Just wondering why this movie is not on the top 250. This is probably one of the best films ever made.
And will probably never be another movie like this made today do to the lack of talent actors that hollywood is hiring on today.
Anyway we need more votes lets get this movie where it belongs, it should be right next to the Godfather in the top 250.
You're absolutely right. This is the best collaboration of the Huston/Bogart films and also the most under-rated of them. I find "The Maltese Falcon" to be over-rated and unrealistic in it's portrayal of gangsters and "The treasure of Sierra Madre" to have a great start and potential but turned out to be a morallity tale.
To my opinion, Key Largo along with The Asphalt Jungle, are the two best of John Huston's and both should be on Top 250.
Out of curiosity, I compared Key Largo's vote tallies with those of Planet of the Apes (1968), which is currently listed at #250. Key Largo has slightly better results:
Key Largo % Rating Planet of the Apes
18.9% 10 18.4%
18.9% 9 19.1%
30.7% 8 28.9%
19.1% 7 18.1%
7.3% 6 7.5%
3.2% 5 3.3%
0.7% 4 1.6%
0.4% 3 1.0%
0.3% 2 0.6%
0.5% 1 1.5%
8.0. Arithmetic mean 7.9
8 Median 8
Not sure why it's not on the list. It definitely belongs there - and higher than #250. The writing, acting, directing and cinematography are all phenomenal.
I think there is some sort of minimum requirement of votes for it to be considered for the top 250, so more people (about 20,000) need to see it and vote for it.
share>I think there is some sort of minimum requirement of votes for it to be considered for the top 250, so more people (about 20,000) need to see it and vote for it.
Actually, the current number of votes required is only 1300. But they have to be from "regular voters," whatever that means. Registered voters, perhaps?
Regular voters literally just means people whom use the site quite often i assume, but there is more weight on those whom are in the top 1000 voters. That may be why.
Top 5 films:Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Samurai Rebellion, A Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove
I disagree.
1) the setting is very contrived
2) the characters are all cliches
3) the dialog is stilted and unrealistic
It was good, but not great.
"1) the setting is very contrived"
---Do you think this is more "contrived" than any other great work of storytelling? My point, I guess, is that a lot of movies in the top 250 and a lot of great works of art, have equally "contrived" circumstances.
"2) the characters are all cliches"
---All? The gangsters, yes, and the failed singer/alcoholic, too. Yet, I can't really place Bogart as a cliche because he's not the traditional "drifter" nor any form of archtypal "ex-military man," nor anything else I can think of. Personally, I find the Bogart of Marlowe/Spade/Casablanca fame more cliched, and this was sort of refreshing.
"Always look on the bright side of life. Do do. Do do do do do do."
Thanks for saying it. A great movie, yes. Top 250, probably not.
Great for the main actors, thumbs down for cinematography, relatively cliche characters (not all and not throughout).
To me, it has 'hooks', it is not smooth like The Big Sleep that exposes one single line of intertwined and hard to follow strings; and yet 'streaming'.
Key Largo to me is a number of nice, well-acted scenes played by great actors, sewn together.
yeah, IMO very good but not great. out of all the 'big' huston film noirs, it was the one that most disapointed me.
id argue that asphalt jungle should get in before key largo, its an extremely underrated film noir masterpiece.
This movie was great, not good.
I need to vote 19,999 more times.
With all of the crap that so many fanboys vote to include on that list, they need more classic movies on there! This certainly deserves to be on there. It seems like every recent movie that comes out with a strong fan base some how finds its way onto that list. Top 250 is bull!
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I'm just curious here but does someone honestly feel top 250 list is THAT special? Do you seriously think it would be perfect if only "Key Largo" was in it? If not, why bother? What does it say about the credibility of the imdb's top 250 that at this very moment "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire strikes back" is in the top 10? Do I have to say more? Or does someone actually think it's one of the ten greatest cinematic masterpieces of all times? We are all individuals so what if we instead make our own top 250 lists and include "Key Largo" in them?
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Don't know, or much care, about anybody's else's list. I don't agree that this is in the top rank of films. As I say in another thread, the relationship between Bogie and Bacall is underdeveloped and not very interesting in this movie. The rest of the movie is not compelling enough for me without that.
Key Largo is a movie for grownups, so that automatically elevates it above 'The Empire Strikes Back' in my book.
Top 20 I would put it.
Firmly.
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"Key Largo is a movie for grownups, so that automatically elevates it above 'The Empire Strikes Back' in my book."
Does it really? Then I feel sorry for you.
SPOILER Good, not great. The characters and acting are a bit contrived, Barrymore and Bogart talk with unrealistic boldness while held at gunpoint, and Bogart's boat takeover while outnumbered five to one seems unrealistic. Casablanca, Maltese Falcon, Harder they Fall, and Big Sleep seem like better Bogie flicks.
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This film is average. Good maybe even great when you consider it's contemporaries, but it doesn't quite stand the test of time. Unlike, The Maltese Falcon, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, The Treasure of the Sierre Madre and so on and so forth.
"And the fool replied, "I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty."
I'll have to agree with some of the other posters who aren't quite as enthusiastic about this film. Don't get me wrong, it's a good film, some commendable performances throughout, but as it has been pointed out already, most of the characters are cliche', and the story isn't that spectacular or epic, nor all that memorable. It's basically a gangster story, and any attempt to make it much more than that is either nostalgia or simply the time that it came out in. Sure it has a strong cast, but as we all know a movie is only as strong as its story, and as far as that goes it's above average but not legendary or grand by any means. The cinematography was good, but definitely not to the extent that one of the other posters made it out to be.
Movies like this tend to be over-hyped because its period in Hollywood history. There are plenty films that pull this type of plot off much better than this one.
Also, why do people put so much stock into the top 250 list as if it's some sort of holy grail? It's not, it's just another list that's arbitrarily rated by random movie fans. It's subjective and will differ from person to person and critic to critic, from one nation to the next and there are so many factors that influence people's opinions from every background so it's rather ludicrous to say that this movie HAS to be in the top 250, here or anywhere else. As long as it's one of the best movies that YOU'VE seen, then that's all that matters at the end of the day.
Objectively, this movie succeeds at what it set out to do, but overall the elements weren't anything mindblowing. As far as Bogart movies go, 'Casablanca' has a much better story, far more complex writing and moving performances, and 'The Maltese Falcon' remains a classic mystery film. It's easy to see the differences in quality, but of course these films belong in different categories so it's not really fair to compare them simply because they're Bogart films, although out of his films, subjectively I found 'Casablanca' and 'The Maltese Falcon' as the best of his career, while 'The Big Sleep' was way over-hyped even though it has excellent performances, I dislike films with major plot holes and that is a well-known issue with the latter film.
There can be only one! -Conner Macleodshare
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Just wondering, respectfully, whether the characters were cliche in 1948, or are some of you looking at the film from the perspective of 60 years' hindsight?
For what it's worth, this is my favourite of Bogart's films and firmly in my top 10 overall. The IMDb Top 250 is something I rarely look at, to be honest, because it's unnaturally skewed towards new releases.
I think this movie is getting a lot of credit simply for being old. People want to like old things. There is less discrimination.
In fact it is full of flaws, contrivances, moments of comically bad acting.
5.5 out of 10. Since I have to round off for imdb, I'll give it a 6, rounding up out of sympathy because it's old.
Definately agree with you OP. An underrated film
Any movie with Bogart, EGR and Huston surely is quality and this one is no different to that.
Just gotta hope it gets good votes and one day itll break in there.
I very much agree with Macleod_Conner's comments about the IMDb 250 and what is important to whom & why. VERY well said.