To Have and Have Not (film)

• Release Date: 1944
• Director(s): Howard Hawks
• Writer(s): William Faulkner; Jules Furthman
• Principal Actors and Roles: Lauren Bacall (Marie "Slim" Browning); Humphrey Bogart (Harry Morgan); Walter Brennan (Eddie); Hoagy Carmichael (Cricket); Marcel Dalio (Gerard (Frenchy)); Walter Molnar (Paul de Bursac); Dolores Moran (Mme. Hellene de Bursac); Dan Seymour (Capt. M. Renard)
• Book / Story Film Based On: To Have And Have Not by Ernest Hemingway

To Have and Have Not is a classic 1944 film starring Humphrey Bogart as Harry "Steve" Morgan, an American who earns a modest living on the Nazi-occupied island of Martinique during World War II, chartering a fishing boat for tourists. The film is remembered largely for the chemistry between Bogart and his co-star Lauren Bacall which inspired one of Hollywood’s most famous romances. However, it is also a model of tense, efficient storytelling and is among the strongest films that Hollywood produced about World War II while the war was still active.

Plot

Morgan is reluctant to become involved in the war and refuses to allow the French resistance the use of his boat. He is more interested in obtaining the money that a client owes him. At a hotel he watches as Marie Browning, a beautiful young American singer and pickpocket, steals his client’s wallet. Morgan nicknames her "Slim" and they immediately become attracted to each other. Morgan tries to get the client to sign some traveler’s checks that were in his wallet but is prevented when the client is killed by a stray bullet in a shootout between the resistance and the police. Exercising their arbitrary power, the police confiscate Morgan’s passport along with his remaining money.

The owner of the hotel, whom Morgan nicknames "Frenchy," asks Morgan to transport two members of the resistance, Paul de Bursac and his wife. Morgan needs money more than he did before and agrees.

While he is transporting the couple a patrol vessel fires at his boat, wounding de Bursac. Morgan removes a bullet from his shoulder but then balks when de Bursac asks him to help rescue a fellow member of the resistance who is being held at Devil’s Island, the notorious prison.

The police arrest Morgan’s alcoholic partner, Eddie, and threaten to withhold alcohol from him unless Morgan reveals the names of the people that he was carrying on his boat. Enraged, Morgan forces the leader of the police, Capitaine Renard, to release Eddie. Morgan also forces Renard to sign papers so that he, Eddie, and Slim can leave the island. Before they make their escape, Morgan, who is now fully engaged in the war effort, says that he is willing to help rescue the prisoner from Devil’s Island.

Significance

To Have and Have Not was based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. However, the film departs substantially from the novel even though Hemingway collaborated on early versions of the screenplay with Howard Hawks, the director. Ultimately, the screenplay was credited to Jules Furthman, a major Hollywood screenwriter whose credits include Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and the novelist William Faulkner.

To Have and Have Not bears some resemblance to Casablanca (1942), another classic World War II film in which Bogart starred as an American sitting out the war until his patriotism awakens. When he appeared in both films, Bogart was already a major Hollywood figure, having starred in such classic films as High Sierra (1941) and The Maltese Falcon (1941). By contrast, Bacall made her screen debut in To Have and Have Not. The chemistry she had with Bogart is all the more remarkable given the disparity in their ages: when they made the film, he was 45 and she was 19. The rapport is exemplified in a scene where she utters the film’s most famous lines to him: "If you need me, just whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you? Just put your lips together and blow." Bogart divorced his wife, actress Mayo Methot, and married Bacall in 1945. Their marriage, full of devotion to each other, lasted until he tragically died from cancer twelve years later.

Hawks is one of Hollywood’s most legendary directors. His filmography is astonishing: it includes classic films in a dazzling array of genres, including westerns, comedies, and suspense. Among his earlier accomplishments are the original Scarface (1932; remade in 1983) and Bringing Up Baby (1938). Later in his career, he directed The Big Sleep (1946), in which Bogart and Bacall also appeared, as well as the John Wayne westerns Red River (1948), Rio Bravo (1959), and El Dorado (1966).

As the director of To Have and Have Not, Hawks was intuitive enough to realize Bacall’s contribution during filming and he expanded her role. He also allowed Bacall to do her own singing; for decades there was an unsubstantiated rumor that the singer Andy Williams had dubbed her voice, but the rumor has since been disproven.

In addition to his two stars, Hawks drew memorable performances from Walter Brennan as Eddie and Hoagy Carmichael as Cricket, the piano player in the hotel. Brennan was one of Hollywood’s most celebrated character actors. His career spanned five decades from the silent era to the mid-1970s. Carmichael was a beloved bandleader and composer. He wrote such classic songs as "Georgia on My Mind" and "Heart and Soul."

In 1946 Bogart and Bacall reprised their original roles in a radio adaptation of To Have and Have Not. That same year Warner Brothers released an animated parody of the film entitled "Bacall to Arms." The cartoon serves as a reminder that the film was intended to encourage Americans to continue their support for the war effort, but in spite of that the film never feels like propaganda. Instead, it is an example of the kind of outstanding entertainment for which Hollywood is justly renowned.

Bibliography

Bacall, Lauren. By Myself and Then Some. New York: It Books, 2006. Print.

Breivold, Scott, ed. Howard Hawks: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers). Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 2006. Print.

Crowther, Bosley. "To Have and Have Not." The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 October 1944. Web. 9 Feb. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E05EEDE1E31E03BBC4A52DFB667838F659EDE>.

Dirks, Tim. "To Have and Have Not (1944)." Filmsite. American Movie Classics, 2016. Web. 9 Feb. 2016. <http://www.filmsite.org/toha.html>.

Hemingway, Ernest. To Have and Have Not. 1937. New York: Scribner, 1996. Print.

Kanfer, Stefan. Tough without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart. New York: Vintage, 2012. Print.

McBride, Joseph. Hawks on Hawks. Berkeley: U of California P, 1982. Print.

McCarthy, Todd. Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood. New York: Grove, 2000. Print.

Schickel, Richard, and George Perry. Bogie: A Celebration of the Life and Films of Humphrey Bogart. New York: Dunne, 2006. Print.

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Sudhalter, Richard M. Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003. Print.