![]() Robinson won nothing, but he really dominated the picture and demonstrated why he was one of Hollywood's greatest stars. Claire Trevor actually won an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her work, and she was good as the alcoholic moll with a heart of gold. Lauren Bacall, in one of her more modest roles, does a lot without saying much, and Lionel Barrymore is very good as the cantankerous old guy in a wheelchair. Also good is Rocco beginning to sweat in fear of his life as the storm moves in while Bogey gives us his famous laugh and grin as he assesses the essential cowardice of the petty gangster. What happens is exactly what should happen, and without regard for the fine points of Marquis of Queensberry-type rules. What I loved about this scene was that Huston did not think it necessary to contrive a fight in which the good guy (Bogart) beats the bad guy by fighting fair. I especially liked the crazed and thrilled grin on his face when he emerges from the hold of the boat in the climactic scene, gun in hand, imagining that he has once again fooled his adversaries and is about to delightfully shoot Humphrey Bogart to death. The utter disregard for the lives of others and the obsessive love of self that characterize the sociopath reek from the snares and callous laughter of the very sick Johnny Rocco. Anderson's desire to explore the psychopathic personality (some years later he adapted William March's novel The Bad Seed into a stage play) finds realization in Huston's direction and especially in Robinson's indelible performance. So the ingredients for a good film are clearly in place and aside from some self-conscious mishmash with the Seminoles of Florida, this is a success. Note too that Huston adapted this from a play by the versatile American playwright Maxwell Anderson. Note that this is a splendid cast, and they all do a good job. McCloud's delicate task is to keep the megalomaniac and murderous personality of Rocco under some control so that he doesn't murder everyone. After a bit McCloud discovers that the hotel's owner Nora Temple (Lauren Bacall) and her invalid father-in-law James Temple (Lionel Barrymore) have been tricked into allowing Rocco's gang to stay and now, as a tropical storm begins to blow, are being held at gunpoint. He finds the welcome from the hotel's only "guests" chilly except for Gaye Dawn (a funny and perhaps prescient Hollywood stage name) played by Claire Trevor who is drunk and befriends him. buddies who was killed in Italy during WWII. The story begins as Major Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) pays a visit to the family of one of his G.I. Robinson's finest performances as Johnny Rocco, a sociopathic gangster holding the off-season personnel of a seaside hotel hostage as he concludes a counterfeit money deal. It features what I think is one of Edward G. ![]() Key Largo is just one of John Huston's many memorable films that somehow always seem to transcend the intention-the Hollywood intention being to make a few bucks-and to this day still plays very well and indeed appears as something close to a work of art.
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