Key Largo (film)
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| Key Largo | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | John Huston |
| Produced by | Jerry Wald |
| Written by | Maxwell Anderson (play), Richard Brooks, John Huston |
| Starring | Humphrey Bogart Edward G. Robinson Lauren Bacall Lionel Barrymore Claire Trevor Marc Lawrence |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Cinematography | Karl Freund |
| Editing by | Rudi Fehr |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | July 16, 1948 |
| Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Key Largo is a 1948 crime film starring Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, and Claire Trevor. This was the fourth and final film pairing of married actors Bogart and Bacall. Trevor won the 1948 Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance.
The movie was adapted from Maxwell Anderson's 1939 play and directed by John Huston.
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[edit] Plot
Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) visits a small backwater Key Largo hotel run by wheelchair-bound James Temple (Lionel Barrymore) and his daughter-in-law Nora (Lauren Bacall), the widow of Frank's World War II friend. The hotel has been temporarily taken over by notorious fugitive gangster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) and his gang, with a hurricane headed Key Largo's way.
Frank at first appears indifferent to the situation, but Rocco's treatment of his alcoholic mistress Gaye (Claire Trevor) and his hand in the murder of two local Indians and a police officer convince Frank that Rocco must be stopped. His chance comes when Rocco forces Frank to pilot the boat by which the gang intends to escape to Cuba. Once at sea, with no hostages to worry about, Frank is able to kill every member of the gang, one by one, Rocco last of all. Frank then returns to Nora.
The subplot turns on Temple's grief over his dead son; he is under the impression that his son died a hero in Italy. McCloud resists telling tales, but at Mr. Temple's urging he relates exactly the story Mr. Temple and the widow Nora want to hear, although it is apparent that McCloud was the actual hero. Nora later says as much: "Only he had it the other way around; it was you on that hill." The climactic, shoot-out scene on the boat is a symbolic recasting of the wartime incident.
[edit] Cast
- Humphrey Bogart as Frank McCloud
- Edward G. Robinson as Johnny Rocco
- 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 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
[edit] Differences from the play
In the play, the gangsters are Mexican bandidos, the war in question is the Spanish Civil War, and Frank is a disgraced deserter who dies at the end.
[edit] Production
One claim is that much of the film was shot on location at the Caribbean Club on Key Largo in southern Florida.[1]However, the painted sky backdrop on the far side of the tank used in the water shots, distorted perspective of the painted background representing the shore in other shots and the visible wires holding up miniature palm trees during the storm sequence make it clear this was not shot on location.
Robinson had always had top billing over Bogart in their previous films together. For this one, Robinson's name appears to the right of Bogart's, but placed a little higher on the posters, and also in the film opening credits, to indicate Robinson's near-equal status. Robinson's image was also markedly larger and centered on the original poster. In the film's trailer, Bogart is repeatedly mentioned first but Robinson's name is listed above Bogart's in a cast list at the very end.
Exterior shots of the hurricane that delays the gang's getaway were actually taken from stock footage used in Night Unto Night, a Ronald Reagan melodrama made the same year by Warner Bros.
[edit] Cultural references
- The 1981 song "Key Largo", by singer-songwriter Bertie Higgins, draws heavily on influences from the film. This song hit the Top 10 on the pop chart in the United States and went to #1 on the adult contemporary chart.
- One scene in a second season episode of seaQuest DSV (Vapors) showed Tim O'Neill and Lonnie Henderson coming out of an interactive theme park version of the film.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Key Largo (film) |
- Key Largo at the Internet Movie Database
- Key Largo at the TCM Movie Database
- The Internet Archive holds a radio adaptation of the film, originally broadcast on November 28, 1949 by Lux Radio Theater.
- Literature on Key Largo
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