To Have and Have Not

DIRECTED BY Howard Hawks WRITTEN BY Jules Furthman, William Faulkner STARRING Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Dolores Moran Humphrey Bogart is an aimless fisherman who gets drawn into the growing French Resistance in Martinique. Lauren Bacall is the American songbird who seduces him and subsequently reawakens his sense of purpose. Ernest Hemingway’s self-described “worst” novel is gleefully translated to the screen by director Howard Hawks, who ditches most of the plot to play up the nuclear chemistry between his two leads. Sure, there’s a lot borrowed from 1942’s Casablanca, but you’d be hard-pressed to hold back a smile whenever Bacall teases Bogie or tutors him on the importance of whistling. It’s a debut performance for the ages, bolstered by the memorable tunes that Bacall sings alongside co-star/songwriter Hoagy Carmichael. Featuring a Walter Brennan character that can best be described as a “Walter Brennan type.”