To Have and Have Not (film)  

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To Have and Have Not is a 1944 American romance-war-adventure film directed by Howard Hawks, loosely based on Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan and Lauren Bacall; it also features Dolores Moran, Hoagy Carmichael, Sheldon Leonard, Dan Seymour, and Marcel Dalio. The plot, centered on the romance between a freelancing fisherman in Martinique and a beautiful American drifter, is complicated by the growing French resistance in Vichy France.

Ernest Hemingway and Howard Hawks were close friends and, on a fishing trip, Hawks told Hemingway, who was reluctant to go into screenwriting, that he could make a great movie from his worst book, which Hawks admitted was To Have and Have Not. Jules Furthman wrote the first screenplay, which was set in Cuba like the novel. However, the screenplay was altered to be set in Martinique instead of Cuba because the portrayal of Cuba's government was believed to be in violation of the United States' Good Neighbor policy with Latin American countries. Hawks's other good friend, William Faulkner, was the main contributor to the screenplay, including and following the revisions. Because of the contributions from both Hemingway and Faulkner, it is the only film story on which two winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature worked. Filming began on February 29, 1944, while Faulkner continued to work on the script, and ended on May 10.

The film was released nationally on October 11, 1944. Audience reception was generally good. Critic reviews were mixed, with many claiming the film was a remake of Casablanca (1942). Critics specifically mentioned Lauren Bacall's performance or the chemistry between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall on screen. Bogart and Bacall began an off-screen relationship during production and married in 1945, after the film's release. To Have and Have Not was one of the top 30 grossing films of 1944 and received an award from the National Board of Review.

Plot

thumb|left|Bacall, Dalio and Bogart together in Bogart's hotel room

In the summer of 1940 world-weary Harry Morgan operates a sport-fishing boat, the Queen Conch, in Fort-de-France, on the French colony of Martinique. It is not long since the fall of France and the island is under the heavy-handed control of pro-German Vichy France. Harry makes a modest living chartering out to tourists, crewed by his blithering friend Eddie, a one time top mate reduced by alcohol to a rummy Harry affectionately looks after. The island is a tinder-box of dissent, harboring many people sympathetic to Free France.

Harry's current charter client, Johnson, owes Harry $825. Johnson insists he hasn't enough ready money to square his account, but promises to get the funds when the banks open the next day.

Back at his hotel home Harry is approached by its owner, Gérard (known as "Frenchy" to English speakers), who urges Harry to help the French Resistance by smuggling some people onto the island. Harry steadfastly refuses, choosing to keep uninvolved from the current political situation. Also at the hotel, Harry first sees Marie ("Slim") Browning, a young American wanderer who has recently arrived on the plane from Rio. Seeking to avoid the advances of a drunken Johnson she volunteers a duet of "Am I Blue" with pianist Cricket and his ensemble in the hotel bar.

A keen observer, Harry has noticed Slim picking Johnson's pocket, and follows her to her room directly across the hall from his own. He forces her to hand over the wallet, which is found to contain $1,400 in traveler's cheques and a plane ticket for early the next morning before the banks open. On returning the wallet to Johnson, Harry demands that he sign the traveler's cheques to pay him immediately. Just then a shootout in front of the hotel between police and the Resistance spills over into the bar, and Johnson is killed by a stray bullet. The police take Harry and several others for questioning, seizing Johnson's wallet, Harry's passport, and his own money when he proves combative.

Back at the hotel, Gérard offers to hire the now effectively penniless Harry to transport Resistance members Paul de Bursac and his wife Hélène from a nearby islet to Martinique. Harry reluctantly accepts. Meanwhile, a sexually-charged romance has been developing between Harry and Slim, who feels Harry is starting to fall for her. Her hopes are shattered when he uses the bulk of the money he earned in transporting the fugitives to buy her a ticket back home to America on the next plane out.

thumb|Bogart and Bacall, whose onscreen attraction led to an affair, then a long-term marriage

Harry picks up the de Bursacs, but his boat is seen and fired upon by a navy patrol vessel. De Bursac is wounded, but Harry manages to escape and transfer his passengers to a pre-arranged rowboat. When he returns to the hotel he finds Slim still there, having chosen to stay with him. The de Bursacs are hidden in the basement of the hotel; at Frenchy's request, Harry removes the bullet from Paul's shoulder. He learns the couple have come to Martinique to help a man escape from the penal colony at Devil's Island in order to aid the Free French. De Bursac asks for Harry's assistance in this operation, but Harry respectfully turns him down.

The police return to the hotel and reveal that they recognized Harry's boat the previous night. They also reveal that they have again Eddie in custody, this time withholding liquor to get him to divulge the reveals the details of the smuggling plot, rather than supplying it. Cornered in his hotel room by the Vichy authorities, Harry turns the tables, killing one and holding police captain Renard at gunpoint. He forces him to order Eddie's release and sign harbor passes. Harry, Eddie, and Slim then head together for the Queen Conch.





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