To Have and Have Not (1944)

Director:

Howard Hawks

Writers:

Jules Furthman (screen play) and
William Faulkner (screen play) ...
(more)

Release Date:

20 January 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Romance | Thriller | War

Tagline:

At Last! Bogart makes love his kind of woman !

Plot:

Expatriate American Harry Morgan helps to transport a Free French Resistance leader and his beautiful wife to Martinique while romancing a sexy lounge singer.

Plot Keywords:

Martinique | Singer | Island | Nazi | French Resistance

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Harry Morgan
Walter Brennan	...	Eddie
Lauren Bacall	...	Marie 'Slim' Browning
Dolores Moran	...	Mme. Hellene de Bursac
Hoagy Carmichael	...	Cricket
Sheldon Leonard	...	Lt. Coyo
Walter Szurovy	...	Paul de Bursac (as Walter Molnar)
Marcel Dalio	...	Gerard aka Frenchy
Walter Sande	...	Johnson
Dan Seymour	...	Capt. M. Renard
Aldo Nadi	...	Renard's Bodyguard
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Audrey Armstrong	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Juliette Ball	...	Black Woman (uncredited)
Joy Barlow	...	(uncredited)
Eugene Borden	...	Quartermaster (uncredited)
James Burross	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Jack Chefe	...	Guide (uncredited)
Louise Clark	...	Waitress (uncredited)
Adrienne D'Ambricourt	...	Cashier (uncredited)
Jean De Briac	...	Gendarme (uncredited)
Marcel De la Brosse	...	Sailor (uncredited)
Fred Dosch	...	Gaulist (uncredited)
Alphonse Du Bois	...	Bit (uncredited)
Elzie Emanuel	...	Black Child (uncredited)
Fred Farrell	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Lance Fuller	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Harold Garrison	...	Black Child (uncredited)
Janette Grae	...	Rosalie (uncredited)
Suzette Harbin	...	Waitress (uncredited)
Margaret Hathaway	...	Waitress (uncredited)
Frank Johnson	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Hal Kelly	...	Detective (uncredited)
Sir Lancelot	...	Horatio - Crewman (uncredited)
Keith Lawrence	...	Flirtatious Frenchman (uncredited)
Oscar Loraine	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Paul Marion	...	Beauclere - Gaulist (uncredited)
Maurice Marsac	...	Gaulist (uncredited)
Louis Mercier	...	Gaulist (uncredited)
Chef Milani	...	Chef at Marquis Hotel (uncredited)
Gussie Morris	...	Waitress (uncredited)
Kanza Omar	...	Waitress (uncredited)
Jack Passin	...	Flirtatious Frenchman (uncredited)
Ron Randell	...	Naval Ensign (uncredited)
Pedro Regas	...	Civilian (uncredited)
Margaret Savage	...	Waitress (uncredited)
Patricia Shay	...	Mrs. Beauclere (uncredited)
Milton Shockley	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Emmett Smith	...	Emil - Bartender (uncredited)
George Sorel	...	French Officer (uncredited)
George Suzanne	...	Gaulist (uncredited)
Marguerita Sylva	...	Cashier (uncredited)
Roger Valmy	...	Flirtatious Frenchman (uncredited)
Pat West	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Crane Whitley	...	Gaulist (uncredited)
Edith Wilson	...	Black Woman (uncredited)
Jack Winslowe	...	Bit Part (uncredited)

Directed by
Howard Hawks

Writing credits
Jules Furthman		(screen play) and
William Faulkner		(screen play)
Ernest Hemingway		(as Ernest Hemingway's)
Cleve F. Adams		uncredited
Whitman Chambers		uncredited

Produced by
Jack L. Warner	....	executive producer
Howard Hawks	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Franz Waxman		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Sidney Hickox		(director of photography) (as Sid Hickox)

Film Editing by
Christian Nyby		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Charles Novi

Set Decoration by
Casey Roberts		(set decorations)

Costume Design by
Milo Anderson		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist
Joe Stinton	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Edith Westmore	....	hair stylist (uncredited)

Production Management
Chuck Hansen	....	unit manager (uncredited)
Eric Stacey	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
David Klegman	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Russell Llewellyn	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Don Siegel	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Jack Sullivan	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Robert Vreeland	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
John More	....	props (uncredited)
Keefe O'Malley	....	assistant props (uncredited)

Sound Department
Oliver S. Garretson	....	sound
Gerald W. Alexander	....	re-recording and effects mixer (uncredited)
Edward Ullman	....	sound recordist (uncredited)
Robert G. Wayne	....	re-recording and effects mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Roy Davidson	....	special effects director
Rex Wimpy	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Paul Detlefsen	....	matte paintings (uncredited)

Stunts
Harvey Parry	....	stunts (uncredited)
George Suzanne	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Hugh Addington	....	best boy (uncredited)
Paul Burnett	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Mike Joyce	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Mac Julian	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Dudie Maschmeyer	....	grip (uncredited)
Lou Molina	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Roy Dumont	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Eugene Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)
Mary Riley	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Guy Villemin	....	wardrobe (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
Charles David Forrest	....	music mixer (uncredited)
William Lava	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Leonid Raab	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Louis Comien	....	technical advisor
Meta Carpenter	....	script clerk (uncredited)
Frederick De Cordova	....	dialogue director (uncredited)
Lance Fuller	....	stand-in (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros (presents) (as Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.) (A Warner Bros.-First National Picture) (A Howard Hawks Production)

Distributors

• Warner Bros (1944) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Films (1945) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Sociedade Importadora de Filmes (SIF) (1946) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1947) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros (1952) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Dominant Pictures Corporation (1956) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Suomi-Filmi (1964) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1968) (Finland) (TV) (1970) (1978) (1991) (2006) (2008)
• United Artists Television (1972) (USA) (TV)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1983) (Finland) (TV)
• Kommanditbolaget Mårten Kihlman Ky & Co (1985) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (1989) (West Germany) (VHS)
• Fazer Musiikki Oy/Fazer Video (1990) (Finland) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (2005-2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2004) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2004) (Argentina) (VHS) (re-release)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. (2004) (Argentina) (all media) (re-release)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Living Colour Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Turner Entertainment  VHS package design
• Warner Bros. Entertainment  DVD package design

Also Known As:

"Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not" - UK (complete title), USA (complete title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (1945) | Finland:S (1985) | Germany:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) (cut) | UK:PG (video rating) (1988) (uncut) | Australia:G (TV rating) | Australia:PG (original rating) | Argentina:Atp | Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:Approved (certificate #10052) | Canada:PG (video rating) | South Korea:12 (2003) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Netherlands:14 (original rating) (1947) | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Stage 28, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros

Trivia:

Feature film debut of Hoagy Carmichael.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Just before Eddy is slapped, supposedly unexpectedly, by Steve (c. 49 minutes) the left side of his face tenses up in anticipation of the blow.

Quotes:

Title Card:[first lines]
Title Card:Martinique, in the summer of 1940, shortly after the fall of France.
Title Card:Forte de France
Steve:Morning.
Officer at port:Good Morning, Captain Morgan. What can I do for you today?
Steve:Same thing as yesterday.
Officer at port:You and your client wish to make a temporary exit from the port?
Steve:*That* is right.
Officer at port:Name?
Steve:Ha - Harry Morgan.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (1993) (VG)

Soundtrack:

The Rhumba Jumps

A great classic morality tale

In To Have and Have Not, director Howard Hawks, as usual, uses a set of relationships to explore moral values. Here, the relationships are between Humphrey Bogart as a deep-sea fishing boat captain in Vichy-controlled Martinique, who is approached by the Free French for help in their resistance, Walter Brennan, as Bogart's alcoholic sidekick, and Lauren Bacall as a femme fatale working her way from port to port: what's explored is the moral paradox that in order to keep your independence, you have to accept responsibility for others. These relationships develop in an almost musical pattern.

Few critics seem to have noticed the delicacy and depth with which the Bogart/Brennan relationship is portrayed: Brennan's response to being slapped by Bogart -- "I wouldn't do that to you..." is very moving and a great moment in cinema, as is Brennan's subsequent realization "I know why you done it: you didn't want me to come because you was afraid I'd get hurt! I'm all right now..."

The more you think about this film, the more moral complexity and depth you can see in it, since Hawks makes his most important points indirectly, by collocation. Take the early scene with Bogart's rich client Johnson, who loses a trophy fish and expensive fishing tackle, obviously through his own incompetence and arrogance (he refuses to take Bogart's and Horatio's advice.) Later, Johnson tries to cheat Bogart out of the very considerable sum of money he owes him. There's a moral lesson here: the man who is "not good enough" (that fundamental Hawksian value) physically is also not good enough morally. This doesn't mean you have to be physically strong or tough to be good (more on this below,) it means that being good enough means being able to handle yourself properly both in the physical and the moral realm: "good" is the same in both.

But there is more to it than that, as two more debts come into play. Later, Bogart removes some money from Johnson's wallet in partial payment of the debt just after Johnson is killed. With this act a second "level" of the morality of indebtedness is identified: a good man is permitted to bend the law when he's sure it's morally correct (though it's significant that Bogart immediately has the money taken away from him by the authorities, perhaps teaching us that if we're going to act superior to the law, even if we are justified in the moral realm, we still have to pay the real world price.) The indebtedness theme is further developed in a third restatement (again musical terminology comes to mind) where Mama offers to cancel Bogart and Bacall's large hotel bills if he'll agree to treat the wounded resistance fighter they are harboring. Bogart, who had previously refused to do so, now accepts the job but says they'll still owe the bills. Here a third level of the validity of debt is identified: Bogart has learned that if you are going to do something because it is right, then you had better do it because it is right, not for some other reason. He has grown in stature and reached a higher level of existential awareness: he acts rightly not for money, but because he wants to prove to himself that he is the sort of person who acts rightly, and taking money for the act would be a refutation of that claim.

The Johnson scene also launches another theme subsequently developed in the same almost musical manner: do you have to be tough and strong to be good enough both in the physical and the moral realms? At first it might seem the answer is yes: Bogart is tough and strong and good enough; Johnson is weak and soft and not good enough. But we see there's more to it than that as we follow Bogart's relationships with Brennan and the resistance fighter. Brennan is a lame alcoholic who is terrified at the prospect of gunfire, but he manages to do what's necessary when it comes. And the resistance fighter is by his own admission not physically courageous -- his skittishness nearly spoils the mission and gets him wounded -- and yet he's committed to the stunningly audacious goal of getting a fellow resistance leader off of Devil's Island. He's afraid, but as Bogart tells his wife, "He didn't invent it." The lesson, again taught by indirection and collocation but taught clearly, is that not being tough and strong doesn't mean you can't be good enough, it just means you have two more obstacles to overcome in order to get there.

Much more could be said about the film's interlacing moral themes, but the above may be enough to open up the issue, which is all that can be done in a short notice.

For the rest: Very loosely based on what Hawks and Hemingway reportedly agreed was Hemingway's worst novel, the film also features Hoagy Carmichael as a saloon pianist, and introduced his song "Baltimore Oriole," which becomes a sort of sound track Leitmotif, though it's never actually sung in the film. Little attention has been paid to Hawks' use of music: it's very significant when and how the song is played in the background, and though you never hear the lyrics, if you happen to know them, they add much to the atmosphere. To have and Have Not has also been called the only movie associated with two Nobel Prize winners (William Faulkner, who co-wrote the screenplay, and Hemingway.) Despite what some film books say, Lauren Bacall did her own singing: the legend that it was a teen-aged Andy Williams was denied by Hawks himself.

Finally, lest I be accused of turning this into an art film, To Have and Have Not is a hugely entertaining movie with great lines, terrific atmosphere and a serious undercurrent, and should be recommended for all.