SparkMore
n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.
HottWwjdIam
There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.
Doomtomylo
a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Lollivan
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
sol-
Set during the first few months of World War II, this Howard Hawks thriller stars Humphrey Bogart as a politically neutral American living overseas who reluctantly becomes instrumental in the safe transportation of a French Resistance fighter and his loyal wife. From such a plot summary alone, 'To Have and Have Not' might sound a lot like 'Casablanca', and the influence is hard to deny. To the film's credit, lead actress Lauren Bacall is arguably more effective than Ingrid Bergman and some of the dialogue matches 'Casablanca' in how snappy it is ("I'd walk home if wasn't for all the water" plus the famous whistling line), however, generally speaking, this comes off as a pale version of 'Casablanca'. Bogart's character does not have heartbreak or much in the way of cynicism to overcome, the supporting characters are nowhere near as colourful or charismatic and the film's patriotic stance is really drilled in towards the end. All the acclaim thrown Bacall's way over the years is very much justified though with every dialogue exchange between herself and Bogie ranging from memorable to utterly breathtaking. The film is sadly nowhere near as electric in the moments when Bacall is not on screen (and she is absent from around half the film), but the chemistry between the two main players is enough to recommend the film throughout its lulls.
LeonLouisRicci
This is One of those Films where it's Reputation Precedes it. A Good Film Rich with Folklore but Not a Great Movie. It is Another Artificial Looking Howard Hawks Film with HIs Trademark Overlapping Dialog. A Flourish that Hawks used for a "Realistic" Touch. Problem is, Most of His Movies Appear so Staged and Studio Bound His Actor's Speaking Patterns, on top of one another or Not, made Little Difference, it Still Looked Faked.Bogart has been Much Better without the Captain's Hat and the Dungarees. For some Reason He is Constantly Pulling them Up and it Looks Awkward. Speaking of Awkward, Lauren Bacall's Debut is not Exactly Silky Smooth. She Appears Amateurish at Times but does Manage to be On Screen so much that Eventually the Viewer is More Comfortable with Her than She is with the all of those Sexy Shenanigans.The Villains of the Piece are Clownish and where Victor Buono got that Speaking Pattern and Voice, no one will ever know. No Human Being Ever Talked like that. Walter Brennan as Bogey's Side-Kick, Eddie, is a Scene Stealer and Hoagy Carmichael's Piano Player is a Character He would Repeat for Years.Overall it is an Entertaining Movie if not Viewed Critically.
orde wingate
In 2014, one can rejoice in the fact that movies like this were made and still exist for us to enjoy. This film will only grow more dear with time, since at its most basic it is a tale that mixes two universal, albeit disparate, facets of human existence: standing up against oppression, and nascent love.Bogart is Bogart, which is to say something to forever cherish. He is exactly what one has come to expect from most any character he played. While other actors might be criticized for playing to type, Bogart is a type that never disappoints and would be a letdown if he had ever appeared in another form. Lauren Becall makes an acceptable debut, with a few slips here and there, but despite that she has enough to carry the screen when she's on it. Don't miss her little jig at the end. Walter Brennan, as a kind of comic relief, is deceptively superb, making his character seem easier to play than it must have been. His is an underrated skill, throughout his career. There are also a few pleasant surprises, too, with Dan Seymour playing a combination of Sidney Greenstreet and Victor Buono as the unctuous and rotund, and okay maybe stereotypical Capt. Renard, Marcel Dalio (of Casablanca fame) as the saloon keeper Frenchy, and the drop dead gorgeous and oddly yet powerfully sexy Dolores Moran as Madame Hellene du Bursac. She'll make you fall in love, so be careful.Accompanying the cast and story line is the piano and magnificent melodies of the great Hoagy Carmichael, who adds fun pieces (Hong Kong Blues, Am I Blue) and timeless pieces such as How Little We Know. Yes, his voice is not the best, but the delivery and his mien fit perfectly the mood of the film. His role is what helps make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.Get this on DVD or Netflix, grab a bottle of whatever makes you happy, and just sit back and enjoy. Then enjoy it all again.
James Hitchcock
The film director Howard Hawks was a close friend of the writer Ernest Hemingway and, in general, was an admirer of his works. He did not, however, have a high regard for Hemingway's novel "To Have and Have Not", and told the author so. This led to a bet between the two men that Hawks could not make a good film of the novel. This film was the outcome. The film is nominally based on the novel, but the plot has been altered virtually beyond recognition, although it does keep the main character, fishing-boat captain Harry Morgan. The film is, in fact, an unacknowledged remake of "Casablanca", with which it shares the following features:-A wartime setting in 1940 or 1941 A setting in a French colony under the Vichy regime A world-weary American hero, played in both cases by Humphrey Bogart, who is initially cynical about the war but who later changes his mind and throws in his lot with the French ResistanceA glamorous blonde (here Lauren Bacall rather than Ingrid Bergman) to act as the hero's love-interest. Scenes set in a bar with a jazz band and a pianist, here played by Hoagy Carmichael. (Carmichael was, of course, best known as a musician, but he did occasionally act in movies, generally playing a musician). A French Chief of Police, named Renault in "Casablanca" and Renard here. The name "Renard" may have been deliberately chosen because of its similarity to "Renault", although as "renard" is French for "fox" it may also be a reference to his cunning. A gallant Resistance leader with a beautiful young wife. Hemingway's book was set in Cuba and the Florida Keys, but here the setting is changed to Martinique in the summer of 1940, shortly after the fall of France. Morgan, who runs a business catering for big-game fishermen, is approached by the Resistance for assistance in smuggling two of their members onto the island. He agrees, but only because he has been promised payment and is short of money, although later, of course, he becomes an enthusiastic supporter of the Free French cause. He also finds time to conduct a romance with an American girl named Marie Browning. Morgan generally calls Marie "Slim", a reference to Hawks's model wife Nancy who was also known by this nickname; she, for some reason, always calls him "Steve", although everyone else calls him by his real name, Harry. There are a few differences between this story and that of "Casablanca". Renault was a morally ambiguous character who eventually emerges as one of the "good guys"; here Renard is a straightforward villain. In "Casablanca" the hero's love-interest and the Resistance leader's lovely young wife were one and the same person; here they are two different people, which means that there is no love-triangle as there was in the earlier film. I doubt if "To Have and Have Not" will ever rank as highly in the affections of the public as "Casablanca", one of the most beloved films of all time. The dramatic power of the earlier movie derives not only from its "heroes and villains" theme of the Resistance versus the Nazis but also from the inner struggles of Rick and Ilsa, both of whom must deal with the conflict between their desire for one another and their desire to assist the Allied cause. In "To Have and Have Not" Harry's own internal conflict is resolved pretty early on, so the only issue left is whether the French patriots or the pro-Vichy traitors will come out on top. (And, given that the film was made in 1944, we all know the answer to that one). "How Little We Know," is unlikely ever to rival "As Time Goes By" in any list of "great songs from the movies", especially as Lauren Bacall did not have the world's most melodious singing voice. (There were persistent, although untrue, rumours that she was actually dubbed by a male singer). Virtually every other line in "Casablanca" has become a famous quotation, but there is little to compare in this film except perhaps "Was You Ever Bitten by a Bee?" and "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow", a quote which has become famous largely because of the sexual innuendo with which Bacall manages to endow it. And yet "To Have and Have Not" is a very enjoyable wartime adventure film-cum-romance. Bogart gives another sterling performance in the sort of role he had made his own property, and the teenage Bacall, in her movie debut, shows that she had both the looks and the charisma which were to make her a major star. (A shame about her singing voice, though). This, of course, was the film where Bogart and Bacall first met and began the romance which was to end in their marriage. Walter Brennan provides some amusing comic relief as Morgan's drunken old reprobate of a crewman, Eddie. Besides Bacall the film also starred another beautiful young starlet, Dolores Moran, but somehow she never went on to become a star of quite the same magnitude. Hemingway's novels have not always translated well to the cinema screen; the Rock Hudson/Jennifer Jones version of "A Farewell to Arms", for example, and the Gary Cooper/Ingrid Bergman "For Whom the Bell Tolls" are both monuments of tedium. Although "To Have and Have Not", however, is generally rated as one of the author's lesser works (by many literary critics as well as by Hawks), the film version is nevertheless a pretty decent one. I think that Hawks won his bet. 7/10