To Have and Have Not is a movie where you can really attest that Humphrey Bogart fell in love with Lauren Bacall. While the film is considered to be just Howard Hawks’s version of Casablanca, To Have and Have Not is believed to have been adapted from Ernest Hemingway’s self-declared worst novel. Rumors circulated regarding Hawks challenging Hemingway on turning his worst writing into a movie and Hemingway turning the rights over thereafter. With the script adeptly written by Jules Furthman and William Faulkner, the film was actually one of the most fascinating works done by Bogart and Hawks. Bogart plays a boat captain who was reluctant to help the French Resistance but did so while trying to get the affection of Bacall who plays a chanteuse. Although the film’s mood is already magnificent, Hoagy Carmichael’s music takes it further.
–Tom Keogh