Comment by C. O. DeRiemer

# January 1, 2007,

If you’re a fan of Humphrey Bogart, you’ll probably want this in your collection. If you’re a fan of Edward G. Robinson, you’ll need it.

Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) is a tired, burned out WWII vet who has come to Key Largo to visit the father, James Temple (Lionel Barrymore), and widow, Nora Temple (Lauren Bacall), of his best friend, a soldier killed in the war. The Temples own a hotel on the key. The tourist season is over and the hurricane season is about to start. It’s sweating hot, even in the evening. Some men in the hotel tell him the place is closed, but after he meets the Temples they invite him to stay for a few days. Then the tension and the violence start. The men are part of Johnny Rocco’s gang. Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) is a deported gangster who is determined to make a comeback. He’s waiting for a large amount of money to be delivered. To pass the time he casually taunts the Temples and McCloud, demeans his alcoholic mistress (Claire Trevor), challenges a good cop to a rigged shoot out and kills him. All the while McCloud tries to avoid being sucked in to a confrontation. “No Johnny Rocco is worth dying for,” he says. The heat and the tension build. A hurricane crashes into the key and pounds the hotel. Rocco’s plans don’t work out and he decides to flee to Cuba, making McCloud pilot the hotel’s motor cruiser. At last McCloud acts. He takes on Rocco and his gang in a brutal, bloody shootout on the boat. Wounded, he manages to head the boat back to Key Largo and the Temples. Nora Temple is waiting for him.

When Bogart made this movie he and Robinson had seen their movie relationship do a complete turn about from the films they made together in the Thirties. Robinson no longer was the major star, but the secondary lead. Robinson pointed out later that Bogart could have thrown his weight around, but instead had insisted that Robinson receive all the courtesies and perks that he, Bogart, was getting.

One of the reasons the movie works so well, in my view, is that Bogart and Robinson, as two strong actors and personalities, balance each other out and create real tension. With both of them, you’re never sure what either might do. As far as Robinson goes, I think his performance is one of his best. He was tired of gangster roles but agreed to this one. He developed Johnny Rocco into a character who is absolutely believable as a cruel, repellant bully…a swaggerer when he’s backed up by his goons, a coward (but a dangerous one) when he’s face to face without a gun and alone with McCloud. Two scenes highlight Robinson’s great performance. Gaye Dawn, Robinson’s mistress, is an alcoholic ex-chanteuse well past her prime. She begs for a drink, but to get it he forces her to sing in front of everyone. (Claire Trevor gives a first-class performance as Dawn.) She’s pitiable and knows it, and so does everyone else. Afterward, he refuses to let her have the drink because she was so embarrassingly bad. She’s shattered. Robinson just looks at her with disgust and contempt. McCloud in this scene also shows that perhaps he’s getting to the point of making a stand. Despite Rocco’s orders that she doesn’t get a drink, McCloud suddenly walks over to the bar, pours one and hands it to her. In another scene Robinson whispers in Lauren Bacall’s ear what are most likely obscenities. We don’t hear what he’s whispering and she has to stand there and take it. And the whispering goes on and on, with Rocco grinning while he whispers.

This is one of the best of the Huston/Bogart collaborations, in my opinion, and features one of Edward G. Robinson’s best roles.