MovieChat Forums > To Have and Have Not (1945) Discussion > Bacall: Simply at her best and most beau...

Bacall: Simply at her best and most beautiful.

posted 12 years ago by Funky12345
3 replies | jump to latest

This is one of those movies I like more and more the more I watch it and it is mainly because of Lauren Bacall! It's hard to believe this was her first film because she dominated the scenes over heavyweights like Bogie and Walter Brennan. She was completely in character. Not to mention how beautiful she was! I've seen other films of hers, but she was at her most beautiful in this one. Simply put, this was her film.

Jesus is coming. Look busy.

[–] Studman_Productions 12 years ago

can't believe she was only 20!

[–] tieman64 11 years ago

This was also probably her best collaboration with Bogart. They'd star together again in The Big Sleep (also directed by Hawks), Key Largo and The Dark Passage, but she gets more screen time with him here.

"Rape is no laughing matter. Unless you're raping a clown."

[–] tehck 11 years ago

Actually, I think she and Bogart shot 'The Big Sleep' before this, but its release was held up for some reason. Then 'To Have and Have Not' was released, and Bacall made made a huge splash, so they went back and reshot some existing scenes and added some new ones to 'The Big Sleep' to enhance the romantic angle between Bogart an Bacall and foreground Bacall even more. Most disc versions of 'The Big Sleep' have the original and the final theatrical version. Ironically, the original version makes more sense as they dropped scenes in the final version that expained how and why some stuff was happening.

So, 'To Have and Have Not' was the second major film Bacall worked on (with Bogart) but the first released.