Key Largo is a film noir starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson, Lionel Barrymore, Claire Trevor, Thomas Gomez, Harry Lewis, John Rodney, and Monte Blue.
Frank McCloud (Bogart) is a drifter and WWII vet who comes to Key Largo to look in on Nora (Bacall), the widow of a war buddy. She and her father James (Barrymore) run a hotel on the Key. It's closed for the season, but when Frank arrives he finds a group of people - several tough-looking men and a really drunk woman (Trevor), who are, in a word, hostile. Eventually James finds him and he sits down and talks with him and Nora, and that's all fine...but then the phone rings and one of the tough men, Curly (Gomez) answers and claims neither James nor Nora is there. When Frank protests, the men hold them all at gunpoint.
Turns out those toughs work for Johnny Rocco (Robinson), a Chicago gangster who was deported and recently returned to the States. They're waiting on a "shipment" from another gangster, but then a couple of complications arise: For one thing, the sheriff (Blue) and his hunky deputy (Rodney) are looking for a pair of Seminole brothers (Jay Silverheels and Rodd Redwing) on the run from the law. For another, there's a goddamn hurricane bearing down on them.
The rest of the movie is the tension building between Rocco and his gangsters, James and Nora, and Frank trying to avoid following his instinct to protect people (and get shot for his trouble). Deputy Sawyer gets shot and dumped in the ocean, but washes up in the swamp and the Sheriff winds up shooting the two fugitives dead because he knows nothing of the situation. Frank winds up going out on a boat with the gangsters, ostensibly to Cuba, but manages to get the jump on them and kill them all before heading back.
The best part of the movie is absolutely the middle; we get to see Robinson trying to be the big tough gangster, used to getting whatever he wants and intimidating everyone around him, utterly unravel in the face of something he can do nothing about (that would the hurricane). Likewise, Claire Trevor's portrayal of Gaye as the alcoholic moll trying to stand up to Rocco but failing because she's getting the shakes is heartbreaking (and she won an Oscar, so that's cool). And, of course, Bogie and Bacall are always gifted performers and their chemistry is fantastic.
If I have a complaint, it's that the ending (Frank killing the gangsters and heading back to Florida with only a minor case of "getting shot") seems out of step with the rest of the movie. I don't object to him killing the gangsters, but even him calling in for help and then fixing the wheel to keep him pointed back toward Florida and then leaving his fate uncertain would have been more in-tone than the triumphant ending we did get. In the scheme of things it's a minor issue, though. It's good noir, reminds me a little of Albino Alligator, actually (that's much darker, of course).
My Grade: A-
Rewatch Value: Medium
Next up: Minority Report
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