"Key Largo"

Tonight I watched a classic that I'd never before seen: "Key Largo" (1948), directed by John Huston and starring Bogie & Bacall and Edward G. Robinson. It's such a famous film that you'd think I'd have seen it years ago, but for whatever reason I never did. I have a few more films like that, most notably "Gone With The Wind". "Casablanca" is another one. Can you believe it? - I've never seen "Casablanca". Not all the way through at any rate, though I have seen numerous snippets. "Singin' In The Rain" is yet another. If I started looking at lists of all time classic movies I'm sure I could find a few more, but the ones I named are the most prominent. And I will see them all at some point, I promise.

Maybe when I run out of Westerns and Horror films.

Well, I had never seen "Key Largo", either. I didn't know what it was about until I saw a few minutes of it on TCM the other night here at Pearl's. I didn't know it was a crime film, or that one of the stars was Edward G. in a tailor-made role. He plays a gangster on the lam named Johnny Rocco, who has rented out an old hotel on Key Largo, Florida for himself and a few "friends" (meaning thugs). The hotels in the Florida Keys close in the off-season, but Rocco made a generous offer to owner Lionel Barrymore, who seems to be in every movie these days, haha. Barrymore has rented the place out to Rocco and his boys for a week or so, ostensibly so they can go fishing. Yeah right. If you believe that, then I have some swampland in Florida I'd like to show you.

Now, of course you don't believe that, because you are watching the movie. But poor wheelchair bound Lionel Barrymore (who was confined to a wheelchair in real life for his later roles, including this one), does not know that Rocco is a hood who is renting his hotel in order to distribute counterfeit money. Barrymore is a folksy, patriotic American, who runs the hotel with his daughter-in-law Lauren Bacall. She was married to his son, who was killed in Italy in WW2. Both are unassuming and humble and would never guess that the men who have paid big money to rent their entire hotel are notorious criminals.

In walks Humphrey Bogart, just arrived by bus. He has been mustered out of the Army and has come to Key Largo to look for the family of one of his comrades. Bogie was the commanding officer of Bacall's husband; Barrymore's son. He wants to tell them about the young man's heroism, to leave them with some comfort and an honorable memory. But no sooner does he enter the hotel than things seem off to him. Oafish thugs sit at the bar, telling him to get lost. "The hotel is closed", they say. He explains why he is there, just to see the owner, and a girlfriend of the thugs - an alcoholic played by Claire Trevor - spills the beans that the owner is in the building.

Bogie can see that something is wrong, and he soon finds himself in a hostage situation.

This is one of those movies that places a lot of disparate personalities into a claustrophobic, interior location and sets them in conflict to see who will break. Think "The Desperate Hours", also with Bogart, or "Dog Day Afternoon" or even "12 Angry Men". It's a crime film more than a Noir, though it has a Noir element of a ferocious hurricane developing outside, threatening to blow down the hotel and everyone inside it. The hurricane scares Johnny Rocco, revealing a weakness in his persona of ruthless bravado.

The majority of the 100 minute film plays out in this way, with Rocco stalking the lobby, threatening his hostages and jumping at each roar of thunder from the storm. Lionel Barrymore, though crippled, is defiant, as is his loyal daughter-in-law Bacall. They stand up to Edward G. Bogart does not, but neither does he cower. He is combat-scarred from the war and wants no part of further violence, but sees that he may have no choice.

At times the drama is just a tad heavy handed because of Edward G.'s scenery chewing close ups. That's a minor quibble, because he turns in a prototypical Robinson hoodlum performance. Lionel Barrymore and Lauren Bacall are excellent in their roles requiring expressions of passive rage. They'd like to clobber the criminals but they cannot because they have no guns and therefore no say. But the main accolades go to Humphrey Bogart, in my opinion a truly great actor and not just a movie star, who has to show a wide range of emotion in his role as the main target of the hoods because he knows how to drive a boat. They want to use him to escape the hotel. He has sworn off violence but now his back is against the wall.

Claire Trevor won an Oscar for her role as Robinson's tipsy girlfriend. She plays a role in the outcome and that is all I will say.

John Huston's direction is a little "in-your-face", like Orson Welles used to do with the constant use of close ups. He utilizes a lot of dialogue, too. Sometimes it rambles on and you wish an editor had tightened things up. But overall you still have a crime classic great dramatic performances from everyone in the cast, and especially Bogart.

Shot in stormy black and white. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Key Largo", with a special mention for a great supporting performance by noted method actor Thomas Gomez as one of Robinson's henchmen.

That's all for tonight. Elizabeth, if you still read this blog I hope all is well. I haven't seen you on FB for a long time, many weeks. I will send good thoughts your way.  :):)

See you in the morning. Yay Dodgers. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)