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| Key Largo | ||
Edward G. Robinson and Lauren Bacall |
Key Largo is one of Bogart's greatest films, his finest on screen pairing
with Lauren Bacall and yet another classic partnering with his favourite director Walter Huston. But it doesn't
end there.... Bogie is set up against perhaps the finest screen villian actor of all time, Edward G. Robinson.
That should be enough to tell the informed viewer that this is a film NOT TO BE MISSED. The chemistry in this film is incredible. Not just between Bogie and Bacall, but between Bogie and Robinson, Bacall and Robinson, and between just about every actor that appears on the screen. Based on a stage play of the same name, Key Largo is a character driven film which explores the common Huston themes of manhood and bravery. | |
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Bogie, as Frank McCloud, is a recently returned WWII vet visiting and
paying his respects to the father (played by Lionel Barrymore) and widow (played by Bacall) of his best friend
in the war, who was killed in action. When he arrives at their seaside hotel (in Key Largo) he is
surprised to see that it has been taken over by a group of very questionable characters, and it soon becomes
clear that the hotel has been commandeered as the temporary hideout of one of the USA's most illustrious
gangsters in the form of Johnny Rocco (played magnificently by Robinson). Rocco and his crew only need the hotel for one more night, as they plan some unknown criminal deal, but during the course of that night things don't go quite as smoothly as planned for them, and a deadly physchological game ensues between the gangsters and their unwilling hosts. Primarily dialogue and suspense driven, Key Largo also includes moments of intense violence, as Robinson plays perfectly in the role of a refined yet potentially unstable and explosive mobster, who would much rather get along with his captives than kill them, but who if his buttons are pushed, or should need arise, will. Almost every actor in this film shines, exuding believabilty in their performances. Bogie is in fine form, Bacall may have never been better, Lionel Barrymore is solid as a rock, and Robinson is at his best. The supporting cast (particularly the members of the mob gang, played by Thomas Gomez, Harry Lewis, Dan Seymour and William Haade) are all fantastic, and Claire Trevor, who plays Johnny's once beautiful and talented but now tragic alcoholic ex love interest, won the 1948 Academy Award for Best Suporting Actress for her performance. This is a film that I can watch over and over again and never grow tired of. The performances, personalities and story are engrossing, and the action and suspense is top notch. | ||
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Shot in B&W. The DVD presents the film in it's Original Aspect Ratio of 1.33 to 1. Extra Features include: Original Theatrical Trailer Note: Key Largo can also be purchased as part of "Humphrey Bogart - The Signature Collection", which also contains The Big Sleep, Dark Passage and To Have and Have Not. |
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