To Have and Have Not (1944)
- kbroer
- Jul 28, 2023
- 2 min read
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Hoagy Carmichael
Directed by Howard Hawks
Available to stream on Amazon Prime
Humphrey Bogart, boat captain in Martinique, becomes involved with Lauren Bacall (in her first movie) and the French wartime Resistance.
Why we love it: This film is a classic because of Bogart and Bacall. They are an iconic couple and the chemistry between them is undeniable. The story is a little thin, but the atmosphere and characters make it worthwhile.
Fun facts:
This was Lauren Bacall's first film. She was a 19-year-old model and had been "discovered" by Howard Hawks's wife, Slim, when she saw her on the cover of Harper's Bazaar.
Bogart and Bacall met for the first time while filming this movie. He was 44 and she was 19. They were married in 1945 and stayed married until Bogart's death in 1957. They had two children together -- their son was named Stephen, after Bogart's character in To Have and Have Not.
While on a fishing trip together, director Howard Hawks bragged to his friend, Ernest Hemingway, that he could make a great movie out of Hemingway's worst book. Though based on the book by Ernest Hemingway, Hawks changed most of the story. The screenplay was written by William Faulkner.
The film was originally supposed to be set in Cuba (as was Hemingway's novel) but the US Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs thought it would strain Cuban American relations, so the location was changed to Martinique.
Hoagy Carmichael, musician and composer of "Stardust" and "Georgia on My Mind" plays Cricket, the bar piano player.
Bogart and Bacall made three more films together: The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948).
For reviews and more articles from the time, go to the Fan Magazine Reviews page.
Featured Cocktail:
Mount Gay and Tonic
In many tropical countries of the Americas, especially the Caribbean, rum, distilled from sugar cane juice, is the traditional national liquor. Many islands produce their own style of rum and usually proclaim their style to be the best. In the US, substituting rum for gin in a drink with tonic has become popular. One particularly popular rum is Mount Gay from Barbados. Of course, other amber rums can be used. Some of the best are Appleton Estate (Jamaica), Cruzan (St Croix), Havana Club (now from Puerto Rico), and Barbancourt (Haiti). There are 14 rum distillers on Martinique, the setting for this film.
2 oz (60 ml) Mount Gay Eclipse or your favorite amber rum
4 oz (120 ml) tonic
Pour rum into a tall glass over ice. Add tonic. Garnish with lime wedge. Do not stir.
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