Sep. 09, 2009 - Issue #725: Sex in the City 2009
Kings Of Cool
The Edmonton Film Society's fall program showcases cool guys and girls from eras long gone
Based loosely on the novel by Ernest Hemingway, it was changed just enough to keep it from saying much of anything (not that the original was any great shakes: Hemingway himself reportedly thought it was his worst novel, which didn't prevent it from getting three separate film adaptations). Very consciously made to resemble Casablanca, it features Bogey as a gruff ship's captain content to while away his time in Martinique taking tourists on fishing trips, unconcerned with, though not unaware of, the island's Free French Resistance. It is only a matter of time, of course, before his inherent decency has him helping smuggle a couple resisters onto the island, necessitating his own departure.
Most of this is window dressing, however, for the blossoming relationship between Bacall and Bogey, and thank heavens for it. Bacall's part was evidently upgraded once the chemistry between the two became apparent, and their scenes together encompass most of To Have and Have Not's charms. The dialogue is that kind of pseudo-sexual subterfuge mastered by old Hollywood writers—this script was penned by William Faulkner(!) and Jules Furthman (The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo)—and actors alike: his is the film with Bacall's now-infamous "You know how to whistle, don't ya?" line, which is made all the better by Bogart's reaction, a smile equal parts knowing and dumbfounded. That's one of maybe a half-dozen sharp exchanges, and comes at the end of a coy bickering sequence that's one of the sharpest outside romantic comedies.
The film deflates considerably when it's time to get away from all that, however, thanks in no small part to some less-welcome old Hollywood tropes: just because there aren't explosions and everyone's dressed in a suit doesn't make films like this any more substantive than today's studio filler. Walter Brennan is just painful as the hammy, drunken comic relief, and the film gives copious amounts of screen time to Bacall and Hoagy Carmichael's lounge act, which is pleasant enough, I suppose, but serves no other purpose than to showcase the both of them.
That said, "Kings of Cool," rounded out by Steve McQueen, Robert Mitchum and Paul Newman, will get quite a bit better, with films that manage to integrate star power into a sharply crafted story. Probably the best example is The Sting, George Roy Hill's Oscar-winning caper flick starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Trading heavily off the chemistry they developed in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, it follows a pair of grifters attempting to pull one over on a big-time Chicago mobster. Hill was wise to cast Newman and Redford as characters who rely on charm to get by, and it has the built-in arch and suspense of a scam; the result is something akin to Ocean's 11 (the remake) set to ragtime, the effortless screen presence of the cast only enhancing the visceral thrill of pulling the wool over the mark's eyes.
Also worth checking out are the two McQueen vehicles, Bullitt and The Great Escape. The former is a kind of proto-action film mostly notable for its infamous chase scene through the streets of San Francisco that actually holds up pretty well—something like The French Connection, in that regard—and the latter is, of course, arguably his definitive role. Like The Sting, it's an impressive marriage of actor's persona with a well-put-together story, and represents the upper limit of working cool into an interesting film. V
Mon, Sep 14 (8 pm)
To Have and Have Not
Directed by Howard Hawks
Written by Jules Furtham, William Faulkner
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall
Part of the EFS Fall Program, Kings of Cool
Royal Alberta Museum (12845 - 102 Ave), $10
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