I had occasion to watch Key Largo, for the umpteenth time, a few days after the recent South Asian earthquake and tsunami, and it was jarring to hear Mr. Temple's description of "a wall of water" washing over an entire island (Key) and sending hundreds of bodies to a watery grave; an entire train being swept off its tracks, with miles of track ripped up; whole towns washed away; corpses found for months after the storm. Creepy.
shareITA. I just finished watching it (actually my first viewing) and couldn't believe the description "whole towns washed away".
shareI just saw it for the first time, and noticed that as well.
shareOne of the gangsters say. "A hurricane is when the ocean stands on its hind legs and walks right across the land." Perfect analogy. Great film.
I love when Bogie says that Rocco knows what he wants. Rocco says sure. Tell em Rocco. He wants more! Will ya ever get enough. Perfect dialogue.
WHY CAN'T THEY MAKE EM LIKE THIS ANYMORE????????
"Sometimes people are where they can't talk. Under 6 feet of dirt maybe...."share
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I thought the same thing--men who had come to the Keys to work on the railroad on a depression era work program were sand blasted to death during the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane. The Galveston Hurricane in 1900 was before they had established the hurricane force categories, but it was believed to have been a Cat 5 as well (8,000 deaths). Also the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded was 26.17 during Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.
Just a little more trivia from another storm buff..
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We could have quite a good storm story conversation! Camille is a "favorite" of mine as well--have you seen the pictures of Biloxi Miss, pre and post Camille? There are some amazing aerial photographs. Camille caught my imagination years ago, because that's where the first story originated aobut the "Hurricane Party" (which we know is a true story, and there was actually one survivor from that party who told the tale). Of course, there were apocrophal stories about "hurricane parties" told afterward, which may or may not have happened.
If you haven't read it, I recommend "Isaac's Storm" regarding the Galveston hurricane. It's really one of the better books about that particular storm.
It is scary to think about what could happen if/when a cat 5 hits New Orleans, shaped like a bowl as that city is..actually, if a cat 5 hit Manhattan dead on, we could be in just as much trouble..
Great swapping storm stories with you!
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I enjoy swapping storm stories with you! I went to Charleston SC for a business trip, but stayed a few days to see the sights--Hugo had left quite a scar on Charleston, and this was in 2004, many years after Hugo. I visited an old urban plantation whose outhouses had stood since the early 1800's; Hugo had destroyed one of them.
Galveston probably captures my imagination the most. The story of the orphanage on the beach haunts me. The nuns, ten of them, tied about 7-10 orphans each to their waists with rope--hoping to save some of them. Unfortunately, the little ones got bogged down in the massive debris. None of them survived. But the three orphans who were not tied to the nuns survived by hanging on to trees till the surge went down. One more thing that I found fascinating--many Galvestonians sought refuge in trees--unfortunately so did many poisonous snakes and some people who may have survived the hurricane and surge were found with snake bites on them. Good talking with you!
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Well, it didn't take long for your New Orleans prediction to come true. Let's hope that California is spared is spared.
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This would be a good time for me to rewatch this movie. Now it's about to happen yet again--making last season and this perhaps the worst two years of major Gulf of Mexico storms. Tampa, Pensacola, and pretty much the rest of Florida; Mobile; Biloxi; Bay St. Louis and Waveland; New Orleans; now, possibly, Corpus Christi and/or Houston and Galveston. In the case of New Orleans, Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola (which was briefly French), it appears that nature seems to have it in for all the major settlements of New France. My home, New Orleans, will be back, although in somewhat different form in varying degrees; but God forbid they start making movies about THIS.
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Hmmm, looks like Aaron Broussard, Jefferson Parish president, was the one with his head up his ass. Either that, or he was an opportunistic, lying SOB.
shareHurricane Wilma passed through southern Florida today, so I decided to watch Key Largo on DVD since I own a copy. This was the first time I made the connection with Lionel Barrymore's story and the labor day hurricane of 1935, and after watching the movie I came on this website and very much enjoyed reading your posts. It's amazing how such large storms can hit those tiny islands, yet they bounce right back, today just hours after Key West got blasted the sun was out and people were already getting power back and picking up. I lived in Kissimmee last year when Hurricanes Charley,Frances,and Jean ripped through and it was like nothing I ever experienced, and that was inland, I can't imagine being stuck on a tiny island and getting hit by a Cat 5.
I suppose if the film Key Largo was remade today, Johnny Rocco and his goons would not have stayed, they would have left as soon as they saw Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel checking into the hotel.
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I live in MD, so we don't have to worry too much about a hurricane threat (though we have had some loss of life in my lifetime, and lots of property damage very recently), but when the day comes that I see Jim Cantore unpacking his van, I'm packing up mine!
share2 nights ago on NHK (Japan National Broadcasting System), they had a truly frightening documentary on Indonesia's Krakatoa volcano's earthshaking explosion from 5/23/83-8/26/83 and the 120 ft tidal waves that wiped out some 40,000 people.
Of particular shock was the footage showing where the old lighthouse which stood 150 ft. tall had stood.
The documentary also pointed out how the giant waves were funneled into and amplied when they surged through a bay wiping out the whole key residential and economic hub of the area. It happened so quickly and with such ferocity that no one had a chance to run for safety. Picture a 100 ft wall of water racing past the Golden Gate Bridge and wiping out all in its path, including the Marina, Fisherman's Wharf and the Financial District.
That is what happened on 8/26/83 after the Karkatoa volacano exploded with the power of over 1000 atomic bombs.
So when I heard "whole towns washed away" yesterday when I watched Key Largo, I thought of the worst natural disaster in human recorded history-
Kakatoa.http://www.drgeorgepc.com/Vocano1883Krakatoa.html
Key Largo scenes gave me the shivers given this background
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Krakatoa was not the worst natural disaster in human recorded history. Not including pandemics (like the 1918 - 20 flu pandemic that killed tens of millions) there have been at least floods in China that killed well over 800,000 each.
sharespooky.
sake happens
Lyrics (one verse) to "MELODY COOL" by PRINCE:
"When I was born there were tidal waves,
Whole town went under, nobody saved.
At every funeral it rained,
Everytime I sang, Melody Cool."
Wonder where PRINCE got his inspiration for this song?
"OOO...I'M GON' TELL MAMA!"
I noticed something weather related as well. The police officer states that storms like the one they experienced usually happen earlier in the season. This is completely incorrect.
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