Key Largo
1948 Directed by John Huston
Synopsis
A hurricane swells outside, but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco (Robinson) holes up -- and holds at gunpoint hotel owner Nora Temple (Bacall), her invalid father-in-law (Barrymore) and ex-GI Frank McCloud (Bogart).
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Hot dog, what an awesome movie! This is maybe my sixth time watching. The first time I watched Key Largo I thought it was OK, but not great. Not sure what headspace I was in then, because the acting in this is top notch. The underrated Claire Trevor is a standout (she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work here), but everyone, Bogart, Robinson, Barrymore, and Thomas Gomez are all in top form. Probably the best that Bacall has ever been. Huston has some nicely framed shots and sets things up well. Highly recommended and if you don't love it, watch it again.
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You don't like it, do you Rocco, the storm? Show it your gun, why don't you? If it doesn't stop, shoot it.
-Frank McCloudDirected and co-written by John Huston, the film is loosely based on the 1939 stage play of the same name by Maxwell Anderson, who at this point was no stranger to having his work adapted to film. "No stranger" seems to be the running theme of the production of the film as this is Humphrey Bogart's fifth film under Huston's direction, his fourth and last film with wife Lauren Bacall and his fifth and last film with Edward G. Robinson.
The familiarity between everyone involved helps a great deal, as with most films based on stage…
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"AT the southernmost point of the United States are the Florida Keys, a string of small islands held together by a concrete causeway. Largest of these remote coral islands is Key Largo"
This is the opening title sequence to set up the film. War hero Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) is passing through these Florida Keys to speak to the owner of 'Hotel Largo' James Temple (Lionel Barrymore) and his widowed daughter-in-law Nora (Lauren Bacall) regarding the passing of his son in Italy. The hospitality of the guests at the hotel aren't all that friendly and it only escalates from there.
The true star for me was the fantastic use of weather and an impending hurricane that looms outside Hotel Largo…
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Something about this movie just didn't click. Nobody put up a great performance, a rare thing to happen in a movie featuring Bogart and Edward G. Then again you can't expect much in a movie where Bogart's character takes the same arc as his Casablanca character. The storm stole the show though. The reactions it created were better than any dialogue, all building up to the climax of broken glass.
Luckily that's not where the movie ends, and from there the story takes us through some great twists and turns and has a fantastic ending. Not enough to redeem the first hour, but enough to make it worth the watch.
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This was great fun. Bogie and Bacall really take a back seat to Eddie G. who runs wild with it. Lionel Barrymore is brilliant too. Worth it for those two alone but it's got the cold Bogie stare and an epic duel of machismo between Bogart and Robinson. One a malicious criminal, one the stoic war vet. Classic good v evil, though easily the least interesting Bogart I've seen.
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Something about this movie just didn't click. Nobody put up a great performance, a rare thing to happen in a movie featuring Bogart and Edward G. Then again you can't expect much in a movie where Bogart's character takes the same arc as his Casablanca character. The storm stole the show though. The reactions it created were better than any dialogue, all building up to the climax of broken glass.
Luckily that's not where the movie ends, and from there the story takes us through some great twists and turns and has a fantastic ending. Not enough to redeem the first hour, but enough to make it worth the watch.
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Seems more like a missed opportunity than anything else. The script is a blunt instrument that never serves its characters well, and Bogart and particularly Bacall are flat. Lucky for Huston that he assembled the supporting cast he did, because Robinson, Barrymore and Trevor keep Key Largo afloat. All of them go over the top at least once, but they also manage to carve out some great moments within this disappointing film. (B-)
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Viewed on DVD
WOW..what an amazing cast!
This film is full of tension right from the start.
As soon as Bogart walks into that hotel, you know something is off. -
Key Largo sounds like a good film: as a hurricane approaches Bogart, Bacall, and others must deal with gangster Robinson who has taken over a hotel. Yet this film with a good premise, ends up being kind of unremarkable. I wasn't blown away by any of the performances, and the story isn't all that great. The ending is good, but that is about it. This is the 4th film I've seen directed by Huston and I haven't liked any of them. Maybe I've been watching the wrong films, but so far I don't see what any of the fuss about Huston is.
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First Bogart-Bacall movie I watched, which was there last. AMAZING, sorry I can't review their movies they are too amazing.
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John Huston delivers a master class in tension with "Key Largo," sustaining an uneasy mood in which the viewer feels that violence could erupt at any moment - for nearly 100 minutes straight. In the lead role, Humphrey Bogart personifies a kind of post-WWII cynicism that you rarely see in the movies; and you do have to wonder how these combat veterans must have felt after returning from years of fighting the Great Evil overseas, only to find the urban areas of America overrun with a different kind of vileness in organized crime.
Lauren Bacall is a great actress who seemed to be terminally under-used by filmmakers throughout her career and, sadly, her part here is rather underwritten once again.…
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On my scriptwriting exam. First I was afraid and then I enjoyed almost every second of it. When Gaye sings before the storm everything seems flawless, dramatic tension and killer glances everywhere. The vulnerability of women exposed in just one scene.
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This was a very good, solid noir, but frankly, John Huston has done much, much better. I don't necessarily have any complaints with this: the acting was top-notch, as was the story and camerawork. It truly has stood the test of time, but it probably wouldn't be listed under my all-time favorites.