i wish i could live inside this movie.... - Key Largo (1948) Discussion

[–] heyuactor 15 years ago

I wish like that too when I watch it, gwb. Why? Glad you expressed what I hadn't quite realized mentally--the "world" they were in, the setting, the mood, the danger, the people resisting evil, Lauren Bacall, of course, the water all around, the drink Claire Trever finally got to drink (not encouraging drinking problems, just love the scene), the storm, Bogart (and Trevor!) rising to the occasion, wow. Still, what is it? Not just those elements--it's something that makes me want to watch it again and again, like "Once Upon a Time in the West", and, naturally, "Casablanca", with continual appreciation, not like most films of the last 20 years.

"I can understand it, but I don't like it none!"--Cheyenne.

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[–] georgewbinladen 15 years ago

dichotomous depictions of good and evil, heroism and cowardice, purity and corruption, and also the duality of humankind and spiritual reform in the trevor character....

restrained romantic sentiment, noble self sacrifice, all in a tropical paradise beset by a great storm....

Rain 40 days and wash these turds off my life! I pray to you God to kill these people! Free Bird!

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[–] heyuactor 15 years ago

Yeah!

"I can understand it, but I don't like it none!"--Cheyenne.

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[–] LTUM 13 years ago

i wish that too. and d@mn good points you made there

yeah there is also the TIME/ERA detail too... seeing what the keys looked like in that era. i like the old view that films offer sometimes. even though it was all shot on lot except a few views, i still get that 'travel in time' feeling of heading into a 'fantasy world' that this film offers.

another reason may be that i appreciate what florida was before the huge crowds came. like then, in the 40s, the keys must have been so quaint, desolate. there is 'something' about being stuck WAY out there in the water with minimum resources, long distances to civilization, that 'roughing it' feel they must have had on the keys back then. (and in lower florida in general, actually)

(but not roughing it so much that they didn't have phones and electric. so it was the best of both, distant with amenities)

my grandparents were both from tampa/miami in the early 1900s and they used to tell me stories of how REMOTE that area was back then, before the turnpike (and way before interstates). my grandad lived with the seminoles for a while as a kid, and hunted all over the everglades. i don't remember him mentioning the keys, buut me myself i toss them into that category with the other stories my grandad told me.

the way i see those places, and watching this film brings this out, is that it is a sort of a romanticised 'facing your mortality' serenity vibe one gets being close to nature, to the elements, and distances from cities. that is how key largo makes me feel.

and the drams and the dialogue and characters were all great too. the whole package really, is just good.

i like this movie. (and the others you named)

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behold, sublime genius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXRYA1dxP_0

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[–] nutsberryfarm 12 years ago

she does look like a good whistler.

sake happens

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[–] LTUM 13 years ago

remember that bertie higgins song? i always liked that song.

i was gonna find the youtube and post it here but THERE AINT ONE. go figure.

anyway, it is a cool song, and about the movie (kinda)

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behold, sublime genius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXRYA1dxP_0

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[–] heyuactor 13 years ago

Yes very good song.

"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.

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[–] LTUM 13 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCYVsCQSsf8

i did find this one, which has the song and a few pics of bogie and bacall.

i think it would be cool if there was one using this song with cuts from the movie. that would be cool. i can't believe nobody has done it yet! :)

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behold, sublime genius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXRYA1dxP_0

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[–] heyuactor 13 years ago

Thanks. Love it.

"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.

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[–] Ironman54 11 years ago

Your (OP) comment is has really got my head twisted tonight ! I've seen this movie I don't how many times over the past 3 - 4 decades and tonight, while watching it on TCM, for some reason I had the exact same thought. That I even had this thought is what freaked me out ...
I had to get to the bottom of it and yes, Bacall played a part for sure - the scene where shes napping on the stairs and Bogart strokes her hair and wakes her up - geeeez was she gorgeous or what ? But it wasn't this scene in particular that inspired the thought - not any scene in particular really but it was a combo. of the atmosphere, the challenge, the clear line between good and evil and the call to 'duty' to defend the good/innocent.
I searched each shot of the interior of the hotel to see if there was something so comfortably familiar - a chair, couch maybe the lighting or the combo of everything that maybe, subconsciously,brought about a feeling of being somewhere I liked in my early days. That it was in B&W ? Would I have had the same reaction if it had been shot in color ? Some war movies have had this effect on me - even ones with scenes of how uncomfortable it must have been for troops marching through downpours and mud, sleeping in a fox hole or crowded tent.
I think it comes down to that some of the best days of our lives have been when fighting for something we believe in - the struggle, the comradery etc. One feels so 'alive' in those moments. Some of my best times have been in miserable conditions.
No matter what inspired this feeling, its that I came here tonight to read comments about this movie and unexpectedly stumbled upon a post by a stranger, a comment that has little to do with the movies plot, actors, dialogue etc., but about an odd 'feeling'/thought while watching this movie - this is whats freaky !
I've heard kids say they wish they could be in the fantasy world(s) of movies like 'Harry Potter' etc., - totally understandable to hear from a kid given the environment/characters of those type of movies - but this is something totally different. One of those thoughts that seem to arise out of nowhere and makes you question 'Where the hell did that thought just come from and why did I have it ?"
Glad to see I'm not alone ....

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[–] kbarada 11 years ago

Déjà vu ironman? Sometimes that is what I feel when seeing this movie. Déjà vu may not be the precise term...but this movie evokes strong feelings of a place and time forever frozen on film that seems strangely familiar. A place and time I wish I could live in too. I get these feelings every time I watch Key Largo. Over the years, I have driven down the Keys many times and always ponder what life was like down there in the 1940s. Oh if I could have experienced it then!

This is the mark of a great movie if it can evoke feelings of this depth. I think the Twilight Zone TV series had one or two episodes addressing the desire to go back to a different time and place where the character is indeed transported back.

You are not alone in how you experience Key Largo.

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