The screen tandem of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall only appeared in four movies. The last of these four was Key Largo (1948). It can be argued that it is the best of the four, but even if it is not, the movie doesn’t lack star power in front of the camera or behind it.
Key Largo is basically a recycled gangster picture from the 1930s, just set in the 1940s. What makes this movie so different from the other gangster pictures Bogie made or those pictures in which he is the cynical hero, is that this movie features tremendous performances and on-point camera work and direction.
Bogie plays Frank McCloud, a decorated World War II veteran who comes to Florida to find the father and widow of a soldier McCloud served with. The widow is played by Lauren Bacall. The father, who happens to be the owner of a hotel in Key Largo, is played by Lionel Barrymore. Of course this little family reunion of sorts, actually it is more of a remembrance, is a touching event, but doesn’t make for a good story. What is missing is a bad guy. The bad guy shows up in the form of Edward G. Robinson as Johnny Rocco.
Robinson plays a similar character to his Little Caesar. It is as if we see what might have happened to Little Caesar 15 years later had he not been killed. Rocco is the last gangster out there. He has been on the run for a few years, but has now decided to make his return to America. He is waiting at the out-of-season hotel in order to buy time while his friends stop by to make a deal that will get Rocco enough capital to restart his empire.
As is typical in gangster pictures, the gangster begins to bark out orders and dominates the place he is staying at. He holds Bogie, Bacall and Barrymore hostage. Claire Trevor won an Oscar for best supporting actress as the drunken ex-girlfriend of Rocco. Since Rocco has been away for so long, he can’t believe the changes he has seen in the once beautiful girl.
In Key Largo, Bogie is the only one who can stop the gangsters. Barrymore is confined to a wheelchair, Bacall and Trevor can’t take on Rocco and his gang and there are no other guests in the hotel. To make matters worse, there is a hurricane, so no police can be called. Bogie decides at first not to fight the gangsters, figuring it isn’t worth the price he could pay. But like Rick Blaine and many other characters Bogie played, Frank McCloud turns over a new leaf and fights back.
Key Largo was a play written in 1939 by Maxwell Anderson. It involved a Spanish Civil War veteran who was a coward and deserted. He went to seek out the family of a great hero who had died in the war. When the gangsters appear, the coward sees this as a chance to regain some respect. He ends up being killed by the gangsters and when the police come to ask who the dead man is, the father replies he was his son who had been a great Spanish Civil War hero.
This is all very nice and touching, but would never fly in Hollywood. So John Huston went to work on a more Hollywood story. He came up with some good changes and brought his story to life through the great cast. His direction is good, but the cinematography is special here. Karl Freund, who was cinematographer on Dracula (1931) and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), did a masterful job of creating eerie shadows during the hurricane. The black-and-white cinematography is well done.
Key Largo is packed with some of the best of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Bogie, Bacall, Barrymore, Trevor and Robinson are all great in their roles. There is even a brief appearance by the Native American actor Jay Silverheels, who would go on to become Tonto, the friend of the Lone Ranger. The quality isn’t just in front of the camera though, the original story was written by Maxwell Anderson, John Huston co-wrote the screenplay and directed and Karl Freund put his skills with the camera to good use here. This makes Key Largo and great sendoff to the screen tandem of Bogie and Bacall.
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