Key Largo (1948)

The gangsters in this film have no trouble threatening people, roughing them up or shooting them.

But they're the cowards when Mother Nature lashes out with a violent storm. After all, how do you shoot the wind?

Former gangster kingpin Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) wants to rule the roost again in America. "Nobody was as big as Rocco," he boasts. "I'll be big again." Rocco has slipped into Key Largo, Florida by boat with a whack of counterfeit bills. He's brought his goons along including Curly (Thomas Gomez) and the menacing Toots (Harry Lewis).

The thugs have set up shop in a family-owned hotel owned by James Temple (Lionel Barrymore) with the assistance of his daughter-in-law Nora (Lauren Bacall). Her husband was killed during the Second World War. His commanding officer, Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart), travels by bus to visit. Mr. Temple wants to know about his son George's last hours. McCloud is drifting, with no firm roots.

There's trouble before McCloud even arrives at the inn. His bus is stopped by police. They're looking for two escaped prisoners likely headed back to Key Largo. "They always head for home," the bus driver advises.

Here's where director John Huston has a little more fun.

The local force is clueless when it comes to a major criminal - Rocco - in their midst, staying instead focused on two men whose crime was likely not a serious one. At one point, Sheriff Ben Wade takes a look at Rocco and suggests he looks familiar. But he doesn't remember the man he's standing behind is a serious felon.

McCloud walks into trouble. Rocco and his crew have taken over the hotel. The gangster's old girlfriend, Gaye (Claire Trevor), has turned into an alcoholic in the years that he has lived in Cuba. This woman badly needs a drink, constantly.

McCloud says he's not eager to clash with Rocco ("I fight nobody's battles but my own."), but he keeps matching wits with him in an effort to keep the others alive. Nora has caught his eye too. Everybody is forced to stay inside the inn while a violent storm rages. Rocco wants McCloud to pilot a boat back to Cuba. Certain death awaits if he accepts the assignment.

Fine performances carry this film. Key Largo (Keepcase) could have offered Lewis his finest role. Lewis, who just died on June 9, 2013, is a well-dressed hood with a menacing presence. Gomez's Curly isn't as well-built as Toots, but there's an air of menace around him too. And, how about Robinson? He's nice and cool, complete with a fan nearby, when we first meet him. But this killer works up a sweat when the lights start dimming and strong winds blow drinking glasses to the ground. He's intrigued by McCloud and how this veteran can match wits with him, the brains of the counterfeit money deal.

Trevor won an Oscar for her portrayal of Rocco's washed-up lover. The booze has dulled her good looks and killed the beautiful voice Rocco once enjoyed hearing sing. "You wouldn't know it was the same dame," Rocco notes. He doesn't beat her, but his words cut deep.

Huston and Bogart made several films together including the director's debut, The Maltese Falcon, in 1941 and The Treasure of the Sierre Madre.

Key Largo offers viewers a strong cast, great dialogue and a story that keeps you watching.

RATING: 8/10

Born to Kill (1947)

RATING: 3/10

Born to Kill is a deadly waste of time.

This 1947 film noir from director Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, West Side Story) starts with plenty of promise.

TWO GUYS, ONE GIRL, A BIG PROBLEM

Laury Palmer (Izabel Jewell) is playing two boyfriends off each other. That approach to man management turns out badly when fella No. 1, Sam Wild (Lawrence Tierney), spots Laury with fella No.2 at a casino. Sam's a bit of a loose cannon, the type of man who snaps and acts violently before he thinks.

See some symbolism here? He's wild. The three find themselves in a casino, taking their chances.

Wild murders Palmer and her other beau in a tense scene in the kitchen of the boarding house where she lives. This is Born to Kill's best scene. Wild is a brutal killer.

Helen Brent (Claire Trevor) is a short-term resident of the same building. She's in Reno to get a divorce. We don't learn much about her former better half, but we learn early on she doesn't think much of most men. They're turnips, a term this movie-goer has not heard before, suggesting they are useless or not wanted.

ON THE ROAD TO SAN FRANCSICO

Brent spotted Wild at the casino. There's more symbolism as she places bets for, and against, him as he throws the dice. She finds the two dead bodies, considers calling police, but doesn't. Brent was already due to head back to San Francisco where she lives with her very well-off foster sister, Georgia Staples (Audrey Long).

Wild's buddy, Marty Waterman (Elisha Cook, Jr.) suggests he clear out of town and head to San Francisco while he tracks the police investigation into the murders.

He and Brent meet up on the same train. There are sparks between them.

Born to Kill is a very entertaining film up to this point. But, boy, do the wheels fall off the bus quickly. I appreciate things move along a little faster on the screen than in real time, but come on. Within about five minutes of screen time Staples and Wild are married.

HEY LANDLADY, DID YOU MISS THE CLUE?

Brent still has the hots for Wild. Wild is cold to Staples. With all those romantic entanglements going on, boarding house landlady Mrs. Kraft (Esther Howard) has hired private eye Matthew Albert Arnett (Walter Slezak) to find Laury's killer. Maybe all that beer drinking has affected Mrs. Kraft's short-term memory. Laury did make mention of her physically impressive boyfriend who appeared likely to get very angry if he was double-crossed.

Born to Kill's best moments come from the supporting cast. Cook is the eager-to-help friend who has no qualms covering the tracks of a murderer, including doing some killing on his own, if needed. Howard is a weary older woman who wants justice for the young woman she admired. Slezak is a private eye with ethics that are hard to see. He's eager to look the other way for a price. "I am a man of integrity, but I'm always willing to listen to an interesting offer," he says. "Obstructing the wheels of justice is a costly affair."

OH, BROTHER

The last five minutes of Born to Kill rank as the most ludicrous 300 seconds of film I have watched in some time. I jotted "Oh, brother" in my notepad upon the first viewing. The second time around I sat slack-jawed at how silly things became.

There are many better film noirs to watch. Leave this one in the dark.

Murder, My Sweet (1944)

RATING: 8/10


Keep a notepad, and a couple of pens, handy for this film directed by Edward Dmytryk (The Caine Mutiny).


Sure, there's no cast of thousands in this 1944 effort based on a Philip Marlowe mystery by Raymond Chandler.


WHAT DID SHE SAY TO WHO AGAIN?


But this movie fan was scratching his head several times during its 95-minute running time trying to figure out who was doing what to whom.


Private eye Marlowe (Clifton Webb) is hired by a very imposing thug, Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki), who was recently sprung from jail. Eight years after last seeing her, Moose is eager to meet up again with dancer Velma Valento.


Marlowe's investigation introduces him to Lindsay Marriott (Douglas Walton), a man who has ties to the very rich Mr. Grayley (Miles Mander), his much younger and sexier wife, Helen (Claire Trevor), and Grayley's daughter Ann (Anne Shirley). Ann's not too impressed with her step-mother, but still loves her father.


WHERE'S THE JADE NECKLACE?


Take these six characters, add in savvy jewel fence Jules Amthor (Otto Kruger) and police detective Lieut. Randall (Donald Douglas) and audiences are left trying to figure out where this plot, about a stolen jade necklace worth plenty of dough, is headed.


Even with a storyline that likely needs more than one viewing to really make sense, Murder, My Sweet offers plenty of entertainment.


Malloy's first appearance on screen is one of the creepiest I've seen in some time. He's not the sharpest tool in the drawer, but he's definitely the deadliest. Marlowe repeatedly struggles with how best not to ignite Malloy's anger.


Webb makes a solid Marlowe. Some of his lines fall well short, but many are spot on.


KA-POW, WHAT A GREAT LINE


"I stir up trouble on the side," he suggests when he first meets Mr. Grayley.

Noting Ann's quite pleasing figure, Marlowe offers this gem, "I seem to remember you from one of my dreams, one of the better ones."


When she wants Marlowe to stop his investigation, he warns her sooner or later, everything that's going on is going to be known anyway. Does she want to be hurt now, or later? "Cancer doesn't stop growing because you ask it to," he tells her. "You're hanging on to something that's going to smack you."


Murdeer, My Sweet offers more than a chance to kill time. It's another great film noir for audiences who want to be challenged and enjoy a script that offers plenty of bite.

FUN FACTS: Murder, My Sweet was Anne Shirley's last film role. A child actress, she made her debut in The Hidden Woman in 1922. Shirley appeared in 68 films. She died in 1993 at age 75. Shirley married Adrian Scott, Murder, My Sweet's producer, in 1945.


Embarassed to say I didn't remember Claire Trevor appeared in John Ford's western masterpiece, Stagecoach, in 1939. She won a best supporting Oscar for Key Largo in 1949.


Mike Mazurki appeared in Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy in 1990. He died the same year that film was released.


Some day I have to watch Won Ton Ton: The Dog who Saved Hollywood. So many actors who've appeared in films I've written about, such as Mazurki, have appeared in this 1976 release.


Lindsay Marriott appeared in the 1934 version of Mutiny on the Bounty. That film is also reviewed by Reel Popcorn Junkie.


Donald Douglas appeared in 110 films between 1929 and 1945. He died that year. Douglas was 40.