Key Largo (1948)

Key Largo
Directed by John Huston
Written by Richard Brooks and John Huston from the play by Maxwell Anderson
1948/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Frank McCloud: You don’t like it, do you Rocco, the storm? Show it your gun, why don’t you? If it doesn’t stop, shoot it.[/box]

Edward G. Robinson steals the picture right from under the noses of Bogart and Bacall. Claire Trevor helps him.

Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) visits a hotel on one of the Florida keys to call on Nora (Lauren Bacall) and James (Lionel Barrymore) Temple, the widow and father of one of the soldiers who served under him in WWII.  He doesn’t get a good reception on arrival when he finds out the entire place has been rented out to a bunch of thugs.  Nora and James take to him immediately, though, and he is asked to stay.

Soon it emerges that the place has become the private domain of the notorious Johnny Rocco (Robinson) and his gang.  Rocco has arrived in the keys from his hideout in Cuba to do a deal in counterfeit bills.  He looks forward to a full-fledged return to America on that great day when Prohibition is reinacted.  Rocco is a big bully, terrorizing the legitimate owners and guests.  He is especially cruel to Gaye Dawn (Trevor), a pathetic lush and ex-nightclub singer who used to be his girl.

Rocco  managed to time his arrival to coincide with a major hurricane.  It is amusing to watch as the storm makes all the tough guys shiver.  As soon as it is over, though, Rocco is back to his old ways and coerces Frank into skippering his boat back to Cuba.  With Thomas Gomez as Rocco’s right hand man.

Robinson hasn’t been this mean since Little Caesar and he brings equal vitality and nuance to this part as he did fifteen years earlier.  There was never anyone like him.  I am hit or miss on Trevor.  She is fantastic here.  The scene where she is forced to sing in exchange for another drink is so real it is almost painful to watch.  Bogart is back to playing his standard “I stick my neck out for nobody” hero in this one and Bacall kind of fades into the background in a fairly lady-like role.  Not to say that they are bad by any means.  Huston creates a really suspenseful hurricane. Recommended.

Claire Trevor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

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