Title: Key Largo.
Starring: Humphrey Bogart {Frank McCloud}, Lauren Bacall {Nora Temple}, Lionel Barrymore {James Temple}, Edward G. Robinson {Johnny Rocco}, Claire Trevor {Gaye Dawn}, Thomas Gomez {Richard "Curly" Hoff}, Harry Lewis {Edward "Toots" Bass}, and John Rodney {Deputy Clyde Sawyer}.
Gene: Black-and-White, Action/Adventure, Classic.
Year of Release: 1948.
Plot: Frank McCloud is returning from the Second World War and has come to Key Largo {of the coast of Florida} to visit the father and widow of his dead comrade. When he arrives at Mr. Temple's inn, he meets a questionable group of people hanging at the bar who snare at him and tell him to beat it, thinking he's planning on staying at the inn. When he tells them he simply wants to see Mr. Temple they brighten up and send him out to the dock where he finds the crippled old man sunning himself and meets the lovely Nora Temple who, after the twosome have heard the story of how their beloved husband and son died, shows him around the inn. A storm is expected so McCloud willingly helps Nora tie the boat down and get the shutters all closed up in preparation for it.
The pace really picks up when the other guests of the inn start acting very suspicious and get the Temples and McCloud thoroughly alarmed. When they protest against their behavior, the now confirmed villains march them up to meet the reclusive boss of the gang who turns out to be the deported gangster Johnny Rocco. Having lost his will to fight, McCloud seems cold and distant as Rocco interrogates his new prisoners and tests McCloud by handing him a gun and telling the former soldier to shoot him. McCloud refuses which disappoints the Temples and the kidnapped sheriff's deputy, but when the deputy grabs the gun and turns it on Rocco, it is discovered in a tragic manner that the gun was never loaded.
Now fully under the control of the gangsters, the prisoners are forced to hang out in the bar downstairs where they listen to the hurricane outside blow and rage, unnerving Rocco and finally sending a tree crashing through the window. McCloud begins to lose his callous exterior and regain his will to fight as he is witness to Rocco's brutality. When it comes time for the gangsters to leave the island, they enlist McCloud to pilot the getaway boat, the stage for the final showdown between good and bad.
Likes/Dislikes: Rocco first comes into the film in a bathtub but nothing graphic is shown thankfully. Several men, including two innocent Indians and the deputy, lose their lives off camera to the hardened gangsters, but other than that this is a pretty good movie and is recommended for all viewers save the very young.
Rating: Most black-and-whites aren't rated; my rating is PG.
Date Report Written: February 15, 2011.
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