User reviews

People often criticize this movie for really not being much more than a filmed play. Yeah! So what's wrong with that when the characters are three dimensional and the actors are brilliant. This movie gets dull only when it moves out of the hotel (the stage) and becomes a traditional action movie. The black and white photography is brilliant (I once saw it colorized and it was dreadful). The production design is perfectly honest. The direction is so clear and unpretentious; when you have faces as brilliant as these, you gotta take advantage of closeups. There is not one less than outstanding performance. Bacall's role doesn't call for her to do a lot of "acting" and as a result, she is very moving. Trevor had tough competition for her Oscar that year and she won because she understood that too much restraint would have been wrong yet she never goes too far. Bsrrymore is unusually tough and commanding, almost heroic against the thugs. Bogart is quiet and direct and when he gives Trevor her drink has the most powerful moment in the movie. Robinson? It is a real showy role, and Edward knew what not to do. He is savage. And he almost is sexy when he gets Claire to sing her song but he can revert to a monster within seconds and give the audience chills. It really is his movie. Gomez and his fellow stupid thugs are funny at times but the script is unusually honest and barbaric. Take away their guns and these guys are wimps. But why didn't they just stay in the hotel? The shootout at the end could have been done that way. The escape to Cuba isn't believable or compelling. Those who call this movie slow, just don't get it. They don't understand that artists use pacing for effect. Today's generation loving special effects and action and over-the-top acting will hate this movie. Their loss. And the loss for the future of film and theatre.

John Huston's 'Key Largo' is set in a Post World War II America and the film is unapologetic about showcasing the pessimism that had enveloped America and Americans after the war. It's about the loss of a self-respecting identity. This is epitomised by the character of Frank McCloud played by Humphrey Bogart. This is not a very characteristic role for Bogart. McCloud is a war veteran who has now become a homeless drifter due to his lack of interest in a settled life. He is a sane version of Travis Bickle, he might have been a vibrant, hopeful man in his pre-service days, but after coming back from the war and watching an America that has further collapsed into corruption, mob activity and evil, he has slipped into a state of depression and deliberate indifference. Bogart gives a subdued performance with moments of tenderness reminiscent of the tenderness of Rick Blaine in 'Casablanca'. But McCloud also shows signs of selfishness and cowardly reluctance which are a consequence of his pessimism towards life after war. There is an ambiguity to his character that makes him interesting.

Lauren Bacall doesn't give us the quintessential 'Lauren Bacall' performance either. Instead of being the 'Femme fatale' with the seductive allure and the sharp tongue, her character Nora is a sweet, kind-hearted widow taking care of her father-in-law. There are genuinely sweet and charming moments between Bogart and Bacall. Nora's presence and her innocent sweetness has an undeniable effect on McCloud which makes him reconsider his moral stance and contemplate the idea doing something instead of continuing his reluctance about standing up to the gangsters.

Edward G. Robinson is a dynamite in every scene he is in. Johnny Rocco oozes charisma and a sense of control. It takes a lot to be in the same scene with Bogart and go toe to toe with him in terms of exuding authoritativeness, but Robinson does it effortlessly.

Although Huston doesn't use too many attention seeking shots or too much fancy camera work, one can easily see the noir-ish elements in the lighting and prominent shadows in the film. There are some carefully used tracking shots and extreme close-ups for artistic purposes that work perfectly and the film on Blu-Ray looks very pleasing to the eye. Huston's biggest achievement is maintaining a tone of suspense throughout the running time. The staging of 90 percent of the film in the confines of the interiors of Hotel Largo adds to the claustrophobia which the viewer feels along with McCloud, Nora and Temple. The only flaw is that the shootout scenes are very clumsily directed and almost look comical now after all these years.

'Key Largo' is thematically a film which wrestles the idea of whether someone should or shouldn't give a damn even if he/she feels an assertive action doesn't mean much in the bigger picture. A thematically potent core along with good direction and acting make 'Key Largo' an easy recommendation.

Key Largo is an absolutely brilliant film. Cast and screenplay are both superb. Bogart and Bacall have an intense personal chemistry that sparks on screen, and the supporting cast of Barrymore and E. G. Robinson give their best performances ever. Robinson, in particular, as the slimy gangster johnny rocco is great - his portrayal of the 'banality of evil' is the best I've ever seen.

The screenplay is magnificent. Not just the dialog, but also the balance of characters is perfect. For each good character there is a bad one of equal weight, forming a perfectly complementary totality, a yin/yang balance that teeters between triumph and disaster according to the finest shades of personal choice. It's an examination of freedom, of corruption, of courage and betrayal - a perfect encapsulation of the world, focused upon a hotel on a tiny island in the middle of a hurricane.

This movie deserves more recognition than it gets. The action is understated but intense, densely-packed with meaning and significance, at both the individual and cultural level. Watch this movie with new eyes!

See the screen legends of Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson and Lauren Bacall in one film, not to mention great Lionel Barrymore and Claire Trevor.

The film is directed like a stage play with basically one set, the hotel on Key Largo, but it's not static or dull in the least.

Robinson's villain gangster Johnny Rocco is one of his most memorable performances and he steals the movie.

Robinson and his "boys" are hold-up in a hotel on Key Largo awaiting the arrival of some business associates when a hurricane hits. The hotel is owned by Barrymore and his daughter Bacall. Bogart is there to give Barrymore some possessions of his son who was killed in the war.

Bogart plays a returning WWII veteran and Bacall is the daughter of the hotel owner Barrymore. The film isn't a love story but you can still tell that Bacall adores Bogie and their chemistry is obvious. Bacall is lighted beautifully to show off her outstanding facial features.

A top rate drama full of crackling dialog and superb performances from everyone.

While chiefly remembered as a Bogart/Bacall vehicle, this story of expatriate gangsters commandeering a sleepy tropical hotel is, in actuality, a tightly directed ensemble piece with acting chops to burn.

There's Edward G. Robinson as Johnny Rocco--the brash, boisterous, sleazy gangster whose frailties (cowardice and a yearning for better times) gradually unfold before us. There's Lionel Barrymore as James Temple, the delightfully feisty and crusty hotel owner overcome with revulsion at Rocco's presence. There's Thomas Gomez, Harry Lewis, Dan Seymour and William Haade as Curly, Toots, Angel and Ralphie--Rocco's colorful but hard-edged thugs who are presences unto themselves. There's Claire Trevor as Gaye, Rocco's declining, alcoholic moll who symbolizes more than anything how far Rocco has fallen.

That's an awful lot. Too much scenery-chewing from Bogart or Bacall would push it over the top--and director/screenwriter/demigod John Huston knows it. He coaxes remarkably restrained and subtle performances out of his star couple. The romantic tension between them is suggested but never shoved in the audience's face. Bogart's wandering war vet Frank McCloud keeps his lips tight and plays his cards close to the chest--a streetwise outsider through and through. Bacall's Nora Temple lets her anger and distaste pour out through her smoldering eyes more often than her mouth.

Ultimately, the subtlety is so well-hidden between the gigantic performances of Robinson and Barrymore that you might miss just how sophisticated Frank's story is. Disillusioned and drifting since the war, he stops in to visit the wife (Nora) and father (James) of a fallen comrade whose bravery he admired. Implicit in his visit is an unspoken apology that it is he, and not their loved one, who is returning home. The fallen soldier is a constant unseen presence in the film--his bravery and honor mocking what Frank sees as his own cowardice and inability to stand up to Rocco (Bogart's fast-talking explanation of why he didn't shoot Rocco when he had the chance is classic and rare--a protagonist lying to his friends and his audience--"One Rocco more or less isn't worth dying for!"). Frank's eventual decision to take on Rocco and his hoods is a victory against the fear that plagues and shames him.

In a larger sense, this is a true period movie about a generation of men returning home from the greatest conflict the world has ever known. Most of our national memories of World War II are proud and triumphant, but, as with any war, it left countless people scarred physically and mentally. Though Frank is a decorated soldier, he feels somehow that what he did wasn't enough (because he lived and his friend did not?), and he returns back to a country in which he has no place with no real pride or satisfaction. The confrontation with Rocco affords him a chance (perhaps only possible in Hollywood or on the stage, where the story of "Key Largo" was first performed) to make things right with his world.

While it has not aged as well as the better-known films of Bogart's and Huston's careers, "Key Largo" is a film that, for a little investment of attention and thought, will pay big dividends to anyone that really and truly loves movies.

While KEY LARGO is certainly no masterpiece, it IS highly entertaining, thanks largely to two larger than life performances from EDWARD G. ROBINSON (at his mightiest) and CLAIRE TREVOR (who manages to steal every scene she is in as a lush past her prime as a torch singer).

But it's not quite the sort of thing Bogart and Bacall fans were used to. Lauren is much more demure than usual, very low-key but earnest in her performance and she does well in a part that is not quite as sultry as her other roles of this period. Bogart too is low-key in a rather colorless role (for him anyway), as a soldier who drops in on Bacall and her father (Lionel Barrymore) at a hotel in the Florida keys to give them information about her soldier husband.

The oncoming storm is nothing compared to the histrionics of EDWARD G. ROBINSON who chews up all the scenery in sight as a gangster almost as black-hearted as his Wolf Larsen in THE SEA WOLF, even though most of the scenery is confined to a couple of hotel settings. Surprisingly, for a film directed by John Huston, he has allowed the storm aspect to be the least realistic part of the setting. It all seems to take place on a Warner sound stage with banging shutters and loose pictures on the wall, but not much of a storm to be concerned about except when miniatures are shown of a very strong tide and a hotel battered by winds and rain.

But these are minor squabbles when all the performances are edgy and wonderful, particularly Thomas Gomez, Dan Seymour and Marc Lawrence. But it's CLAIRE TREVOR and EDW. G. ROBINSON that have the most powerful roles and they play them with every bit of professionalism they can muster--and that's plenty. Trevor has never been more effective and richly deserved her Supporting Role Oscar.

Some of the film drags, burdened by too much of Maxwell Anderson's stage dialog which tends to give a static look to some of the scenes, but the last half-hour is full of vigorous movement as the story reaches a satisfying climax.

If you're looking for a typical Bogart/Bacall film, this is not it. But it is good, solid entertainment.

Stunning entertainment with twisted intrigue , thrills , realist frames and dramatic happenings . The big main star , Bogart , Bacall , Robinson , is backed by a host of fine support cast . It begins when a man visits his old friend's hotel and finds a a mob of gangsters running things . As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other . As a storm of fear and fury in the sizzling Florida Keys and the events go wrong . It is starred by Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) who travels to a run-down hotel on Key Largo to honor the memory of a friend . The dead soldier's father, James Temple (Lionel Barrymore was severely disabled by arthritis and was confined to a wheelchair) runs a hotel in Key Largo with the help of his now widowed daughter-in-law Nora (Lauren Bacall) . But the motel is taken over by a bunch of mobsters led by Johnny Rocco (Edward G Robinson, his role was modeled on Al Capone, who retired to South Florida shortly after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and died there of complications due to advanced syphilis) and his hoodlums (Thomas Gomez , Harry Lewis , Marc Lawrence) . Rocco is accompanied by his drunk moll (Claire Trevor , her role was based on real-life moll Gay Orlova , gangster Lucky Luciano's girlfriend).

Exciting and thrilling picture with a complex intrigue , nice character studio , suspense , a lot of killings and interesting deeds . One of the most grueling of even Bogart's mobster movies all done in gripping realism and well shot by the great John Huston . Interesting and moving screenplay by Richard Brooks , John Huston and based on the play by Maxwell Anderson . However , the film version of "Key Largo" has very little to do with Maxwell Anderson's original play , all the characters in the play had their names changed in the film version. This was very unusual for a play written by Anderson, who was then one of the most highly regarded American playwrights, and whose best-known plays had, on the whole, been filmed faithfully . The picture has a Noir treatment though excessively stagy , but stars can quite compensate for some claustrophobic moments . This first-rate but slow-paced picture draws its riveting tale and power from the interaction of finely drawn roles as well as drama and emotion . Twisted film Noir about gangsters , robbing , forgery , treason , troubled relationships and dark secrets . It is a tough and tortuous thriller that has a good realization , an original script , haunting atmosphere , intriguing events ; for that reason madness and murder prevail . Exciting as well as rare film , possessing a mysterious and fascinating blend of gripping thriller , serenity , baroque suspense in which especially stands out the portentous performances , attractive cinematography in black and white by Karl Freund and magnificent musical score by the classic Max Steiner . This is pure cinema from the first to the last shot, where there's nothing left and each image has its sense and meaning . Stirring ending , in fact the final confrontation on a boat is actually the ending to the book "To Have and Have Not" which wasn't used in the film version . The ramshackle hotel where most of the drama unfolds was constructed on the Warner Bros lot along with the beach area. Exterior shots of the hurricane were actually taken from stock footage used in Night unto night (1949).

Here Bogart is extraordinary and as cool as ever , his scenes with Lauren Bacall are awesome though underplayed compared to those they shared in The Big sleep , Dark passage and To have and to have not . This was fourth and final film pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall , a fifth film was planned several years later, but Bogart died before it could be made . Additionaly , the subjective camera record Humphrey's impressions giving a top-drawer acting . It's splendidly played by Humphrey Bogart ; he was in his best period of the late 40s and early 50s when he starred classic movies such as ¨The Caine Mutiny¨, ¨Sabrina¨, ¨Beat the devil¨, ¨The African Queen¨, ¨Sirocco¨, ¨In a lonely place¨, ¨Chain lightning¨, ¨Knock on any door¨ and ¨The enforcer¨. Supporting cast is frankly well , such as Lionel Barrymore , Claire Trevor , Thomas Gomez , Harry Lewis , Marc Lawrence , Monte Blue and uncredited Jay Silverheels , famous Indian Tonto of Lone Ranger .

The motion picture produced in enough budget by Jack L. Warner and Jerry Wald was well directed by John Huston , though being extremely theatrical. The main character, Frank McCloud/Bogart describes having served in the WWII battle at San Pietro, Italy similarly to director/co-screenwriter John Huston had been involved in that battle as the creator of the documentary film San Pietro (1945) while he was in the U.S. Army's motion picture unit . Nice work by John Huston in demonstrating his skill at all areas : as technical , using all kind of resources for illustrating the interesting as well as dramatic story with an engaging screenplay , adding great actors , adequate filmmaking and enjoyable narration . The movie was filmed in only 78 days, virtually all on the Warner Bros. lot, except for a few shots in Florida used for the opening scenes . This film ¨Key Largo" or "Huracán de Pasiones" or ¨Cayo largo¨ is absolutely recommended . Rating : Above average , it is a nice tale with enough drama , thrills and turns to keep you guessing .

The Florida Keys sets the scene for this thriller, an isolated hotel has its rooms full of killers, Frank McCloud then appears and the waves start to build, a hurricane blows but no atmosphere's chilled; Johnny Rocco holds court with his rotund profile, belligerent, threatening, a hostile exile, he's over from Cuba to sell counterfeit, with his small entourage of oddballs and misfits; tensions start to build as the day turns to night, the risks clear to all if they stand up and fight, as the swell draws all in and the tide ebbs and flows, will the man with cigar cut the deal and foreclose.

Great cast, great story, great film - but isn't Claire Trevor outstanding!

I was overwhelmed when I read the cast and crew for this movie. Another Bogart/Bacall-Bogart/Huston collaboration is alright, but featuring Edward G. Robinson, Lionel Barrymore and Claire Trevor also? My expectations were sky-high. And that's the main reason I was a little upset with this picture. My problem was with the story. Although the movie has a good plot, it isn't well-told, and some of things felt out of place. Richard Brooks did a much better job adapting the script of "In Cold Blood" and "Elmer Gantry". I think that's mainly because those are based on novels, and this one is based on a play.

The story is about a WWII veteran (Humphrey Bogart) that goes to the island of Key Largo in Florida to talk with the wife (Lauren Bacall) and father (Lionel Barrymore) of his old-friend from the war. That's when a gangster (Edward G. Robinson) takes control of the place and turns everyone into his hostages. At first, I didn't really get what was that gangster doing in that place, but it's latter explained that he's waiting for a hurricane and needs protection. But why that tiny island? I still don't get this, but alright. This flaw is compensated by one of the best climax I've ever seen in a movie. I'm not gonna spoil it here, but it's great.

About the acting, Bogart did much better jobs in other pictures. This is the final movie with him and Lauren Bacall together, but I prefer their first collaboration in "To Have and Have Not". Edward G. Robinson also gives a great performance, but again, he was better in other movies like "Little Ceaser". In my opinion, the members of the cast that gives the best performances are Lionel Barrymore and Oscar- winning interpretation by Claire Trevor. They are both excellent.

John Huston, as always, does a nice direction, but I prefer much better his masterpiece of the same year "The Treasure of Sierra Madre". That's where Huston proves the great director he is, and Bogart gives an outstanding performance.

Overral, this movie has a fine acting, along with John Huston's direction and an excellent climax, but the bad-told screenplay takes away the good things about it.

7 out of ten.

Key Largo is just one of John Huston's many memorable films that somehow always seem to transcend the intention--the Hollywood intention being to make a few bucks--and to this day still plays very well and indeed appears as something close to a work of art. It features what I think is one of Edward G. Robinson's finest performances as Johnny Rocco, a sociopathic gangster holding the off-season personnel of a seaside hotel hostage as he concludes a counterfeit money deal.

The story begins as Major Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) pays a visit to the family of one of his G.I. buddies who was killed in Italy during WWII. He finds the welcome from the hotel's only "guests" chilly except for Gaye Dawn (a funny and perhaps prescient Hollywood stage name) played by Claire Trevor who is drunk and befriends him. After a bit McCloud discovers that the hotel's owner Nora Temple (Lauren Bacall) and her invalid father-in-law James Temple (Lionel Barrymore) have been tricked into allowing Rocco's gang to stay and now, as a tropical storm begins to blow, are being held at gunpoint. McCloud's delicate task is to keep the megalomaniac and murderous personality of Rocco under some control so that he doesn't murder everyone.

Note that this is a splendid cast, and they all do a good job. Note too that Huston adapted this from a play by the versatile American playwright Maxwell Anderson. So the ingredients for a good film are clearly in place; and aside from some self-conscious mishmash with the Seminoles of Florida, this is a success. Anderson's desire to explore the psychopathic personality (some years later he adapted William March's novel The Bad Seed into a stage play) finds realization in Huston's direction and especially in Robinson's indelible performance. The utter disregard for the lives of others and the obsessive love of self that characterize the sociopath reek from the snares and callous laughter of the very sick Johnny Rocco. I especially liked the crazed and thrilled grin on his face when he emerges from the hold of the boat in the climactic scene, gun in hand, imagining that he has once again fooled his adversaries and is about to delightfully shoot Humphrey Bogart to death. What I loved about this scene was that Huston did not think it necessary to contrive a fight in which the good guy (Bogart) beats the bad guy by fighting fair. What happens is exactly what should happen, and without regard for the fine points of Marquis of Queensberry-type rules. Also good is Rocco beginning to sweat in fear of his life as the storm moves in while Bogey gives us his famous laugh and grin as he assesses the essential cowardice of the petty gangster.

Lauren Bacall, in one of her more modest roles, does a lot without saying much, and Lionel Barrymore is very good as the cantankerous old guy in a wheelchair. Claire Trevor actually won an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her work, and she was good as the alcoholic moll with a heart of gold. Robinson won nothing, but he really dominated the picture and demonstrated why he was one of Hollywood's greatest stars.

Bottom line: watch this to see the gangster yarn meld into film noir with overtones of the psychoanalytical drama that characterized many of the black and white Hollywood films of the forties and early fifties.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

Arriving at Key Largo, Florida, ex-Major Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) meets up with Hotel Largo proprietor James Temple (Lionel Barrymore) and his former daughter-in-law Nora (Lauren Bacall), widow of one of Frank's unit from the war. The hotel is near deserted, with only a small handful of unruly looking characters staying there. It turns out that they have rented the hotel for a fishing holiday, but after an alcoholic woman they are with, Gaye Dawn (Claire Trevor), is manhandled by one of the group, Frank starts to suspect that there is more going on than it first seemed. With a hurricane approaching, Temple closes the hotel to wait out the storm, but the arrival of notorious gangster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) and his injured police officer prisoner, confirms Frank's fears.

John Huston made many films in his long Hollywood career, and this was the last of four films that Bogart and Bacall made together, but Key Largo is far from the most fondly remembered of all their films. Yet although it doesn't achieve true greatness, especially when you compare it to the likes of Huston's masterpieces The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and The African Queen (1951), the talent on display allows it to be a tense, visually striking and occasionally riveting little film noir. The theatrical roots (it was adapted from Maxwell Anderson's 1938 play) of the film means the scale is minimal, but if nothing adds to the sweaty, closed-in atmosphere, all rendered beautifully by Karl Freund's cinematography, and Huston and Richard Brooks' script gives plenty for the cast to chew on, especially the colossal Robinson and the Academy Award-winning Trevor.

Although he comes second in the credits, Robinson dominates the film when he enters about twenty minutes in. He lies sprawled in the bath chomping a huge cigar, like a revolting beached animal, and emerges to truly push Bogart out of the limelight. Even the opening title sequence reflects this, with Robinson's name higher than Bogart's. It's an alarmingly restrained performance from Bogart, who we are all used to as either the bad guy, or the tough anti-hero, and Bacall is disappointingly mute, her character being no more than the put-upon love interest when will always be remembered for playing the sultry femme fatale.

Robinson dominates, but Trevor steals the show as Rocco's boozy, gambling ex-star girlfriend, who is the figure of desperation when Rocco masochistically makes her sing for everybody for a drink. She sings a story of a woman abused by her partner, and breaks down during the climax. Rocco, affected by the similarity, refuses her a drink anyway, only to have Frank pour her a hard drink and hand it to her, enraging Rocco. It's a great scene, and most likely the scene than won Trevor the Oscar. It is the quality of the acting, and some fine technical work that really bring the B-movie plot to life, as well as Huston's ability to craft an exciting, yet dark thriller.

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I love "To Have And Have Not" and "Dark Passage" and "The Big Sleep" is okay but this Bogart and Bacall movie was a disappointment. It just didn't live up to its reputation......or I just expected more of an action-crime film. It's a play, really: a talky almost soap-opera-like story....not the more action crime movies I prefer. This is more like "The Petrified Forest" than the normal film-noir/gangster fare.

That's not to say it isn't good. If you love plays, you'll love this.

Another of my favorites - Edward G. Robinson - also stars in here and was the best character, I thought. Lionel Barrymore is also in here along with Claire Trevor, who I believe won an award for performance. However, drunks are never fun for me to watch but all these actors are award-winners, so if you like stage performances (most of this is filmed in hotel lobby) you should like this film.

Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) comes to a hotel in Florida where a gangster called Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) is giving some hard times.The hotel is run by a crippled James Temple (Lionel Barrymore) and his daughter-in-law Nora (Lauren Bacall).Key Largo (1948) is a movie from John Huston.It offers you sharp dialog and great emotions.And a cast to remember.Robinson makes a great bad guy.Bogart and Bacall, who were married at that time until Humphrey's death in 1957, are both marvelous in this movie.Lauren Bacall just turned 80 yesterday and that's when I saw this movie.And I'm glad I did.This is a true crime classic.You can feel the tense atmosphere while you're watching the movie.In the movie there is a great storm going on outside, a storm that even makes the crook scared.It shows us no matter how big you are the storm is always bigger.This movie is a thrilling ride from the beginning till the end.

This is a classic film noir for a reason it has some home run hitting actors in Lionel Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson and our married pair Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in probably one of their best on screen pairings.

Key Largo takes place in the Florida Keys on the biggest island, Key Largo where Frank McCloud Humphrey Bogart) a former GI, has come to visit the father and wife of one of his diseased soldiers and friends. The father, a wheelchair bound James Temple (Lionel Barrymore), owns the Key Largo Hotel which has been closed for the season...but secretly has been taken over by one of America's most wanted, the mobster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) and his gang, which includes his girlfriend Gaye (Claire Trevor) who is former showgirl and a bit of a lush.

Rocco and his gang are waiting on a ship of business associates that gets delayed due to an impending hurricane. The threat of the hurricane works to build the tension in this film noir as the mobsters get more and more agitated...taking steps both against the local sheriff and the Florida natives.

There is a lot of WWII jaded cynicism from Frank...but the attraction and mutual admiration between him and Bacall's character, Nora Temple, is unmistakable! These two send out some sparks.

If you like great acting, good dialogue in a tension rich noir, you will love this film. A must see for Noir fans and Bacall and Bogie fans in particular! I highly recommend this film as Lauren Bacall is at one of her most lovely.

Basically this film is almost like a play. The whole story is more or less (apart from the ending) shot in a rustic Florida hotel. A great location and setting, a real credit to John Huston.

In short, Frank McCloud (Bogart) an ex war hero and living at no-fixed-address, visits (by request) his dead war buddy's father (barrymore) & widow (Bacall). As he arrives, it doesn't take long for Frank to work out the Hotel is temporarily hostage to a big mob gangster - Rocco (robinson) and his cronies.

The film instantly grabs you, it looks beautiful, there is a lot of substance and well thought out scripts, nothing glamorous or smart, just very good story telling. A good side line to the story, are the Native American clan, who due to an approaching hurricane need to find shelter, their plight is placed nicely into the story. There is a scene in which Bacall introduces Bogart to the oldest member of the clan, a 100 and something year old Native woman which is just so genuine, I still don't believe this woman was an actress, Huston must have improvised this into the script.

Not only is Bogart superb in this, but also the whole cast. It goes without saying Edward G Robinson's performance was second to none as to was - his right hand man (Harry Lewis I think), Bacall & Rocco's girlfriend - Ziggy..pretty much the entire cast.

The whole thing ties up well, without Spoilers it does have a great ending. This is a must not just for Bogie fans but for anyone who can appreciate an intelligent film.

-Paul Browne.

Frank (Humphrey Bogart) pays a visit to Mr Temple's (Lionel Barrymore) hotel and finds that it has been exclusively hired out for a week. The guests are a group of gangsters headed by Johnny Rocco (Edward G Robinson) and they have some gangster business to do before making their getaway to Cuba. On an overnight stay, a storm hits the hotel and everyone is under the control of megalomaniac Rocco. When the storm passes, Rocco's gang make their move but they need Frank to skipper their getaway boat.

The problem with this film is that it is a bit too stagey. The cast are all good, especially Claire Trevor in her role as gangster moll "Gaye". She has some good scenes including the sequence where she has to sing for Johnny Rocco before she can have a drink. Rocco's refusal to give her one and dismissal of her as 'rubbish' is a good climax to the scene. But, annoyingly, the scene then goes on to have Frank defy Rocco and give her a drink himself. It's moments like these where we are so predictably given Bogart as a man acting by himself that it gets annoying. We have to have scenes where Bogart spouts his "I'm a man acting alone" crap. Claire Trevor also has a good scene towards the end when she pleads with Rocco to take her with him, and her final words to Frank of "Yeah, good luck" are delivered in a way that has a resonance that seems completely lacking from anything that Lauren Bacall says.

The film has a few daft moments, eg, Rocco's fear of the storm, the story drags in parts and the ending is a bit cheesy but overall it's OK.

Humphrey Bogart and John Huston must be considered the artistic equivalent of De Niro-Scorsese. Huston and Bogie made several films together, this being one of their best. But there is another combo that comes to an end in cinema's history: Bogie and Bacall appear on screen for the final time together. It is their finest collaboration. Edward G. Robinson, "Little Caesar" himself, returns to gangster form after years of playing the good guy (Wilder's DOUBLE INDEMNITY, Welles' THE STRANGER) and has one of the more memorable entrances in film villain history. We see him in a tub, smoking, a fan in front of him. He seems to be decaying in a way, but "Johnny Rocco" is still to be reckoned with. This is the Robinson we all love, demented and wise, sinister yet humorous. The Largo Hotel is the setting and a hurricane of drama, heroism, and rain is coming.

Huston stages the film much like the play it is based on, yet we never feel confined. There is enough colorful dialogue to go around. Surprisingly, much of it is not by Bogart, who plays probably his most quiet role, promoting his character through facial gestures more than words. He plays off Robinson and his posse of mobsters perfectly in this way, allowing Edward G. to dominate the majority of the film, which is the point. Lionel Barrymore plays the chair-ridden owner of the Largo and his daughter Bacall is falling in love with Bogart, naturally. They are at the mercy of Rocco and his boys, all of whom have some itchy trigger fingers. Bogart is just buying his time to make his move. The finale is extremely well done and foresees suspense endings to come.

Lauren Bacall is one of the most beautiful actresses to grace the screen, especially in black and white. Her perfect features look sculpted in this light and her sensual stare is enough to make you melt. Her smoky voice and attitude is an excellent match for Bogie's simple, heroic character. Film Noir becomes Florida Noir here, as the lightening outside the windows of the hotel play games with the shadows and atmosphere of events inside. Robinson murders an innocent man with the look of a terrifying ghost, lightening flashing on him and all. The thunder substitutes for the sound of cars and street-life normally heard in classic noir pictures. KEY LARGO is a very good film, dark and suspenseful, in the most pleasant of locales.

RATING: 8 of 10

It is difficult to resist the temptation to compare William Wyler's "The Desperate Hours" with John Huston's "Key Largo."

Here again the drama arose when a gangster and his thugs sought a temporary hideout by moving in on an innocent family, and were unable to get away until a raging hurricane had blown itself out…

The family were Lionel Barrymore, complete with wheelchair, and Lauren Bacall, apparently without make-up—stunningly attractive… Their home was a small hotel in Florida, and "just passing through" was a tough and somewhat mixed-up good guy Humphrey Bogart… The gangster was Edward G. Robinson…

For Bogart "Key Largo" was another "The Petrified Forest," but this time he was the disenchanted idealist and Edward G. Robinson the vicious, antiquated symbol of raw brute force…

Paul Muni had appeared in the original Maxwell Anderson play in 1939, and director John Huston and Richard Brooks updated the piece to make it more contemporary… As a film, it was treated in a slightly heavy-handed, overly talky manner, displacing action in favor of strong character studies of a group of disparate individuals trapped by a kingpin gangster…

Claire Trevor won an Academy Award as Gaye Dawn, Rocco's boozy mistress who was willing to lower herself to any depths for the mere expedient of getting a drink… She is finally pushed too far by Rocco, has accepted too many insults and been rejected once too often, so she decides to help the besieged prisoners…

Lauren Bacall was Nora Temple, an antiseptic dreamer who persisted in believing that evil should always be opposed by a valiant Sir Galahad and temporarily has her illusions shattered when Bogart apparently doesn't agree to fit into her mold…

As Bacall's grandfather, Lionel Barrymore was another heroic figure who, could afford to be a verbal hero, knowing that a retreat to the safety of his confining wheelchair could protect him…

Edward G. Robinson as Rocco was a mass of contradictions… Brutal with a gun safely in his hand, dreaming of the glories he once knew in the good old days when he was a big shot, all he has left are the memories… He was a man whose criminal wisdom permits no ethics and few feelings… He offers Bogart an empty gun to shoot it out with him... He is also a man afraid, who sweats when the hurricane approaches and poses a threat to his safety... He detests Bogart because of his wartime heroism, mocking and taunting him because his courage is something differing in Rocco's own unheroic life…

As war hero Frank McCloud, Bogart was the most complex character of all… Disillusioned, tired of his war-induced killings, unwilling to risk himself in any new test of courage ("One Rocco more or less isn't worth dying for"), he is now a complacent shadow of his former noble self… He, like Barrymore, seeks an idyllic world where "there's no place for Johnny Rocco." However, his pattern has been too well established… He, like Claire Trevor, can be pushed only so far and then reason and restraint seem no longer acceptable as an alternative to action…

With such a cast "Key Largo" could not fall to hold the attention… Yet, for all its workmanlike craft, it did not reach the level of Wyler's "The Desperate Hours." Bogart, as a disillusioned war veteran who could not rouse himself to action until the last few minutes, left one frustrated: looking for the vicious power that he was to show as the gangster in the later film…

Edward G. Robinson, commanding, convincing, was still not so coldly frightening a villain as Humphrey Bogart… And, one can imagine how the idea of the storming hurricane appealed at the time… The violence and the drama outside, as the wind tore at the palm trees and the waves threatened to swallow the little wooden hotel, would surely underscore and heighten the tensions within... Not so! And not only because the studio storm was not always up to nature's level...

What William Wyler realized was that the suspense of innocence trapped as hostages by wickedness was vastly heightened by the contrast with a quiet, undramatic, everyday setting… No hurricane was needed to put the desperation in "The Desperate Hours."

Yes. I'm fully aware that Key Largo is considered by many to be an all-time classic from Hollywood's heyday, but, the truth is, I found this decidedly stagy, gangster film (that required a full-blown hurricane to liven its story up) certainly left a whole lot to be desired.

It sure seems to me that this 1948 film has not aged well over the past 70 years. At times I found its dead-serious dramatics to be almost comical in nature.

There were a number of scenes when someone was being threatened with a nasty remark and a loaded gun and I found myself actually chuckling away at the unintentional humor that prevailed.

I also thought that Humphrey Bogart (50 at the time) looked very tired and haggard and about 10 years beyond his actual age. As well - The role of Frank McCloud that Bogart played was, pretty much, a real nothing part where the character only seemed to come to life in the story's final showdown, and that was it.

All-in-all - Key Largo turned out to be nothing more than a so-so Crime/Drama. I think that a lot of this film's inferiority rests on the shoulders of its eccentric and temperamental director, John Huston.