rocco/Howard Brown
• Lauren Bacall … Nora Temple
• Lionel Barrymore … James Temple
• Claire Trevor … Gaye Dawn
• Thomas Gomez … Richard “Curly” Hoff
• Harry Lewis … Edward “Toots” Bass
• John Rodney … Deputy Sheriff Clyde Sawyer
• Marc Lawrence … Ziggy
• Dan Seymour … Angel Garcia
• Monte Blue … Sheriff Ben Wade
• William Haade … Ralph Feeney
• Jay Silverheels … John Osceola (uncredited)
• Rodd Redwing … Tom Osceola (uncredited)

GENRE(S):

Action | Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

TAGLINE:

A storm of fear and fury in the sizzling Florida Keys!

The film is known for being a taut, tense and atmospheric thriller as director John Huston’s wayward talent in using the physical constraints of the stage bound source material as a strength rather than a weakness as it eschews the lofty blank verse, concentrating instead on the simmering tensions among the many characters as they lent the gift of life from a superlative all-star cast and first-rate performances by Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore and Claire Trevor in this chomping on a cigar, impending storm of a risky gambit exemplar. The film is based from Maxwell Anderson’s play of the same name, it received mostly a positive reception but had some minor criticisms though its top-notch cast raises above it and on a visual level, the film is one of the best and most evocative examples of the film noir school.

Here’s what some of the critical receptions have been for the film over the years:

Variety Staff from Variety says: “Emphasis is on tension in the telling, and effective use of melodramatic mood has been used to point up the suspense.”

Tom Milne from Time Out says: “Although the characters are basically stereotypes, they are lent the gift of life by a superlative cast.”

Bosley Crowther from New York Times says: “The script prepared by Mr. Huston and Richard Brooks was too full of words and highly cross-purposed implications to give the action full chance.”

Dave Kehr from Chicago Reader says: “A little windy and rhetorical for my taste, but still one of John Huston’s best efforts.”

Ian Nathan from Empire Magazine says: “Perfectly tense atmosphere and performances, with the sparks flying between Bogart and Bacall.”

As you can tell by the critical reactions, the film was overall mostly well-received despite some marks about it’s prolix verbiage at points and the stereotypical characterizations. However, it overcomes it, as Huston punches it across with this tightly drawn crime thriller, loaded with wit and tension while providing an interesting backdrop of a brewing storm that swirls around stalwart performances from its standout cast of Bogart, Robinson, Bacall, Barrymore and Trevor in this taut, atmospheric, suspense and late summer hurricane seasoned classic. But I’ll let you decide…

So, to get a better look at the film, here’s a link to the movie trailer of John Huston’s “Key Largo”:

Here I have provided 12 interesting and intriguing trivia facts (I wanted to keep it limited) about “Key Largo”:

• In a classic case of being emotionally manipulative, director John Huston informed Claire Trevor that they were to film her song that very day. Trevor was not a trained singer, and had not even rehearsed the song yet. She also felt very intimidated by the A-list actors seated directly in front of her. The result was a hesitant, nervous, uncomfortable rendition, exactly the feeling Huston was hoping to get.
• Although they played on-screen enemies, off-screen Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson treated each other with great respect. Bogart insisted Robinson be treated like a major star and would not come to the set until he was ready. Often, he would go to Robinson’s trailer to personally escort him to the set.
• Lionel Barrymore was severely disabled by arthritis (clearly visible in his hands) and was confined to a wheelchair, making the scene in which his Mr. Temple character gets up and falls taking a swing at Toots more than a dramatic moment.
• The character of Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) was modeled on Al Capone, who retired to Florida and died there of complications due to advanced syphilis a year before this film was produced. Screenwriter Richard Brooks later revealed he had also incorporated biographical details about another famous gangster, Lucky Luciano, into Rocco’s character as well.
• When John Huston didn’t have a conclusive ending to his script, filmmaker Howard Hawks gave him the shootout confrontation on a boat that is actually the ending to the novel “To Have and Have Not,” as Hawks was unable to include it in his adaptation of “To Have and Have Not” (1944) which the film also starred the pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
• Edward G. Robinson had top billing over Humphrey Bogart in their four previous films together: “Bullets or Ballots” (1936), “Kid Galahad” (1937), “The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse” (1938) and “Brother Orchid” (1940). For this film, however, Robinson’s name appears to the right of Bogart’s, but placed a little higher on the posters, and also in the film’s opening credits, to indicate Robinson’s near-equal status. Robinson’s image was also markedly larger and centered on the original poster, with Bogart relegated to the background. In the film’s trailer, Bogart is repeatedly mentioned first but Robinson’s name is listed above Bogart’s in a cast list at the end.

• In the film, James Temple describes the 1935 hurricane that devastated Matacumbe Key. This was one of worst hurricanes in U.S. history and many of the victims of the storm were World War I veterans who were building the Florida Keys portion of U.S. Highway 1, also known as the Overseas Highway. A portion of the highway is seen in the film’s opening. The storm also produced the lowest-ever recorded barometric pressure over land in the North American continent.
• The main character of Frank McCloud played by Humphrey Bogart, describes having served with Nora’s late husband in the WWII battle at San Pietro, Italy; director/co-screenwriter John Huston had been involved in that battle as the creator of the documentary film San Pietro (1945) while he was in the U.S. Army’s motion picture unit.
• The character of Gaye Dawn (Claire Trevor) was based on real-life moll Gay Orlova (gangster Lucky Luciano’s girlfriend), believed at that time to have been executed by a German firing squad. Orlova survived, however, and was known to be living in Paris as late as 1954, trying to join Luciano in Italy.
• This is the fourth and final film pairing of Humphrey Bogart and his wife, Lauren Bacall. A fifth film was planned several years later, but Bogart had passed away before it could be made.
• Apart from the opening shots, the movie was filmed entirely at Warner Bros. Studio head Jack L. Warner — still reeling from the cost of shooting John Huston’s previous film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), on location — refused to approve any more location filming for the director. The pier scenes were filmed using the studio tank with miniature boats in the background to give an illusion of depth. The shipboard shots at the end were also filmed using the studio tank, with fog used to mask the artifice.
• In honor of this film, the city of Key Largo, Florida hosts the Humphrey Bogart Film Festival every year.

To conclude, John Huston’s “Key Largo” transcends the windy allegories of its theatrical origins in this tension and tempered seething claustrophobic setting of a tense, involving and intriguingly premised film-noir that’s filled with unpredictable violence, mounting suspense and a late summer hurricane season accentuating the rising inner and outer conflicts. John Huston smartly provides the sort of heft rarely found in thrillers, using two starkly contrasting approaches with individuals operating on either misguided ideas of grandeur or the sort of quiet heroism that can be mistaken for cowardice. The film is balanced out by an intelligently woven battle of characters through a robust cast of performances by Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore and Claire Trevor in this pulpy, thought-provoking, conflictingly captor’s demand of a dramatic whirlwind tour de force.

NOTE: The article contains sources from IMDb and Wikipedia.

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