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To Have and Have Not

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Rent To Have and Have Not on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

What to Know

With Howard Hawks directing and Bogey and Bacall in front of the cameras, To Have and Have Not benefits from several levels of fine-tuned chemistry -- all of which ignite on screen.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Howard Hawks

Humphrey Bogart

Harry "Steve" Morgan

Lauren Bacall

Marie "Slim" Browning

Walter Brennan

Hoagy Carmichael

Dan Seymour

Capt. M. Renard

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Critic’s Notebook

That Voice, and the Woman Attached

By Manohla Dargis

• Aug. 13, 2014
• Share full article

Her voice comes at you low and flat, wildly insinuating, electric and lingering. In another age, Lauren Bacall’s voice might have been called mannish. When she opened her mouth in “To Have and Have Not” — taking a long drag on a cigarette while locking Humphrey Bogart in her gaze — she staked a claim on the screen and made an immortal Hollywood debut. But in 1944 at the exquisitely tender age of 19, she was also projecting an indelible screen persona: that of the tough, quick-witted American woman who could fight the good fight alongside her man.

She may not have been Rosie the Riveter and building bombers, but there was something about Ms. Bacall, a New York girl turned Hollywood starlet, that suggested a stubborn strength that could stand up to the times. The movie is best remembered for its oft-quoted whistle line (oh, you know how), but there’s far more to Ms. Bacall’s performance than that bit of dialogue. Liberally adapted from the Hemingway novel, the Howard Hawks film would cement Bogart as a romantic lead after “Casablanca.” He plays Morgan, a.k.a. Steve, a caustic American who charters his fishing boat off the coast of Vichy-controlled Martinique. Ms. Bacall plays Marie, a.k.a. Slim, a thief and possibly a prostitute who lifts a wallet off a chump under Bogart’s watch, but later helps him smuggle French partisans out of the country.

If the movie’s political backdrop tends to go missing in the mists of the Bogart and Bacall legend — they fell in love during its making — it’s understandable given how they steam up the joint. Before teaching him how to whistle, Slim slides into Steve’s lap and leans down to kiss him. “Whaddya do that for?” he says, as if the question needed asking. “Been wondering whether I’d like it,” she says. He asks her verdict. She murmurs “I don’t know yet” before going in for another try. This time, he pulls her close, his hand circling her neck, and they kiss deeper and longer. She stops, pulls back and stands, taking the camera with her, and delivers the film’s other great line: “It’s even better when you help.”

Lauren Bacall in a 1944 publicity still from Howard Hawks’s “To Have and Have Not,” her first film.

Humphrey Bogart, who played opposite her in “To Have and Have Not,” became her lover on the set and later her husband.

Ms. Bacall attracted wide publicity in February 1945 when she was photographed perched on top of a piano, legs draped over the side, with Vice President Harry S. Truman at the keyboard.

Ms. Bacall’s romance with Mr. Bogart grew as they filmed the “The Big Sleep,” based on a Raymond Chandler novel. Bogart divorced his wife and married Ms. Bacall in 1945. He was 45; she was 20.

In 1947, as the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated Americans suspected of Communism, Ms. Bacall and Bogart flew to Washington as part of a group known as the Committee for the First Amendment.

In 1948, Ms. Bacall had what she termed “one of my happiest movie experiences” when she starred with Bogart, Lionel Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson and Claire Trevor in John Huston’s crime thriller “Key Largo.” It was their last film together.

Ms. Bacall’s first son, Stephen H. Bogart (named after Bogart’s character in “To Have and Have Not”), was born in 1949. Here, the family in 1951 on a deck of the French liner Ile De France in New York City following their arrival from Europe.

Ms. Bacall’s film career appeared to be going nowhere, but in 1953 her fortunes revived with what she called “the best part I’d had in years,” in “How to Marry a Millionaire,” playing alongside Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable as New York models with sights set on finding rich husbands.

Ms. Bacall made more than 40 films. In 1957 she starred with Gregory Peck in “Designing Woman.”

Shortly after Bogart’s death in 1957, Ms. Bacall, by then 32, had a widely publicized but brief romance with Frank Sinatra, who had been a close friend of the Bogarts.

Ms. Bacall moved to New York in 1958 and, three years later, married Jason Robards Jr., settling in a spacious apartment in the Dakota, on Central Park West. They had a son, Sam, and were divorced in 1969.

Ms. Bacall with her daughter Leslie Bogart (named after the actor Leslie Howard), at their Dakota apartment in 1966.

Ms. Bacall starred in “The Cactus Flower” at the Royale Theater in 1967.

Ms. Bacall received an honorary Academy Award in 2009 “in recognition of her central place in the Golden Age of motion pictures.”

Though often called a legend, she did not care for the word. “It’s a title and category I am less than fond of,” she wrote in 1994 in “Now,” her second autobiography. “Aren’t legends dead?”

Decades later, Ms. Bacall’s performance in “To Have and Have Not” has been so memorialized and near-mummified that it can be easy to forget its initial shock waves. James Agee liked Ms. Bacall in “To Have and Have Not” (“the very entertaining, nervy, adolescent new blonde”) and predicted in his review that the movie’s appeal was predicated on whether you liked her even if he admitted he was no judge. “I can hardly look at her, much less listen to her,” he wrote, “without getting caught in a dilemma between a low whistle and a belly laugh. It has been years since I have seen such amusing pseudo-toughness on the screen.” Agee saw an “arrogant neophyte” and a film that had been constructed around her as snugly as the form-fitting hound’s-tooth suit she wears so well.

Not everyone was wholly sold on Ms. Bacall’s coming out. Writing around the same time as Agee, the critic Parker Tyler noted “the mild Mephistophelian peaks of her eyebrows” and compared her with screen goddesses like Gene Tierney and Rita Hayworth. (He should have thrown in Veronica Lake.) Tyler was confounded by Ms. Bacall’s husk and doesn’t seem to have known that, per Hawks’s instructions, she had stripped away any trace of what he deemed a potential feminine flaw. After signing her, Hawks had begun shaping Ms. Bacall, telling her, in an anecdote related in Todd McCarthy’s invaluable biography “Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood”: “When a woman gets excited or emotional, she tends to raise her voice. Now, there is nothing more unattractive than screeching.”

For Tyler, the results were mannered and synthetic. Yet he also rightly pinpointed an androgynous quality in Ms. Bacall that helped distinguish her debut and made it such a playful gloss on the classic femme fatale: “Her Hepburnesque Garbotoon, clearly confirmed in her subsequent pictures, equals Dietrich travestied by a boyish voice.” Like Garbo and Dietrich, two other goddesses that Tyler invoked, Ms. Bacall’s on-screen presence in “To Have and Have Not” draws on both feminine and masculine qualities that suggest an excitingly capable woman. Guided by Hawks, Ms. Bacall calmed her trembling chin, gave Bogart a sexy little slap and filled out her character with so much personality that she transcended her third billing (after Walter Brennan) to become an erotic emblem of American wit and war-ready grit.

It’s been said of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers that he gave her class while she gave him sex. There’s another calculus in the Bogart and Bacall pairing. Ingrid Bergman may have warmed Bogart up in “Casablanca,” but it was Ms. Bacall who lit him on fire. She later complained about being in his shadow; in truth, each burnished the other’s legend, as all four of the movies they made together prove. She made some good ones without Bogart, who died in 1957, including the fizzy “How to Marry a Millionaire.” But after the 1940s, as pneumatic blondes blew up and gender roles were re-established, she didn’t often find the film roles that suited her cool, steady gaze. The movies couldn’t see it, but she was born to go quip to quip, curled lip to lip, with a man.

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To Have and Have Not

With an eye to the lucrative box-office of its Casablanca, the brothers Warner turned out another epic of similar genre in a none-too-literal adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel To Have and Have Not. There are enough similarities in both films to warrant more than cursory attention, even to the fact that Humphrey Bogart is starred in each, though this story of Vichy France collaborationism is not up to Warners' melodramatic story standards.

By Variety Staff

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With an eye to the lucrative box-office of its Casablanca, the brothers Warner turned out another epic of similar genre in a none-too-literal adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s novel To Have and Have Not. There are enough similarities in both films to warrant more than cursory attention, even to the fact that Humphrey Bogart is starred in each, though this story of Vichy France collaborationism is not up to Warners’ melodramatic story standards.

Though Have Not was one of Hemingway’s inferior novels – whose theme of rum-running was certainly antithetical to the film’s story of French collaboration – it affords considerable picture interest because of some neat characterizations. And it introduces Lauren Bacall, in her first picture. She’s an arresting personality. She can slink, brother, and no fooling!

Popular on Variety

Yarn deals with the intrigue centering around the Caribbean island of Martinique, owned by France, and the plotting that ensued there prior to its ultimate capitulation to Allied pressure. Bogart is an American pressure. skipper there who hires out his boat to anyone who has the price. When he becomes involved in the local Free French movement, the story’s pattern becomes woven around him, at times in cops-and-robbers fashion.

Warners give the pic its usually nifty productional accoutrements, and that includes casting, musical scoring and Howard Hawks’ direction but the basic story is too unsteady.

Bogart is in his usual metier, a tough guy who, no less, has the facility of making a dame go for him, instead of he for her. That’s where Bacall comes in. Walter Brennan, as Bogart’s drunken sidekick; Dolores Moran, as the film’s second looker; and songwriter Hoagy Carmichael have lesser roles that they handle to advantage.

• Production: Warner. Director Howard Hawks; Producer Howard Hawks; Screenplay Jules Furthman, William Faulkner; Camera Sidney Hickox; Editor Christian Nyby; Music Leo Forbstein (dir.); Art Director Charles Novi
• Crew: (B&W) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1944. Running time: 100 MIN.
• With: Humphrey Bogart Walter Brennan Lauren Bacall Dolores Moran Hoagy Carmichael Marcel Dalio

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To Have And Have Not Review

11 Oct 1944

100 minutes

To Have And Have Not

According to Hollywood legend, this film came about when Howard Hawks made a bet with Ernest Hemingway that he could make a good movie out of his worst novel. Although he won his wager, Hawks actually ditched most of To Have and Have Not and worked instead from a screenplay written by regular collaborator Jules Furthman and William Faulkner (making this the only studio picture to boast two Nobel laureates among its creatives).

       Hemingway's scenario wasn't wasted, however, as its ending wound up in John Huston's Key Largo, its basic plotline serviced Michael Curtiz's  The Breaking Point and `One Trip Across', the short story from which it had been expanded, resurfaced in Don Siegel's The Gun Runners.

       Indeed, Hawks's picture owed more to a brace of earlier Furthman projects - Josef von Sternberg's Morocco and Hawks's own Only Angels Have Wings - and Casablanca, which had recently reinvented Humphrey Bogart as a hard-bitten romantic. In fact, it could be said that Hawks's wife, Nancy, made more of an impact on the project than Hemingway, as Steve' and Slim' were not only the Hawks's pet names, but she had also spotted the teenage Lauren Bacall on the cover of Harper's Bazaar and suggested that she had star quality.

       There's no question that the chemistry that developed off screen between Bogie and Bacall impinged upon their scenes together. But she also appears to advantage alongside fellow debutant Hoagy Carmichael, despite some complaining that Hawks slipped in too many numbers to disguise the paucity of his material. Indeed, her singing reinforces comparisons with Marlene Dietrich in Morocco, while Carmichael's saloon pianist recalls Dooley Wilson's Sam in Casablanca.

     The dialogue crackles in true Warners fashion, while Hawks uses Bogart's partnership with rummy Walter Brennan to conduct his customary investigation into professional men seeing a tough job through to the end. But the war is too often reduced to a convenient backdrop (with the Free French connection again consciously evoking Casablanca) in what is essentially a terrifically entertaining exercise in studio escapism.

"We waste our money so you don't have to."

"We waste our money, so you don't have to."

Movie Review

To have and have not.

US Release Date: 10-11-1944

Directed by: Howard Hawks

Starring ▸ ▾

• Humphrey Bogart ,  as
• Harry 'Steve' Morgan
• Walter Brennan ,  as
• Lauren Bacall ,  as
• Marie 'Slim' Browning
• Dolores Moran ,  as
• Mme. Hellene de Bursac
• Hoagy Carmichael ,  as
• Sheldon Leonard ,  as
• Walter Szurovy ,  as
• Paul de Bursac
• Marcel Dalio ,  as
• Gerard aka Frenchy
• Walter Sande ,  as
• Dan Seymour ,  as
• Capt. M. Renard
• Aldo Nadi as
• Renard's Bodyguard

Bogie and Bacall in To Have and Have Not .

To Have and Have Not is a legendary movie for (at least) two different reasons.

First and foremost it is the movie that brought Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall together. In four movies and a famous marriage that lasted until Bogey’s death in 1957 they were one of Hollywood’s most iconic couples. Although he was 44 and she was only 19 they seemed made for each other. Their sparkling chemistry resonates in every single scene.

Secondly this movie is legendary for its pedigree. It is the only movie to be based (albeit incredibly loosely) on the work of a Nobel prize-winning novelist (Ernest Hemingway) that has a screenplay co-written by another Nobel prize-winning novelist (William Faulkner). Ironically, its most famous line was penned by neither man. It was Howard Hawks who came up with Bacall’s flirtatious, “You know how to whistle, don’t you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.”

This movie capitalized on the success of Casablanca . Like in that movie Bogey plays an expatriate American living in an exotic locale (in this case it’s the Caribbean island of Martinique), romancing a beautiful woman, and eventually rekindling his patriotism by fighting Nazis. In both movies there is a singing piano player (Hoagy Carmichael instead of Dooley Wilson) who performs the occasional song and comments on the goings on around him. Also in both movies Bogey gets involved with rescuing a man and his wife who are fighting for the resistance. Several familiar supporting faces from Casablanca show up here including Marcel Dalio and Dan Seymour. The end result, while very good, is not in the same league as that classic. But then what movie is?

Bogey plays Captain Morgan (first name Harry although Bacall insists on calling him Steve) that rents his boat to fishing tourists. Walter Brennan plays his rummy sidekick to comic effect. Bacall (officially named Marie Browning but Bogey dubs her Slim) shows up as a stranded sultry singer with a scandalous past… You get the picture. The plot isn’t as important as the individual scenes between these two legendary stars. Watching them size each other up while doing that age-old dance of seduction is what makes the movie memorable.

Yes, To Have and Have Not is a legendary movie and a must see for any serious movie buff.  

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not

Like Patrick, I was not so much caught up in the plot as I was struck by the chemistry between Bogart and Bacall. His ugly middle aged mug contrasted with her young flawless face, yet they simmered whenever on screen together. Their dialog exchanges are the film's best scenes.

At one point, Bacall asks Bogart in her distinctive bedroom voice, "Who was the girl, Steve?" Bogart asks, "Who was what girl?" Bacall answers, "The one who left you with such a high opinion of women." She sings a bit in this film and it has been disputed as to whether it was her actual voice singing. Andy Williams stated in a biography that they used his voice, when he was only 14, to dub for Lauren Bacall singing "How Little We Know". Other sources state Bacall did her own singing.

The most romantic scene is when Bacall kisses Bogie and he asks, "What did you do that for?" Bacall explains, "I've been wondering if I'd like it." Bogart asks, "What's the decision?" Bacall teases, "I don't know yet." They then kiss again and Bacall states, "It's even better when you help."

To Have and Have Not was the first of four films Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made together. Their marriage and working arrangement was one of the most notable in Hollywood.  Bacall accompanied Bogie to Africa when he filmed The African Queen , where Bacall became great friends with Katharine Hepburn, who along with Spencer Tracy, would often visit an ailing Bogart at his and Bacall's home, when he was suffering from cancer. 

To Have and Have Not is worth seeing simply to watch the start of a truly legendary Hollywood love story.

Marcel Dalio, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not .

I agree with my brothers. It's the sexually charged pairing of Bogie and Bacall that makes this movie worth watching. The plot is basically a remake of Casablanca and bears only a passing resemblance to Hemingway's novel, which was set during the great depression and involves smuggling between Cuba and Florida. Reportedly, Hemingway bet director Hawks that he couldn't film his novel, a bet that Hawks technically won, but considering the changes he made, just barely.

The biggest change in the plot from Casablanca is Bacall's character. Instead of pining for the wife of the resistance leader, Bogie falls in love with the “bad girl”. Thankfully, it's this change and Bacall's presence that really makes it all work. Bogie still has a few nice scenes with the wife character, played by the equally beautiful Dolores Moran, but it's the jealous reaction by Bacall to those moments that make them great. Their chemistry is palpable.

While the rest of the movie isn't boring, it's just not very original or exciting. Part of what made Casablanca great was its terrific supporting cast, but apart from Bogie, Bacall and Brennan, everyone else here is fairly forgettable. Hoagie Carmichael's character feels tacked on to the plot to provide a little music, while Sam in Casablanca felt very much like an organic part of the story. And none of Carmichael's songs come anywhere close to "As Time Goes By".

It isn't as though this movie is boring, because it's not. It's a decent enough story, but as my brothers said and I reiterate, the reason to watch this one is to see what sizzling chemistry looks like.  

Photos © Copyright Warner Bros. Pictures (1944)

© 2000 - 2017 Three Movie Buffs. All Rights Reserved.

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To Have and Have Not

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• Duration: 100 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Howard Hawks
• Screenwriter: Jules Furthman, William Faulkner
• Humphrey Bogart
• Lauren Bacall
• Walter Brennan
• Hoagy Carmichael
• Dan Seymour
• Marcel Dalio
• Walter Molnar
• Dolores Moran

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To Have and Have Not (1945)

Directed by howard hawks.

• AllMovie Rating 4
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To Have and Have Not

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Brief Synopsis

Cast & crew, howard hawks, humphrey bogart, walter brennan, lauren bacall, dolores moran, hoagy carmichael, photos & videos, technical specs.

In Fort de France, Martinique, in the summer of 1940, shortly after the fall of France to the Germans, an American named Johnson hires professional fisherman Harry Morgan to take him fishing on Morgan's boat. Johnson complains about the cost of the expedition and the onboard presence of Eddie, a drunk, and Horatio, a native. Refusing to listen to Harry's instructions, Johnson loses a rod and reel belonging to Harry. Fed up with Johnson, Harry cancels the rest of the trip and insists that Johnson pay him for the lost equipment as well as his fees for the past week. Johnson promises to pay what he owes after the banks open the next morning. Back in Fort de France, bartender Gerard, commonly known as Frenchy, asks Harry to rent him his boat for one night to transport some members of the resistance underground, but Harry refuses to become involved in Frenchy's political activities. Later, in the hotel bar, Harry sees attractive young Marie Browning pick Johnson's pocket, and when she leaves the bar, he follows her and demands that she return the wallet. Harry checks the wallet and is surprised to see that it contains enough money in traveler's cheques to pay his fees and that Johnson's plane leaves early the next morning before the banks open. After Marie, whom Harry has dubbed Slim, returns the wallet to the indignant Johnson, Harry insists that he sign some of the cheques, but before Johnson can complete this task, he is killed by gunshots from the street directed at Frenchy's allies. The police detain some of the customers, including Frenchy, Marie and Harry, for questioning. Later that night, Marie tells Harry that she is tired of her footloose life and would like to settle down. In order to earn enough money to put himself back in business and help Marie, Harry agrees to pick up Frenchy's friends. Before he leaves, he buys Marie a ticket on the plane leaving that afternoon for the United States. After picking up Helene and Paul De Bursac, Harry is spotted by a patrol boat, and Paul is wounded before they escape. Harry is surprised to find that Marie stayed in Martinique to be with him. At Frenchy's request, Harry removes the bullet from De Bursac's shoulder and learns that the De Bursacs have been assigned to help a man escape from Devil's Island. De Bursac asks for Harry's assistance, but Harry turns him down. Later, the police, who recognized Harry's boat the previous night, reveal that they have Eddie in custody and will coerce him to tell the truth about the boat's cargo. At gunpoint, Harry forces the police to arrange for Eddie's release and sign harbor passes, so that he can take the De Bursacs to Devil's Island. After Eddie returns, he, Harry and Marie leave Martinique for a more committed life together.

Sheldon Leonard

Walter molnar.

Marcel Dalio

Walter Sande

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Who was the girl, Steve? - Slim

Who was what girl? - Harry

The one who left you with such a high opinion of women. - Slim

You know Steve, you're not very hard to figure, only at times. Sometimes I know exactly what you're going to say. Most of the time. The other times... the other times, you're just a stinker. - Slim

What did you do that for? - Steve

I've been wondering if I'd like it. - Slim

What's the decision? - Steve

I don't know yet. - Slim

It's even better when you help. - Slim

Was you ever bit by a dead bee? - Eddie

I'm hard to get, Steve. All you have to do is ask me. - Slim

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall fell in love during production. Director Howard Hawks afterward said that it was actually Bacall's character Marie that Bogart had fallen for, "so she had to keep playing it the rest of her life."

Ernest Hemingway had bet Hawks that Hawks couldn't film this novel. Hawks did it by deleting most of the story, including the class references that would justify the title, and shifting to an earlier point in the lives of the lead characters.

The setting was shifted to Martinique because the Office of Inter-American Affairs would not have allowed export of a film showing smuggling and insurrection in Cuba.

Andy Williams was hired to dub Bacall singing "How Little We Know", but Hawks decided to go with Bacall.

The only film to date (2000) based on a novel by a Nobel Prize-winning author (Ernest Hemingway) to have its screenplay co-written by another Nobel Prize-winning author (William Faulkner).

The screenplay was rewritten to boost Slim's role to take advantage of the public interest in the real life romance between Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart.

Ernest Hemingway's novel was based, in part, on two previously published short stories, "One Trip Across," published in April 1934 in Cosmopolitan , and "The Tradesman's Return," published in 1937. Walter Brennan was borrowed from Goldwyn for the production. Several sources state that this was Hoagy Carmichael's screen debut, but he appeared in several films in the 1930s (see Personal Name Index in AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40 ). This film marked Lauren Bacall's screen debut. Impressed by Bacall's sultry delivery of her lines, such as the often-quoted, "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow," the Variety reviewer called her "an arresting personality...she can slink, brother, and no fooling!" and the New York Times reviewer described her as "Slumberous of eye and softly reedy, she acts in the quiet way of catnip and sings a song from deep down in her throat." Bacall and Humphrey Bogart met for the first time during this film and were married later in 1945.        Information in the Warner Bros. Collection at the USC Cinema-Television Library provides the following details about the production: Ernest Hemingway's novel was set in Cuba, which originally was to be the setting of the movie as well. The U.S. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs objected to this locale, however, believing that it might place a strain on Cuban-American relations. After the fall of France to the Germans in 1940, the location was changed to Martinique. According to a biography of William Faulkner, he was responsible for changing the story's location to Martinique. Technical advisor Louis Comiens was a native Frenchman who served with the army in Martinique. Some scenes were shot on location in Balboa and Laguna Beach, CA. Reviews commented on the similarities between this story and Warner Bros. 1943 film Casablanca , which also starred Bogart. Modern sources add the following information about the production: Although many modern sources claim that Bacall's singing voice was dubbed by Andy Williams, Bacall states in her autobiography that she sang the songs in the film herself. Williams did occasionally dub women's voices for M-G-M. The actress was discovered by Howard Hawks's wife Nancy, a former model known as Slim. She spotted Bacall's photograph on the cover of Harper's Bazaar and suggested that Hawks test her for the part of "Marie." Hawks felt Bacall had the potential to be an actress like Marlene Dietrich and suggested that writer Jules Furthman, who had written roles for Dietrich in such films as Morocco , Shanghai Express and Blonde Venus , model the role of "Marie" on Dietrich. According to a biography of William Faulkner, he was the sole author of the "second revised final" script, but Hawks changed so much of the story to suit his own style that little of Faulkner's work remained.        Ernest Hemingway's novel also provided the source for the 1950 Warner Bros. film The Breaking Point and the 1958 UA film The Gun Runners , starring Audie Murphy and directed by Don Siegel. A Lux Radio Theatre version of To Have and Have Not , starring Bacall and Bogart was broadcast on October 14, 1946. In 1957, a television version of the same title was broadcast on NBC as part of the Lux Video Theatre . It starred Edmond O'Brien and Beverly Garland and was directed by James Yarbrough. According to an August 8, 1957 Hollywood Reporter news item, writer Ben Hecht was planning to make a new version of To Have and Have Not for Associated Artists Productions, who purchased rights to the property from Warner Bros., but this version was never produced. Bogart and Bacall made three more films together after this: The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947) and Key Largo (1948).

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States January 20, 1945

Released in United States Winter January 1, 1944

Feature acting debut for Lauren Bacall.

Broadcast in USA over TBS (colorized version) June 4, 1990.

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To Have and Have Not (United States, 1944)

For director Howard Hawks, this represented his first opportunity to work with Bogart (they would re-team shortly thereafter for The Big Sleep ). The decision to use an unknown model to play the taciturn leading man's love interest was Hawks' idea. The producer/director, who fancied himself as a star maker, decided that Lauren Bacall had the looks and presence to make a name for herself. However, to Hawks' dismay, Bogart took a liking to her, and she to him (likely stymieing designs he may have had on her – instead, he contented himself with having an affair with the movie's other actress, Dolores Moran). The rest, as they say, is history. No love affair in the history of Hollywood has been as romanticized or publicly followed (not even Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn).

In title and intent, To Have and Have Not is a loose (emphasis on the word "loose") adaptation of the 1937 Ernest Hemingway novel, but the plot, as re-worked by Jules Furthman and William Faulkner, bears a stronger resemblance to Casablanca than to anything penned by the Pulitzer-prize winning author. Many of the elements are similar: the World War II time frame, an exotic setting (Martinique instead of Cuba, where the book was set), a mercenary lead character whose political neutrality changes as the story develops, anti-German/Vichy freedom fighters, and a bar with a piano player. Ultimately, however, To Have and Have Not 's narrative is not as compelling as that of Casablanca , the dialogue is (for the most part) neither as sharp nor memorable, the tone is more flippant, and the romance does not require an ennobling sacrifice.

To Have and Have Not opens in Martinique shortly after the fall of Paris to the Nazis. Harry Morgan (Bogart), an American expatriate, has landed in the city of Fort de France, where he is making a living taking visitors out on his boat, the Queen Conch , for fishing expeditions. Harry is accompanied on these trips by his faithful drunkard sidekick, Eddie (Walter Brennan). New to Fort de France is 22-year old Marie Browning (Bacall), whose trail of tears has left her on the island without enough money to buy a ticket home. She tries lifting the wallet of one of Harry's wealthy clients, but Harry catches her – only to learn the client was planning to stiff him.

The plot that forms the background for Harry and Marie's relationship is a thin story about two French resistance fighters, Paul de Bursac (Walter Molnar) and his wife, Hellene (Moran), who end up in Harry's care when he accepts a job to transport them to Fort de France without discovery. When Paul is wounded, Harry is forced to endanger his own safety and security to provide medical care. Meanwhile, Marie hangs around to help and provide plenty of sexual chemistry. And, when the local Gestapo-like officer, Captain Renard (Dan Seymour), offers Harry a handsome reward for turning over the de Bursacs, he must choose between money and principals.

Harry and Marie never call each other by their proper names. Instead, they are "Slim" and "Steve" - the endearments by which Hawks and his wife addressed each other in real life. Early drafts of the script envisioned a smaller part for Bacall but, once it became apparent that she and Bogart were burning up the screen, Hawks re-wrote page after page to bolster her part at the expense of Moran's. Hellene de Bursac, originally developed as a secondary love interest for Harry, was reduced to filling a limp supporting role that had her standing by her man and questioning why she was doing so.

The dialogue, which takes full advantage of the burgeoning romance between the leads, sparkles during some of their exchanges. The most memorable lines are spoken by Bacall, employing double entendres so obvious it's amazing they slid past the censors: "You don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow." As good as the words are, though, it takes Bacall's delivery to do them justice. The temperature in Harry's room goes up by about ten degrees.

Taking note of what worked best in To Have and Have Not , Hawks decided to emphasize that same element in his next movie, The Big Sleep . Fans of that delicious film noir have often noted that the plot frequently doesn't make sense, but the interaction between Bogart and Bacall is compelling enough to keep even the most inattentive viewer from losing interest. The pair married shortly after the completion of principal photography on The Big Sleep . By the time Hawks brought them back for a series of re-shoots (primarily to boost the size of Bacall's role), the wedding was in the rearview mirror. Bacall was Bogart's fourth wife and she remained married to him until his 1957 death.

As is often true of older movies, expectations have a lot to do with how To Have and Have Not is received. Those anticipating something along the lines of Casablanca will be disappointed. Despite the superficial similarities and Warner Brothers' obvious desire to point them out, To Have and Have Not is inferior in almost every way that matters. But for those who visit this movie to vicariously experience the beginnings of Hollywood's most famous romance, it delivers in full. Anyone who lets the film's less-than-convincing storyline fade into the background and concentrates instead on the sexually-charged dance between Harry and Marie will accept that To Have and Have Not has all it needs.

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To Have and Have Not (1944) Directed by Howard Hawks

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To have and have not.

• 100 Chicago Reader Dave Kehr Chicago Reader Dave Kehr In many ways the ultimate Hawks film: clear, direct, and thoroughly brilliant.
• 100 Time Out Time Out An unassuming masterpiece, nominally based on Hemingway's novel and set in Martinique during World War II, this is Hawks' toughest statement of the necessity of accepting responsibility for others or forfeiting one's self-respect - the sum total of morality for Hawks - and the perfectbridge from the free and open world of Only Angels Have Wings to the claustrophobic one of Rio Bravo.
• 100 TV Guide Magazine TV Guide Magazine The dialogue is sharp, the direction first-rate, and the acting superb, but To Have And Have Not is undoubtedly best remembered for the on- and offscreen romance between Bogart and Bacall.
• 100 Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington The things that make me love the movie are the mood, the hardboiled but good-hearted morality, Hawks' consummately professional eye-level style and those wonderful characters. [28 Jul 2006, p.C7]
• 80 Time Time To Have and Have Not is neither an action picture nor a Bogart picture. Its story is, in fact, just a loosely painted background for a kind of romance which the movies have all but forgotten about—the kind in which the derelict sweethearts are superficially aloof but essentially hot as blazes, and seem to do even their kissing out of the corners of their mouths.
• 80 Empire David Parkinson Empire David Parkinson Superb dialogue, beautifully played and hummingly atmospheric, this is sexy, poignant and tense with some surpising humour...only the plot shows cracks...
• 75 LarsenOnFilm Josh Larsen LarsenOnFilm Josh Larsen The picture’s reason for being is Bacall, whose Marie “Slim” Browning slinks onto the screen asking Harry for matches and walks away with the entire movie.
• 75 ReelViews James Berardinelli ReelViews James Berardinelli Those anticipating something along the lines of Casablanca will be disappointed. Despite the superficial similarities and Warner Brothers' obvious desire to point them out, To Have and Have Not is inferior in almost every way that matters. But for those who visit this movie to vicariously experience the beginnings of Hollywood's most famous romance, it delivers in full.
• 75 Entertainment Weekly Entertainment Weekly The ”you know how to whistle, don’t you?” scene is justifiably famous, and there’s plenty more where that came from.
• 60 Variety Variety Warners give the pic its usually nifty productional accoutrements, and that includes casting, musical scoring and Howard Hawks’ direction but the basic story is too unsteady.
• See all 16 reviews on Metacritic.com
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To commemorate the centenary of Humphrey Bogart's birth, the BFI is re-releasing a new print of this 1944 Howard Hawks classic. Legend has it that the film arose because the director bet novelist Ernest Hemingway that he could make a movie out of his worst book.

Bogart plays Harry `Steve' Morgan, a cynical fishing-boat owner, who's holed up in Martinique during World War Two with trusty sidekick Eddie `The Rummy' (Walter Brennan). Reluctant to throw in his lot with either the Vichy government of the free French forces (there are obvious parallels here with Casablanca's Rick) Steve's life is transformed when a gorgeous woman (teen model Lauren Bacall in her screen debut) pitches up at his hotel, needing help to get off of the island.

Unfussily directed, To Have And Have Not is packed with memorable exchanges in shadowy interiors, and showcases the husky-voiced Bacall at her most insolent and alluring. The chemistry between the two leads, who became off-screen partners, is palpable, ensuring that this remains one of Hollywood's most enduring love stories. Pure romantic fantasy, and a fine film from one of cinema's greatest ever directors, it paved the way for the even better The Big Sleep.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

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'Atlas' review: Jennifer Lopez befriends an AI in her scrappy new Netflix space movie

Just when you think you’ve seen everything, here comes a movie where Jennifer Lopez tries to out-sass a computer program.

Jenny from the Block is in her Iron Man era with “Atlas” (★★½ out of four; rated PG-13; streaming now on Netflix ), a sci-fi action thriller directed by Brad Peyton ( “San Andreas” ) that pairs two hot commodities: a pop-culture superstar and artificial intelligence.

The movie shares aspects with a bevy of films like “Blade Runner,” “The Terminator,” "The Iron Giant" and “Pacific Rim,” and it’s best to not think too hard about the science involved. Yet there’s a scrappiness to “Atlas” that pairs well with a human/machine bonding narrative and a fish-out-of-water Lopez trying to figure out how to work a super cool, high-tech armored suit and not die spectacularly.

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Obviously, there’s a climactic throwdown with Harlan – you don’t need ChatGPT to figure out the predictable plot – and there are plenty of action scenes with spotty visual effects. But “Atlas” cooks most when it’s just Atlas and Smith, sniping and snarking at each other: He fixes her broken leg, her cursing expands his vocabulary, and slowly they figure out a way to coexist and become a formidable fighting unit. 

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While “Atlas” doesn’t top the J. Lo movie canon – that’s rarefied air for the likes of “Out of Sight” and “Hustlers” – it’s certainly more interesting than a lot of her rom-com output . Her action-oriented vehicles such as this and the assassin thriller “The Mother,” plus B-movie “Anaconda” and sci-fi film “The Cell” back in the day, show a willing gameness to venture outside her A-list box.

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It is not shocking that ‘furiosa’ is struggling at the box office, despite reviews.

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Furiosa and Garfield have combined to produce one of the worst Memorial Day weekends at the movies in ages, at least in terms of ticket sales.

Those who have seen Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga may be wringing their hands that a movie that good is doing so poorly, just a $25 million opening , but unfortunately, it was not exactly set up for success from the start. Why? A few reasons.

• At baseline, Mad Max: Fury Road is not some extremely massive blockbuster superhit. The film earned $380 million worldwide on a $150 million budget and even more in marketing. Solid, but nothing too insane.
• Furiosa, meanwhile, had an even higher budget at $168 million, but it’s a big ask for not a sequel, but a prequel follow-up to out-earn its predecessor, particularly for one main reason:
• It’s hard to pitch a Mad Max movie without Mad Max actually in it. Absolutely Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy do a phenomenal job, but this is a prequel spin-off of a side character in Fury Road who is not even being played by the same actress this time (Charlize Theron). That’s a bit confusing for the public, or at the very least, not super appealing.
• You do in fact sort of need to have a concrete awareness of the events of the first film, even though this is a prequel, lest it end on something of an anti-climax. This is actually so essential that the film gives you a full highlight reel of the first film at the end to reinforce the villains all do get their just desserts and Furiosa emerges victorious in that film.
• Finally, as much as I would like to say otherwise, critic reviews simply don’t matter that much in terms of overall box office. Or at least they can only move the needle so far. Furiosa has an exceptional 90% score from critics (and also audiences) but in a lot of ways that’s only preaching to the already-converted. It did not seem likely George Miller was going to mess this up, and clearly he did not, but the movie needs more than just Miller die-hards.

Miller has said he’d like to keep making Mad Max movies forever, and I hope he’s able to. But Hollywood and general audiences are not really in a place to reward this kind of commitment at this point, and I’d fear that this kind of performance will hurt his chances of being able to do more. At least with the same studio. At least with the same budget.

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There’s really nothing else to be done except tell your friends to see the film if they haven’t. Or convince your children they want to see Furiosa instead of Garfield (kidding, mostly). Furiosa seemed like it wasn’t going to have a real shot to start with, and unfortunately that seems like it’s being proven correct as we speak.

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AMC conducting review after 4 girls randomly stabbed inside Massachusetts movie theater

B RAINTREE – Movie theater chain AMC said it is conducting a "thorough review" after four girls were stabbed during an apparently random attack inside a Braintree theater.

Jared Ravizza , 26, is charged with the Saturday night attack at AMC Braintree 10. Police said Ravizza entered without paying and stabbed four young girls who were at the theater for a screening of "IF."

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There are a few smaller indie titles that have gone under the radar as well, like Goran Stolevski’s sensitively observed portrait of a queer found family in North Macedonia, “Housekeeping for Beginners,” which is available on premium VOD on all platforms.

Julio Torres’ “Problemista” is a delightfully absurd and surreal film about a young El Salvadoran immigrant who falls in with a chaotic New York City art critic, played by Tilda Swinton. This quasi-memoir takes a fantastical tack to the exploration of the Sisyphean task of gaining U.S. citizenship, and while Torres’ film is hilariously funny, it is also incredibly moving, and grounded in its exploration of work and belonging. Rent it on all platforms at a premium VOD price.

And Adam Rehmeier’s incredibly charming slice of nostalgia, “Snack Shack” is the perfect way to kick off the summer, with this coming-of-age story about a couple of teens in 1990’s Nebraska who run a pool snack shack for their summer get-rich-quick scheme. “The Fabelmans” star Gabrielle LaBelle co-stars opposite Conor Sherry and Mika Abdalla as the intriguing girl next door. Rent or buy it on all platforms for $5.99.

Katie Walsh is the Tribune News Service film critic and co-host of the “Miami Nice” podcast.

Heart care for life

Feeling chilled to the bone while fishing in January is an endurable compromise for doing something you love.