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Key Largo (1948)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
31 July 1948 (USA)
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Tagline:
A storm of fear and fury in the sizzling Florida Keys ! more
Plot:
A man visits his old friend's hotel and finds a gangster running things. As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Won Oscar.
Another 1 nomination
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NewsDesk:
(6 articles)
Lauren Bacall, Annette Bening, Jeff Bridges: Governors Awards 2009
(From Alternative Film Guide. 15 November 2009, 4:13 PM, PST)
Forget it Jake. It’s Chinatown
(From t5m.com. 30 September 2009, 8:40 AM, PDT)
(From Alternative Film Guide. 15 November 2009, 4:13 PM, PST)
Forget it Jake. It’s Chinatown
(From t5m.com. 30 September 2009, 8:40 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Superb cast and taut drama
more (111 total)
Cast
(Complete credited cast) | Humphrey Bogart | ... | Frank McCloud |
 | Edward G. Robinson | ... | Johnny Rocco |
 | Lauren Bacall | ... | Nora Temple |
 | Lionel Barrymore | ... | James Temple |
 | Claire Trevor | ... | Gaye Dawn |
 | Thomas Gomez | ... | Richard 'Curly' Hoff |
 | Harry Lewis | ... | Edward 'Toots' Bass |
| John Rodney | ... | Deputy Clyde Sawyer |
| Marc Lawrence | ... | Ziggy |
| Dan Seymour | ... | Angel Garcia |
| Monte Blue | ... | Sheriff Ben Wade |
| William Haade | ... | Ralph Feeney |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
100 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:
Iceland:12 |
Sweden:15 |
West Germany:16 (nf) |
South Korea:15 (2003) |
Australia:G (cable rating) |
Australia:PG (original rating) |
Canada:PG (video rating) |
Finland:K-16 |
USA:Approved (PCA #12932)
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
In the film, James Temple describes the 1935 hurricane that devastated Matacumbe Key. This was one of worst hurricanes in U.S. history and many of the victims of the storm were World War I veterans who were building the Florida Keys portion of U.S. Highway 1, also known as the Overseas Highway. A portion of the highway is seen in the film's opening. The storm also produced the lowest-ever recorded barometric pressure over land in the North American continent.
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Goofs:
Factual errors: Describing the summer heat in the Keys, Mr. Temple says that it will cool down in November: "The thermometer will drop to 100 (F, about 38C)", implying that summer temperatures are consistently above 100. This is incorrect. The climate is humid, but the adjacent waters moderate the temperature. Average summer high is 87F (31C). According to the Keys official tourism website, "The hottest it's ever been in Key West is 97º F (36º C), and that was way back in 1880."
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Quotes:
Frank McCloud:
One Rocco more or less isn't worth dying for!
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Movie Connections:
Featured in You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (2008) (V)
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Soundtrack:
Moanin' Low
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (111 total)
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While chiefly remembered as a Bogart/Bacall vehicle, this story of expatriate gangsters commandeering a sleepy tropical hotel is, in actuality, a tightly directed ensemble piece with acting chops to burn.
There's Edward G. Robinson as Johnny Rocco--the brash, boisterous, sleazy gangster whose frailties (cowardice and a yearning for better times) gradually unfold before us. There's Lionel Barrymore as James Temple, the delightfully feisty and crusty hotel owner overcome with revulsion at Rocco's presence. There's Thomas Gomez, Harry Lewis, Dan Seymour and William Haade as Curly, Toots, Angel and Ralphie--Rocco's colorful but hard-edged thugs who are presences unto themselves. There's Claire Trevor as Gaye, Rocco's declining, alcoholic moll who symbolizes more than anything how far Rocco has fallen.
That's an awful lot. Too much scenery-chewing from Bogart or Bacall would push it over the top--and director/screenwriter/demigod John Huston knows it. He coaxes remarkably restrained and subtle performances out of his star couple. The romantic tension between them is suggested but never shoved in the audience's face. Bogart's wandering war vet Frank McCloud keeps his lips tight and plays his cards close to the chest--a streetwise outsider through and through. Bacall's Nora Temple lets her anger and distaste pour out through her smoldering eyes more often than her mouth.
Ultimately, the subtlety is so well-hidden between the gigantic performances of Robinson and Barrymore that you might miss just how sophisticated Frank's story is. Disillusioned and drifting since the war, he stops in to visit the wife (Nora) and father (James) of a fallen comrade whose bravery he admired. Implicit in his visit is an unspoken apology that it is he, and not their loved one, who is returning home. The fallen soldier is a constant unseen presence in the film--his bravery and honor mocking what Frank sees as his own cowardice and inability to stand up to Rocco (Bogart's fast-talking explanation of why he didn't shoot Rocco when he had the chance is classic and rare--a protagonist lying to his friends and his audience--"One Rocco more or less isn't worth dying for!"). Frank's eventual decision to take on Rocco and his hoods is a victory against the fear that plagues and shames him.
In a larger sense, this is a true period movie about a generation of men returning home from the greatest conflict the world has ever known. Most of our national memories of World War II are proud and triumphant, but, as with any war, it left countless people scarred physically and mentally. Though Frank is a decorated soldier, he feels somehow that what he did wasn't enough (because he lived and his friend did not?), and he returns back to a country in which he has no place with no real pride or satisfaction. The confrontation with Rocco affords him a chance (perhaps only possible in Hollywood or on the stage, where the story of "Key Largo" was first performed) to make things right with his world.
While it has not aged as well as the better-known films of Bogart's and Huston's careers, "Key Largo" is a film that, for a little investment of attention and thought, will pay big dividends to anyone that really and truly loves movies.