The Start of a Beautiful Friendship

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall started their
relationship on the set of To Have and Have Not.

To Have and Have Not (1944, Warner Bros.)

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan,
Dan Seymour, Marcel Dalio, Hoagy Carmichael,
Screenplay by Jules Furthman and William Faulkner,
from the Ernest Hemmingway novel

Directed by Howard Hawks

Seeing two people fall in love in a movie is so common that it’s completely unremarkable. But watching as their onscreen affair develops into an offscreen passion is much more rare. That’s what happens in To Have and Have Not, where veteran actor Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, in her first movie role, strike sparks that ignite a relationship that would last until his death in 1957.

The film’s genesis lies in a challenge put down by director Howard Hawks in which he boasted to writer Ernest Hemmingway that he could make a movie from Hemmingway’s worst book. They both agreed To Have and Have Not, which is set in Cuba, possessed that dubious distinction. Hawks then put author William Faulkner, who later would win a Nobel Prize and two Pulitzer Prizes, and Warners staff writer Jules Furthman to work on the script.

They moved the setting to the Caribbean island of Martinique, which was controlled by the Nazi-friendly Vichy government in France. Faulkner and Furthman also created a story that closely resembles Casablanca, the now-legendary film that made Bogart a star and continues to make money for Warner Bros. The appearance of Marcel Dalio (Frenchy), who had a small part in Casablanca, cements the connection between the two films.

Again, resistance fighters ask Bogart (Harry Morgan) to aid their cause, but Morgan sticks his neck out for no one – until he does. He battles and bests the Surete’s slippery Capt. Menard (Seymour) to win one for the good guys. There’s even a lively cafe with a piano player – Cricket (Carmichael).

But unlike in Casablanca, Bogart gets the girl, who takes the form of the feisty Marie (Bacall). From the first time we see her, when she barges into Morgan’s room for matches, to the fade out at the end, Bacall grabs nearly every scene she’s in. Watching the two actors banter and spar as they fall in love in both the fictional and real worlds is a great treat. I also found it amazing that first-timer Bacall keeps up with Bogart, which makes it seem Morgan truly has met his match.

Without the heat provided by Bogie and Bacall, To Have and Have Not would be just a derivative knockoff of another movie. Instead, it’s a fine film containing performances – and a love affair – that stand the test of time.