Review of Key Largo (1948) by Jacob M — 27 Jul 2013

"Give him a drink. Give him a drink. GIVE HIM A DRINK!".

By the late 1940's director John Huston was on a roll. He scored two huge hits, The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and won some Oscars. His 1948 film, however, Key Largo, despite it's huge cast, was a box-office disappointment, but nowadays, it's viewed as a classic. What do I think? Well, Key Largo is pretty entertaining and is a John Huston film worth watching.

War leader Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart), bitter over his time in WWII, heads to the island of Key Largo, and stops at the island's run-down hotel to pay respects to owner Nora Temple (Lauren Bacall), whose husband (and McCloud's friend) was killed in the war. He soon discovers that the hotel is taken over by gangsters, led by the notorious Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson), who intends to make a comeback after a time of exile. While a heavy hurricane is brewing outside, Rocco intends to use money brought by a mobster contact in order to make his comeback as a gangster. McCloud, despite being bitter about the war, realizes Rocco to be a monster and has to man up in order to defeat him.

Also, Lionel Barrymore plays James Temple, father-in-law of Nora Temple, Claire Trevor plays Gaye Dawn, an alcohol addict who's also mistress of Rocco, John Rodney plays Sawyer, a police deputy who's caught in Rocco's situation, and Marc Lawrence plays Ziggy, Rocco's contact.

John Huston is a talented director, but has made some misfires, such as Moby Dick. Here, he delivers. Key Largo is a very suspenseful and thrilling film. To start off, the casting is brilliant. Humphrey Bogart is smart and well-cast as McCloud, the bitter war veteran, Lauren Bacall is attractive and sassy as the hotel owner (she and Bogart wee married in real life at this point), Lionel Barrymore is chilling and amazing as the wheelchair-bound father-in-law, Claire Trevor is fun and disturbing as the alcohol addict (the scene where she sings "Moanin' Low" just to get more drunk is brilliant), and Edward G. Robinson is perfect in the role as Johnny Rocco. If you've seen him in the gangster film Little Caesar, then you know how menacing he can be in these roles. Here, he's brilliant. Johnny Rocco is just a catchy name.

The suspense in Key Largo is brilliant. The hurricane scene is chilling, Robinson's Rocco threatens to kill, and the climatic scene with Bogart and Robinson on a boat is suspense at its finest. The score, composed by Max Steiner, adds tension to the already suspenseful scenes.

With all this praise, you'd think I'd give this 100%, right? Wrong. There were a few flaws I had with the film. First, Rocco's sidekicks were bland and poorly developed. One, Toots, was so annoying in his laughs that I kept thinking that Rocco should go solo. Another, the pacing was a little slow in places. The beginning scenes with Bogart and Bacall were a little dull to watch, although their chemistry was great. I also didn't get the subplot about police chasing after "Indian criminals"? Seriously, what was that all about? Except for a key scene involving Rocco's terror, the Indian subplot had literally nothing to do with the film and was distracting from the main plot, which was much more suspenseful.

Despite the film's occasional slow pacing and annoying subplots, Key Largo is a brilliantly suspenseful film and is a Huston film worth watching, with brilliant acting, especially from Bogart and Robinson, and some suspenseful thrills.

"I bet Prohibition will be back in 2 or 3 years.".

Yeah like that happened.