just watch it!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

As one might expect from a film noir starring Humphrey Bogart, Key Largo is once again a great display of clashing morals and uses its main character as a kind of anti-hero who struggles to find those morals himself.Frank McCloud ( Humphrey Bogart ) is a WWII veteran who decided to go on visit to a hotel of the family of a friend he had in service who met his demise there. McCloud is this troubled kind of man, who struggles to see the 'Good' in life after he probably witnessed a dehumanizing experience during the war, with many of his friends presumably dying in front of him. As soon as he arrives this is further tested as he realizes gangsters have taken over the hotel who are led by Johnny Rocco ( Edward G. Robinson ). Whereas McCloud's deceased pal's father ( Lionel Barrymore ) would rather kill the gangster if he got the chance, McCloud is given the choice but refuses, stating that the world will not change with 'One Johnny Rocco more or less', and that he refuses to become a victim because of him. This makes McCloud the complex kind of anti-hero that doesn't follow typical moral codes but seeing as he went through the war, this kind of behavior is most realistic. He understands the world isn't a perfect place due to his experiences and refuses to take the fall for that fact, but near its ending his character development does indeed make him feel compelled to act and do something about Rocco, as even though he wouldn't take back the words he said when he could've shot Rocco earlier, he still feels he has to do something about him and his hoods due to his humanity still being very much intact.This is not that much of a typical Bogie film noir role, as Bogart is held a captive for most of the picture, but he still has this arrogant and self confidence you would expect from a Bogie role, and his acting brilliantly emphasizes his character. Lionel Barrymore is fantastic as the wheelchair bound father who has a enormous disdain for Johnny Rocco & his hoods. The real star has to be Edward G. Robinson however, as his performance as Rocco is excellent. His screen presence might not quite be James Cagney level, but it comes very close. Lauren Bacall is acceptable as the widow of McCloud's friend Nora & Claire Trevor is fantastic as the troubled Gaye Dawn.The true decider into creating such a classic also attributes for a large portion to the use of weather as mood changes. When McCloud arrives it is a very hot & sunny day, but after he progresses in the hotel and realizes it is being held hostage a hurricane outside turns up, which represents the 'hurricane' that is happening inside the hotel too. The hurricane also symbolizes Rocco's only fear, since he has no control over it. As McCloud says: 'You don't like it, do you Rocco, the storm? Show it your gun, why don't you? If it doesn't stop, shoot it.'. After the gangsters are gone and peace has returned to the hotel, we get a beautiful shot of Lauren Bacall opening a window which shows us that it is once again sunny outside, symbolizing that all evil has passed.The character development in McCloud is represented in the best way with him gunning down all the bad guys in the end, although this scene could have been better since it seems highly unlikely all bad guys would be dumb enough to be gunned down consecutively by one guy on a small boat, but it still provides a satisfying finale to an excellent picture.The acting is top notch, the screenplay is, as is usual in most 40s Hollywood pictures, once again fantastic. The score by Max Steiner is great & the struggling moral issues are still extremely relevant today. All this makes Key Largo an exceptional Film Noir that is a welcome addition to Hollywood's golden age.

"Key Largo" is an American 100-minute movie from 1948, so this one will have its 70th anniversary next year. At this age, it is of course a black-and-white (sound) film. It is one of the more known works from the film noir genre and also by writer and director John Huston, who scored one of his many Oscar nominations for his work here briefly before winning twice in the same year. The main character is played by the legendary Humphrey Bogart, a man returning to a hotel to talk to a fellow soldier's girl about her late love and also to meet an old friends. But he finds a great deal of trouble there as gangsters have gained control over the place. As a result of that, almost the entire film is a hostage situation and with all the trouble inside, things outside are not looking much better as a dangerous hurricane is moving closer and closer.Bogart does a solid job overall, but it is a character that is not too demanding. The biggest letdown is Bacall here though, who already married to Bogart at that point. She plays the widow and honestly the film would have been the exact same without her, maybe even better as that moment when she looks at Bogart during the song is a bit cringeworthy. Shouldn't she be mourning her man instead? In general, the film lacks shades quite a bit. The characters are either 100% good people or 100% bad people with the exception of Claire Trevor. This may also have helped her in winning her Oscar here as she plays a character who is relatively close to the gangsters' boss, but has turned into a wreck of her former self because of alcohol, smoking and gambling. The moment she sings is only a brief return to her former glory days as she really only does it to get some booze as a reward. She really is the only one with some character development as we see her beg her boss not to leave her behind, but then she quickly becomes one of the good guys at the very end. This also shows that she wasn't really evil, but just a victim of her situation. I still have to see many more 1948 films to decide if she really is the best from that year.It's either her who is the most interesting character here or Edward G. Robinson's who dreams of bringing back the old days of crime and becoming truly influential again. But it is obvious he is really only strong thanks to his gun and has nothing that makes him an even match for Bogart's character. Even his henchmen do not seem to take him seriously all the time and maybe they still are the aftermath of the old days, but you can see them drifting apart too. Maybe it is the great deal of screen time and the question if he was lead or supporting that kept Robinson here from becoming an Oscar nominee too. A bit of a pity. As for the film itself, I would not rate it as highly as it stands here on IMDb, but it was a fairly interesting and tense watch from start to finish. Definitely worth checking out for those who love the old days of Hollywood, even if they probably did already. So maybe it is actually a good start for those who want to find out if this era in filmmaking is to their liking. It's a thumbs-up and I suggest you go for it.

Dear John Huston, Key Largo was a terrific thriller which revealed the ravaged psyche of citizens and general sense of doom in post-world war 2 America. A somber ex-soldier (Bogart) visits a hotel run by his dead fellow soldier's wife (Bacall) and father. He gets entangled in their predicament as a bunch of gangsters have taken over the hotel and are waiting for a hurricane to pass so that they could take a boat to Cuba.Edward.G.Robinson steals the show as Johnny Rocco - the leader of the gang. He is helped by the fact that both Bogie and Bacall are playing extremely submissive roles. His use of face expressions and posture helps distract attention from his short and portly demeanor. Even the cinematographer and the writer seemed to be in love with the character. He gets many close ups and obviously the best lines.The film foregrounded the sweeping power of evil as it renders everyone helpless and impotent. The film might as well be an allegory for the plight of the common man during the great war. The ending establishes the self-destructive nature of evil.A fine rollicking score by Max Steiner sets the mood for a tense night in a hotel during a hurricane attack.Brian De Palma was obviously inspired by the shaving scene in Key Largo for the opening scene in The Untouchables. A group of people forced to spend time together in a confined space due to the forces of nature ..... The Hateful Eight? The fact that the film completely ignores the outdoors of Key Largo is a drawback. There are shots of a few monstrous waves. That's it.Best Regards, Pimpin.(7.5/10)

Released in 1948, John Huston's "Key Largo" is a Post-War movie. Obviously. In this suffocating behind-closed-doors thriller, the moral relics of the War sweats out the characters' pores, with the obligatory evil : Johnny Rocco, played by an exquisitely confident Edward G. Robinson, and a self-doubting good side incarnated by a former WW2 veteran: Bogart as Frank McCloud, Lionel Barrymore as the father of his ill-fated Army buddy George, and as Nora, the precocious widow, Lauren Bacall in her fourth and final co-starring with her legendary husband.Swinging between, there's Oscar-winning Clair Trevor as Rocco's moll, Gaye Dawn, desperately seeking for a last drop of alcohol, how much she drinks says a lot about the wounded past she has to conceal, something Frank, the only one to give him a drink, can relate to. A former idealist probably, Frank had to fight with the assurance that his death would have a meaning: clearing the world of its poisoning vileness and barbarity. Yet Rocco stands for everything Frank fought against and is very much alive and cynically proud of his achievement.Men like Rocco highlight the pointlessness of George's death and that's what the Film-Noir genre is about, disillusion, the same after the victory's euphoria was toned down by the uncertainty of the world's fate, at the dawn of the Atomic Age. Who could put his faith in human nature after that? "Key Largo" is one of the most quintessential film-noir. War is the prominent shadow of Frank's past and the light of hope is this visit to Florida, an escape from the pessimism inherited from the past and the certitude that George's death was the ransom for a better world, seeking the real Post-war peace, peace of mind, but the light at the end of the tunnel might be of a passing train, a train named Johnny Rocco who'd confront Frank to the very demons he's escaping from.And in the pivotal moment when Rocco dared Frank to shoot him, Frank chose to drop his gun. There would be plenty of Roccos to take his place anyway, like the War didn't deprive the world from scum or evil. For long as there will be men, there will be wicked ones, so why should the good ones die to leave room for them? That dilemma is perfectly captured by Gaye Dawn's line "Better to live a coward or die a hero", which in Frank's mind resonates as, "calculated weakness can be more resourceful than pointless bravery". There's no point in heroism if it's deemed to fail, it's as meaningless as being called a coward.If not a hero, Frank is an existential character, because his life is worthier than his cause, if only to better serve the cause. It's not the action that counts, it's the one you do according to your personal beliefs. Basically, Frank's self-preservation commanded him not to waste his life for Rocco or for the sake of peer pressure. And who could ever think of him as a coward? Whether for giving a drink, taking a few slaps (and what slaps!) and shielding Nora, Frank never acted brave, he was brave ... something he might've learned from the War, like Patton said "you don't win a war by dying for a country, but by making the other bastard die".George might've been a hero, but it was Frank smelling Florida coolest breezes and toying with Nora's beautiful hair. Life isn't an act, it's reality and reality commands to accept some bits of failure, the quintessential Hustonian theme. All Huston movies are about characters who try to escape from their inner condition but fail because they're essentially tragic. Rocco's success was Frank's failure, the living incarnation of his bitterness and anger toward the world. But being a failure is one thing but no Hustonian character is a loser, the relative quietness of Frank is only the silence before the storm, after the real one would be over.Indeed, Frank knew that he had to fight no matter what, postponing the time of the confrontation wouldn't avoid it and it's only after Rocco kills the innocent Indians (Sawyer took a chance and wasn't a 'civilian') that Frank makes up his mind. He knows killing Rocco won't change anything, but not killing him would leave a much more indelible stain in his soul. He had to act, that was his destiny as a fighter, a soldier, a man of morality who wouldn't let the killing of the two innocents get unpunished. An existential character gives a meaning to his acts, but paradoxically, believes that he's got but one destiny. He chooses what to do but most times, there's only one thing to do.And the climax conveys the fascinating paradox. Frank, now dispassionate, cold and methodical, eliminates the bad guys one by one, killing the last demon who'd ever have to torture his soul. This is the light of excitement that ignite Bogie's eyes while staring at that door from the boat's rooftop before Rocco would show his face for a last time. He knows he's going to accomplish himself once and for all and really escape from his tormented past. Escapism is another symbolic device in Huston's oeuvre, full of people trying to transcend their own condition yet their quest for freedom or success lead them to a physical or moral entrapment.There's something of Fred C. Dobbs in Frank McCloud, something of The "Night of the Iguana" in "Key Largo", people isolated and entrapped to give the word 'escape' its fullest meaning. Frank wouldn't find peace in Florida but also the peace of this soul. A hurricane is ravaging the outside, but the climate is even more dangerous in the inside. It's escapism as the quest for any trapped soul and entrapment for any soul trying to escape its condition, you've got to earn it, whether you lose or fail. "Key Largo" was Frank's key to his own salvation.