Richard Brooks (2) (1912–1992)

John Huston crafted this very fine film with the underlying theme of isolation from a play by Maxwell Anderson. The backdrop of a gangster taking over a hotel in the Florida Keys is filled with inner emotional depth rather than a lot of action, making this the most mature and realistic of romances Bogart and Bacall would have on screen.

Major Frank McCloud (Bogart) shows up at the Largo hotel in the Keys to see his war buddy's father and widow to give them some news about how George died a hero. McCloud became disillusioned while trying to save the world and has been drifting since the war in both a personal and literal sense.

Nora (Bacall) had been drifting before she met George and begins to feel this same connection to Frank as they talk about their lives since the war. There is a maturity here as Huston shows a deeper aspect to caring about someone rather than the fireworks of physical attraction. The themes of loneliness and isolation run through every aspect of this film.

Frank once again must decide whether to save the world when the Largo is taken over by fallen gangster Johnny Rocco (Robinson). Rocco was once big and despite his deportation back to Cuba by the United States government as an undesirable, plans to be big again. Frank had gone to war as an idealist, hoping to rid the world of gangsters like Rocco but now views it as a lost cause.

Nora is a reminder to Frank, however, that while your head may say one thing, your whole life can say another. As the tension of being held hostage during an approaching hurricane in the sweltering Keys intensifies, Frank slowly begins to go with his whole life rather than his head, breaking his own personal isolation from the fight he gave up. The turning point comes when Rocco humiliates his former girlfriend, Gay Dawn (Claire Trevor), by making her sing for a drink, then refusing to come across with it when she complies.

Claire Trevor gives a moving performance as a girl much like Nora who simply got hooked up with the wrong guy, and became a lush. She will have her own turning point and help Frank when he’s forced to take Rocco and his pals back to Cuba. Lionel Barrymore gives a good performance also as George’s disabled father, holding on to his son’s memory and his beliefs.

A great score by Max Steiner complements the lonely mood of this film perfectly. Bacall is terrific waiting for Frank to return against the odds, wondering if she can open the shutters of her loneliness and let the light in once more. This is a somber and mature film that deserves to be viewed more than once. Bogart and Bacall fans will love this film, but they’ll find much more here than just Bogie and Bacall. A minor masterpiece and one you need to see.… (more)

Before Richard Brooks became one of Hollywood's grittiest directors and screenwriters, he wrote a handful of novels, one of which (this one) became the great motion picture CROSSFIRE, a fine film noir which also was a landmark in the movies' treatment of anti-semitism. Brooks's novel differs considerably from the film in a number of ways, most prominently in that the victim of the central murder around which the story revolves is a homosexual in the book rather than the Jew of the movie. Brooks's novel is darker even than the movie, which is pretty dark on its own. In the book, there is a greater opportunity to explore the psyche of each character, and Brooks does so brilliantly through a technique I've not encountered before in quite this approach. Much of the story is told through the thoughts of the characters, often switching from one character's thoughts to another's and back on a single page. While murder is at the heart of the story, Brooks's interest expands beyond the melodramatics of the crime to the hearts of the people caught up in the events, with special attention paid to the crushing loneliness, ennui, and seeming meaninglessness of the lives of wartime soldiers in safe but dull stateside billets. The brick foxhole of the title describes the difficulty of serving in safety and civilized surroundings, but without the comforts of either family or the sensation that one participates in the great crusade underway in combat zones around the world. Drudgery, empty tasks, and a yearning to be where "real" soldiers are fighting a "real" war deplete the emotional reserves of several of the characters in this truly fine novel, and loneliness, rumor, and suspicion eat at the souls of the principals. Brooks is also deeply attentive to the prejudices and hate that fester among men, especially men whom the war has forced into more socially diverse situations and surroundings than they are familiar or comfortable with. Brooks writes with splendid poetry, even when the thoughts he explores are base or crude or cruel. Yet, ultimately, his story reveals a great faith in man's better angels and resolves with a thrilling suggestion that goodness, honor, loyalty, and faith in one's fellows will conquer the darkness. This is a splendid, all-too-short novel.… (more)