Wednesday, September 16, 2009

To Have and Have Not

In honor of her 85th birthday today and recent news of her to receive an honorary award in November, I've decided to review Lauren Bacall's best-known work: To Have and Have Not.

The movie is set on the Carribean island of Martinique during the second World War. Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart) and his alcoholic friend Eddie (Walter Brennan) are having difficulty getting business. Harry's offered to smuggle people onto the island. He refuses, but accepts after a client who owes him money is killed. Before he starts smuggling, Harry starts a relationship with Marie "Slim" Browning (Bacall), a singer at a club that Harry frequently goes to.

This movie, as most cinephiles like me know, created the real-life relationship of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Bogart, who was married during the production of To Have and Have Not, became attracted to the rising star. They were married in 1945, but the marriage ended in 1957 when Bogart died of cancer.

Bacall's work in the movie is stellar. It baffles me that she wasn't nominated for this, and it baffles me ever more that it was fifty-two years after she started acting that she received an Academy Award nomination (and didn't win to top it off!).

My Rating: *****

2 comments:

  1. Awesome blog! Great review of a Bogart film, classy stuff. Your heading picture is perfect (Why So Serious? o_O)

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  2. Interesting review. Its really hard to say about this movie because its a very old one and I haven't seen it. After reading your review I am curious to see this movie. I will try to find this movie and thanks for writing this nice review.
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