Post by petrolino on May 27, 2018 23:45:58 GMT
The crime drama 'Key Largo' is adapted by Richard Brooks and director John Huston from Maxwell Anderson's play 'Key Largo' (1939). Army officer Major Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) arrives at the Hotel Largo in Key Largo, Florida, the largest island in the Florida Keys. Frank has come to visit Nora Temple (Lauren Bacall), the widow of fallen serviceman George Temple, and the man's father James Temple (Lionel Barrymore) who holds sway down on the quay. A major storm forces everybody to remain inside the hotel where gangster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) and his goons start taking hostages.
"It's better to be a live coward than a dead hero."
Principal Players :
Humphrey Bogart as Major Frank McCloud
Edward G. Robinson as Johnny Rocco/Howard Brown
Lauren Bacall as Nora Temple
Lionel Barrymore as James Temple
Claire Trevor as Gaye Dawn
Thomas Gomez as Richard "Curly" Hoff
Harry Lewis as Edward "Toots" Bass
John Rodney as Deputy Sheriff Clyde Sawyer
Marc Lawrence as Ziggy
Dan Seymour as Angel Garcia
Monte Blue as Sheriff Ben Wade
William Haade as Ralph Feeney
Jay Silverheels as John Osceola
Rodd Redwing as Tom Osceola
Edward G. Robinson as Johnny Rocco/Howard Brown
Lauren Bacall as Nora Temple
Lionel Barrymore as James Temple
Claire Trevor as Gaye Dawn
Thomas Gomez as Richard "Curly" Hoff
Harry Lewis as Edward "Toots" Bass
John Rodney as Deputy Sheriff Clyde Sawyer
Marc Lawrence as Ziggy
Dan Seymour as Angel Garcia
Monte Blue as Sheriff Ben Wade
William Haade as Ralph Feeney
Jay Silverheels as John Osceola
Rodd Redwing as Tom Osceola
Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall
'Key Largo' is a dense, wordy thriller that becomes an increasingly tense stand-off between a wiley veteran and a notorious gangster. Director John Huston utilises Karl Freund's expertise behind the camera to craft a finely balanced battle of wills. There's a startling contrast drawn between Major McCloud and Nora Temple's heated love-building and singer Gaye Dawn (Claire Trevor) and Johnny Rocco's sado-masochistic flare-ups. Dawn and Rocco are slaves to their own addictions which makes them extremely dangerous.
"John Huston’s Key Largo plays a pivotal part in motion picture history. Released in 1948, and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in their fourth and final collaboration together, this enduring classic is a quintessential addition from the Film Noir repertoire. Coined by French critic, Nino Frank, the term Film Noir means dark or black films that represent crime, murder and mysteries with stories that revolve around femme fatales, cynical characters, cold realists, detectives or doomed and anti-heroes. This certain genre was largely in existence during the 1940’s and 1950’s, when accustomed stars like Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford and Lauren Bacall dominated the field.
Based on a 1939 Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson, the renowned playwright, who succeeded in journalism, writing, and poetry among an array of other subjects, Key Largo proved to be one of those stage productions that displayed his virtuosity as a dramatist. The play showcased his extensive use of blank verse, which along with his skillful technique helped it’s profitable run at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre."
- Crystal Kalyana, In The Good Old Days Of Classic Hollywood
"Key Largo (1948) was the fourth and final film pairing of married actors Bogart and Bacall, after To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), and Dark Passage (1947). The tale was adapted by Richard Brooks and Huston from Maxwell Anderson’s 1939 play of the same name, which played on Broadway for 105 performances in 1939 and 1940. John Huston’s taut direction, Richard Brooks’ sharp character-driven scenario, Karl Freund’s deep-focus black-and-white imagery, and a superlative cast headed by Bogart, elevate “Key Largo” way above its genre, the crime-gangster drama, while suggesting how a movie based on a play (by Maxwell Anderson) doesn’t have to be theatrical."
- Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7
"Amongst the famed Bogart-Bacall period from the late forties, that vivid, sublimely erotic set of quasi-noirs that have all become classics, 'Key Largo' is relatively the least impressive (emphasis on the “relatively”) and familiar. This is because it is far less concerned with the frothy interplay between the two magnetic stars, being more concerned with the man-to-man confrontation between Bogart’s familiar rasping loner, an ex-GI, and Edward G. Robinson’s salty lowlife gangster. It is less sexy than 'The Big Sleep' or 'To Have And Have Not', a more heady thriller built around a crackling conflict. Based on a Broadway flop written by Maxwell Anderson, John Huston update the story to a post-war America, a land battle-toughened and awash with illicit opportunity. It is a fork in the road for the nascent superpower marked by the slimy opportunism of Rocco or the tough deep-seated moralism of McCloud. Bacall, naturally, plays his love interest, but she is less of a sparky rival, and their relationship has none of the electricity of before."
- Ian Nathan, Empire
Based on a 1939 Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson, the renowned playwright, who succeeded in journalism, writing, and poetry among an array of other subjects, Key Largo proved to be one of those stage productions that displayed his virtuosity as a dramatist. The play showcased his extensive use of blank verse, which along with his skillful technique helped it’s profitable run at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre."
- Crystal Kalyana, In The Good Old Days Of Classic Hollywood
"Key Largo (1948) was the fourth and final film pairing of married actors Bogart and Bacall, after To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), and Dark Passage (1947). The tale was adapted by Richard Brooks and Huston from Maxwell Anderson’s 1939 play of the same name, which played on Broadway for 105 performances in 1939 and 1940. John Huston’s taut direction, Richard Brooks’ sharp character-driven scenario, Karl Freund’s deep-focus black-and-white imagery, and a superlative cast headed by Bogart, elevate “Key Largo” way above its genre, the crime-gangster drama, while suggesting how a movie based on a play (by Maxwell Anderson) doesn’t have to be theatrical."
- Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7
"Amongst the famed Bogart-Bacall period from the late forties, that vivid, sublimely erotic set of quasi-noirs that have all become classics, 'Key Largo' is relatively the least impressive (emphasis on the “relatively”) and familiar. This is because it is far less concerned with the frothy interplay between the two magnetic stars, being more concerned with the man-to-man confrontation between Bogart’s familiar rasping loner, an ex-GI, and Edward G. Robinson’s salty lowlife gangster. It is less sexy than 'The Big Sleep' or 'To Have And Have Not', a more heady thriller built around a crackling conflict. Based on a Broadway flop written by Maxwell Anderson, John Huston update the story to a post-war America, a land battle-toughened and awash with illicit opportunity. It is a fork in the road for the nascent superpower marked by the slimy opportunism of Rocco or the tough deep-seated moralism of McCloud. Bacall, naturally, plays his love interest, but she is less of a sparky rival, and their relationship has none of the electricity of before."
- Ian Nathan, Empire
Humphrey Bogart, John Huston & Lauren Bacall
'Q.U.E.E.N.' - Janelle Monae
John Huston ties tourniquets around his cast to take their pulses. After Gaye's been utterly humiliated by Rocco, Huston puts a massive noose around all their collective necks and starts tightening. I was caught up in a huge electrical storm last night here in England, one that's only just fading away now. Florida is often hit by massive thunderstorms and the one in 'Key Largo' generates plenty of atmosphere. Maestro Max Steiner's sultry score uses a clarinet solo to soak up some of the sweat.
"The tall, gangly son of noted actor Walter Huston, John Huston started as a screenwriter, and by his early twenties was already scripting such high-profile Warner Brothers’ pictures as William Wyler’s “Jezebel” (1938), starring Bette Davis. Then, on the set of Raoul Walsh’s scorching “High Sierra” (1941) which he also penned, Huston would encounter Humphrey Bogart, a seasoned Warner’s supporting player who, with the younger man’s help, would soon make a late bid for stardom.
By this point, John had earned a chance in the director’s chair, and the feature he’d helm was a re-make of Dashiell Hammett’s bestseller, “The Maltese Falcon.” After Warner’s star George Raft foolishly turned down the starring role of private detective Sam Spade, saying he didn’t want to work with a first-time director, Bogie was tapped with Huston’s enthusiastic support. The film became an enormous success, with a cool, assured Bogart playing opposite Mary Astor’s Brigid O'Shaughnessy, a shifty femme fatale who needs help finding a jewel-encrusted statue of a falcon. Henceforth Huston would direct (and sometimes write) most all his movies, achieving a career high with twin 1948 triumphs that once again featured his pal (and drinking companion) Bogart: “The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre” and “Key Largo.”
- John Farr, 'Consummate Filmmaker : The Genius Of John Huston'
"John Huston was a director first, a writer and actor second. Alone or in collaboration, he wrote the scripts for his best pictures: ''The Maltese Falcon,'' ''The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,'' ''The Asphalt Jungle,'' ''The African Queen,'' ''The Night of the Iguana.'' Though he was deeply involved in all aspects of film making, he tried to direct his actors ''as little as possible,'' according to Lawrence Grobel in his book "The Hustons.'' ''John's method was to have his actors show him what they had come up with.'' Most found his technique almost magically effective. He deeply understood the medium. When James Agee found symbolic import in the river voyage of ''The African Queen,'' Huston said: ''This is a screenplay. You've got to demonstrate everything. People on the screen are gods and goddesses . . . they're not real. They stand for something other than being something. They're symbols. You can't have symbolism within symbolism, Jim.''
- Nora Johnson, 'Big Daddy'
"Claire Trevor is a class act no matter what vehicle she was put in – a race car or a clunker – she was able to make the most out of whatever material she was given. That’s why I consider Claire the thinking-man’s actress. Her instincts and talent translated so naturally to the screen that there have been very few whose beauty and acting chops made them what Claire Trevor was in her hey day: The Queen of Film Noir could hold her own against the best of them. Young or old, this man-killer is one of the greatest actresses of any Hollywood era."
- Jon James Miller, 'Claire Trevor : Queen Of Film Noir'
By this point, John had earned a chance in the director’s chair, and the feature he’d helm was a re-make of Dashiell Hammett’s bestseller, “The Maltese Falcon.” After Warner’s star George Raft foolishly turned down the starring role of private detective Sam Spade, saying he didn’t want to work with a first-time director, Bogie was tapped with Huston’s enthusiastic support. The film became an enormous success, with a cool, assured Bogart playing opposite Mary Astor’s Brigid O'Shaughnessy, a shifty femme fatale who needs help finding a jewel-encrusted statue of a falcon. Henceforth Huston would direct (and sometimes write) most all his movies, achieving a career high with twin 1948 triumphs that once again featured his pal (and drinking companion) Bogart: “The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre” and “Key Largo.”
- John Farr, 'Consummate Filmmaker : The Genius Of John Huston'
"John Huston was a director first, a writer and actor second. Alone or in collaboration, he wrote the scripts for his best pictures: ''The Maltese Falcon,'' ''The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,'' ''The Asphalt Jungle,'' ''The African Queen,'' ''The Night of the Iguana.'' Though he was deeply involved in all aspects of film making, he tried to direct his actors ''as little as possible,'' according to Lawrence Grobel in his book "The Hustons.'' ''John's method was to have his actors show him what they had come up with.'' Most found his technique almost magically effective. He deeply understood the medium. When James Agee found symbolic import in the river voyage of ''The African Queen,'' Huston said: ''This is a screenplay. You've got to demonstrate everything. People on the screen are gods and goddesses . . . they're not real. They stand for something other than being something. They're symbols. You can't have symbolism within symbolism, Jim.''
- Nora Johnson, 'Big Daddy'
"Claire Trevor is a class act no matter what vehicle she was put in – a race car or a clunker – she was able to make the most out of whatever material she was given. That’s why I consider Claire the thinking-man’s actress. Her instincts and talent translated so naturally to the screen that there have been very few whose beauty and acting chops made them what Claire Trevor was in her hey day: The Queen of Film Noir could hold her own against the best of them. Young or old, this man-killer is one of the greatest actresses of any Hollywood era."
- Jon James Miller, 'Claire Trevor : Queen Of Film Noir'
Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lionel Barrymore & Lauren Bacall
'Creep City' - Jake Shears
You can definitely see the influence Huston's work has had on the career of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, beginning with 'The Asphalt Jungle' (1950) and QT's 'Reservoir Dogs' (1992), and in the case of 'Key Largo', think Tarantino's masterful western 'The Hateful Eight' (2015). In many ways, this is a key genre production when it comes to the transitioning of theatre to cinema. Characters speak of grave injustice, bloody military campaigns and chartered history while sharing adventurers tales and plotted geography. It's long, considered and engrossing, but you have to be prepared to work at it a little yourself, particularly during the slow, steady build-up. I think the rewards for those who are willing are plentiful.
"Allegra Huston stands in the gracious hall of St Clerans gesturing to where a 20ft Christmas tree once stood on Christmas Eve, recalling the excitement and how the door would blow open with a ho-ho-ho, as her “Dad” John Huston arrived. What makes this moment in Anne Roper’s documentary, John Huston: An American in Galway, so touching is that for Allegra, childhood was very short, ending when she was seven years old and sent from St Clerans to boarding school. “St Clerans was my childhood – going to the local school, running around, climbing trees. I didn’t have that kind of carefree lovely childhood after I left,” she says.
St Clerans, in Galway, is where Huston created his version of the ideal country life of the horse-riding, fox-hunting Irish lord of the manor during the 1960s and 1970s. Says Roper: “St Clerans is like another character in the documentary, because of what it represented for Huston, and also because, for Tony and Anjelica Huston, it represented their childhood.” The house became a kind of elaborate film set, embodying what Huston called “the beauty and the peace where you can live life and enjoy it”. Yet while Ireland was “a jewel of a country in the bedrock of the world”, Huston’s own jet-setting life was hectic.
He was a driven man who drank, gambled and made love to excess, constantly travelling, and marrying five times – in addition to his many lovers. St Clerans represented stability, and for a period of almost two decades was the secure setting for the dreamy rural childhoods of Tony and Anjelica, his two children with Ricki Soma, a stunningly beautiful ballerina who Huston married when she was 20 and brought to Galway to help him establish a family and to create for him a gracious country estate that would enable him to live out his Irish fantasy. She gave birth there to Tony and Anjelica Huston, but John soon tired of her and she would never live in the house that she devoted years to refurbishing and decorating."
He was a driven man who drank, gambled and made love to excess, constantly travelling, and marrying five times – in addition to his many lovers. St Clerans represented stability, and for a period of almost two decades was the secure setting for the dreamy rural childhoods of Tony and Anjelica, his two children with Ricki Soma, a stunningly beautiful ballerina who Huston married when she was 20 and brought to Galway to help him establish a family and to create for him a gracious country estate that would enable him to live out his Irish fantasy. She gave birth there to Tony and Anjelica Huston, but John soon tired of her and she would never live in the house that she devoted years to refurbishing and decorating."
- Kate Holmquist, 'John Huston's Galway Girls'
"There was a shrine in my mother’s bedroom when I was growing up. The built-in wardrobe had a mirror on the interior of both doors and a bureau inside, higher than I was, with an array of perfume bottles and small objects on the surface and a wall of burlap stretched above it. Pinned to the burlap was a collage of things she’d collected: pictures she’d torn out of magazines, poems, pomander balls, a fox’s tail tied with a red ribbon, a brooch I’d bought her from Woolworth’s that spelled “Mother” in malachite, a photograph of Siobhán McKenna as St. Joan. Standing between the doors, I loved to look at her possessions, the mirrors reflecting me into infinity.
I was a lonely child. My brother Tony and I were never very close, neither as children nor as adults, but I was tightly bound to him. We were forced to be together because we were really quite alone. We were in the middle of the Irish countryside, in County Galway, in the West of Ireland, and we didn’t see many other kids. We were tutored. Our father was mostly away.
I spent quite a lot of time in front of the bathroom mirror. Nearby there was a stack of books. My favorites were The Death of Manolete and the cartoons of Charles Addams. I would pretend to be Morticia Addams. I was drawn to her. I used to pull my eyes back and see how I’d look with slanted eyelids. I liked Sophia Loren. I’d seen pictures of her, and she was my ideal of female beauty at the time. Then I would pore over the photographs of the great bullfighter Manolete, dressed in his suit of lights, praying to the Madonna for her protection, taking the cape under his arm, preparing to enter the bullring. The solemnity, the ritual of the occasion, was tangible in the pictures. Then the terrible aftermath—Manolete gored in the groin, the blood black on the sand. There were also photographs illustrating the subsequent slaughter of the bull, which mystified me, since he had obviously won the fight. I felt it was a gross injustice, and my heart wept for both the bull and Manolete."
I was a lonely child. My brother Tony and I were never very close, neither as children nor as adults, but I was tightly bound to him. We were forced to be together because we were really quite alone. We were in the middle of the Irish countryside, in County Galway, in the West of Ireland, and we didn’t see many other kids. We were tutored. Our father was mostly away.
I spent quite a lot of time in front of the bathroom mirror. Nearby there was a stack of books. My favorites were The Death of Manolete and the cartoons of Charles Addams. I would pretend to be Morticia Addams. I was drawn to her. I used to pull my eyes back and see how I’d look with slanted eyelids. I liked Sophia Loren. I’d seen pictures of her, and she was my ideal of female beauty at the time. Then I would pore over the photographs of the great bullfighter Manolete, dressed in his suit of lights, praying to the Madonna for her protection, taking the cape under his arm, preparing to enter the bullring. The solemnity, the ritual of the occasion, was tangible in the pictures. Then the terrible aftermath—Manolete gored in the groin, the blood black on the sand. There were also photographs illustrating the subsequent slaughter of the bull, which mystified me, since he had obviously won the fight. I felt it was a gross injustice, and my heart wept for both the bull and Manolete."
- Anjelica Huston, Vanity Fair
"Do we really want to tackle James Joyce on film? Doesn’t John Huston sound like an aggressive director for such delicate material? Against the odds, the picture, Huston’s last, turned out to be something of a triumph. Donal McCann is steady and fragile as Gabriel Conroy. Angelica Huston is majestic and dangerous as his wife, Gretta. 'The Dead' (1987), perhaps inevitably, feels like more of a gorgeous chamber piece than a major masterpiece, but it is the only Joyce adaptation worth attending."
- Donald Clarke, The Irish Times
"I think the Irish skies are among the most beautiful in the world. There’s a constant drama going on up there."
- John Huston, 'Raidió Teilifís Éireann'
Edward G. Robinson, Dan Seymour & Claire Trevor
'Stop Digging' - Skating Polly
'Key Largo' was the fifth film in which Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson appeared together, following 'Bullets Or Ballots' (1936), 'Kid Galahad' (1937), 'The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse' (1938) and 'Brother Orchid' (1940). Claire Trevor starred alongside Bogart and Robinson in 'The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse', having appeared with Bogart in 'Dead End' (1937), and she would later reteam with Robinson for 'Two Weeks In Another Town' (1962). 'Key Largo' is the fourth pairing of Bogie and Bacall; they almost were teamed a fifth time for John Cromwell's 'Dead Reckoning' (1947) but the role of Coral Chandler went to Bacall's fellow noir icon Lizabeth Scott.
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