To Have and Have Not is a 1944 American romantic war adventure film directed by Howard Hawks, loosely based on Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan and Lauren Bacall; it also features Dolores Moran, Hoagy Carmichael, Sheldon Leonard, Dan Seymour, and Marcel Dalio. The plot, centered on the romance between a freelancing fisherman in Martinique and a beautiful American drifter, is complicated by the growing French resistance in Vichy France.

Hemingway and Hawks were close friends and, on a fishing trip, Hawks told Hemingway, who was reluctant to go into screenwriting, that he could make a great movie from his worst book, which Hemingway admitted was To Have and Have Not. Jules Furthman wrote the first screenplay, which, like the novel, was set in Cuba. However, later versions changed this to Martinique to avoid violating President Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy. Hawks's friend William Faulkner was the main contributor to the screenplay, including and following the revisions. Because of the contributions from both Hemingway and Faulkner, it is the only film story on which two winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature worked. Filming began on February 29, 1944, while Faulkner continued to work on the script, and ended on May 10.

The film premiered in New York City on October 11, 1944. Audience reception was generally good. Critic reviews were mixed, with many claiming the film was a remake of Casablanca (1942). Critics specifically mentioned Lauren Bacall's performance or the chemistry between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall on screen. Bogart and Bacall began an off-screen relationship during production and married in 1945, after the film's release. To Have and Have Not was one of the top 10 grossing films of 1944 and received an award from the National Board of Review.

Plot

In the summer of 1940, world-weary Harry Morgan operates a sport-fishing boat, the Queen Conch, in Fort-de-France, on the French colony of Martinique. It is not long since the fall of France and the island is under the heavy-handed control of pro-German Vichy France. Harry makes a modest living chartering out to tourists, crewed by his blithering friend Eddie.

Harry affectionately looks after Eddie, a one-time top mate reduced to a rummy by alcohol. The island is a tinderbox of dissent, harboring many people sympathetic to Free France. Harry's current charter client, Johnson, owes Harry $825. Johnson claims not to have enough ready money to square his account, but promises to get the funds when the banks open the next day.

Back at his hotel home Harry is approached by its owner, Gérard (known as "Frenchy" to English speakers), who urges Harry to help the French Resistance by smuggling some people onto the island. Harry steadfastly refuses, choosing to keep out of the current political situation. Also at the hotel, Harry first sees Marie ("Slim") Browning, a young American wanderer who has recently arrived on the plane from Rio. Seeking to avoid the advances of a drunken Johnson she volunteers a duet of "Am I Blue" with pianist Cricket and his ensemble in the hotel bar.

A keen observer, Harry notices Slim pick Johnson's pocket, and follows her to her room directly across the hall from his own. He forces her to hand over the wallet, which is found to contain $1,400 in traveler's checks and a plane ticket for early the next morning before the banks open. On returning the wallet to Johnson, Harry demands that he sign the traveler's checks to pay him immediately. Just then a shootout in front of the hotel between police and the Resistance spills over into the bar, and Johnson is killed by a stray bullet. The police take Harry, Slim, and Frenchy for questioning, seizing Johnson's wallet, Harry's passport, and his own money when he proves combative.

Back at the hotel, Gérard offers to hire the penniless Harry to transport Resistance members Paul de Bursac and his wife Hélène from a nearby islet to Martinique. Harry reluctantly accepts. A sexually charged romance has been developing between Harry and Slim, who feels Harry is starting to fall for her. Her hopes are shattered when he uses the bulk of the money he earned in transporting the fugitives to buy her a ticket back home to America on the next plane out.

Harry picks up the de Bursacs, but his boat is seen and fired upon by a navy patrol vessel. De Bursac is wounded, but Harry manages to escape and transfer his passengers to an arranged rowing boat. When he returns to the hotel, he finds Slim still there, having chosen to stay with him. The de Bursacs are hidden in the basement of the hotel; at Frenchy's request, Harry removes the bullet from Paul's shoulder. He learns the couple have come to Martinique to help a man escape from the penal colony at Devil's Island to aid the Free French. De Bursac asks for Harry's assistance in this operation, but Harry respectfully turns him down.

The police return to the hotel and reveal that they recognized Harry's boat the previous night. They also reveal that they have Eddie in custody again, this time withholding liquor from him to get him to reveal the details of the smuggling plot. Cornered in his hotel room by the Vichy authorities, Harry turns the tables, killing one and holding police captain Renard at gunpoint. He forces him to order Eddie's release and sign harbor passes. Harry, Eddie, and Slim then head together for the Queen Conch, with the intention of meeting up with Frenchy and the de Bursacs, to free the man from Devil's Island.

Cast

Humphrey Bogart as Harry "Steve" Morgan. A nearly immediate casting choice, Bogart was cast by Warner Bros in early 1943.; Walter Brennan as Eddie. Hawks met with Brennan for a pre-production conference in December 1943. Brennan's contract was loaned from Goldwyn for $2,500 per week from March to May 1944 to play Eddie. The agreement included that Brennan's name would appear 60 percent of the size of Bogart's name in the credits. Lauren Bacall as Marie "Slim" Browning. At the time of casting, Bacall was an 18-year-old model. She had appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, and was noticed by Hawks's wife, Nancy "Slim" Keith, who showed the cover photo to her husband. Hawks sought Bacall out in April 1943 and signed her for the role, her first movie appearance. In the film, Harry calls her by the nickname "Slim", and she calls him "Steve", the nicknames used between Keith and Hawks. Hawks shot her screen test with contract player John Ridgely in January 1944. Her screen test was the seduction and "whistle" scene. This scene originally written only for the screen test, but Jack L. Warner told Hawks that he needed to integrate it into the film, and so it was later adapted into the film. After the screen test, Hawks signed his first personal contract with an unknown actress with Bacall. After she turned nineteen, Hawks changed her name from Betty Perske, using a variation of her mother's maiden name "Bacal" for her new surname. Hawks had to decide whether the love interest in the film would be split between two female actresses or rest alone on Bacall. Warner Bros was uninterested in Hawks using Bacall and required Hawks to screen test some of the studio's actresses such as Dolores Moran and Georgette McKee. After the success of Bacall's screen test, however, Hawks was confident in Bacall and believed he just needed to convince Feldman, Warner, and Bogart. Bacall was offered the part in early 1944, with half of her contract belonging to Hawks, half belonging to Warner. Dolores Moran as Mme Hélène de Bursac. Ann Sheridan was considered for the part of Sylvia/Helen when her character had a larger role in the film. With the part of Sylvia/Helen smaller, Moran was cast as a more voluptuous contrast to slender Bacall. Hoagy Carmichael as Cricket. A prominent songwriter, Carmichael was discovered by Hawks at a party. This was his first credited film role. He had previously appeared in Topper. Sheldon Leonard as Lieutenant Coyo. Walter Surovy as Paul de Bursac. Marcel Dalio as Gérard (Frenchy). French actor Dalio had appeared with Bogart as Emil the Croupier in Casablanca.; Walter Sande as Johnson, Harry's inept charter client. Dan Seymour as Capitaine Renard. Seymour, who played Abdul in Casablanca, signed up to play as a Cuban revolutionary and was shocked to notice his character had been removed from the script. Instead, he was given the role of a Vichy policeman, and Hawks insisted he gain weight (he was 300 pounds at the time) as well as sport a slight French accent. Aldo Nadi as Renard's bodyguard Paul Marion as Beauclère Eugene Borden as Quartermaster Patricia Shay as Mrs. Beauclère Emmett Smith as Bartender Pat West as Bartender Cee Pee Johnson as Drummer at Bar du Zombie (uncredited)"Cee Pee Johnson at Warners with Bogart". The California Eagle. March 16, 1944. p. 13. Retrieved February 25, 2021."Jazz On the Screen: A Jazz and Blues Filmography". Library of Congress. Retrieved February 25, 2021.

Production

On a ten-day fishing trip, independent director Howard Hawks tried to persuade Ernest Hemingway to write him a script, but Hemingway was not interested in working in Hollywood. Hawks insisted he could make a film from Hemingway's "worst story". Although Hawks had a high regard for Hemingway's works in general, he considered To Have and Have Not a "bunch of junk" and told Hemingway so.Hawks telling Hemingway he could film his worst book and this one was "a bunch of junk": interview with Hawks by Joseph McBride for the Directors' Guild of America, October 21–23, 1977, private publication of the Directors' Guild, p. 21; quoted at length in Mast, p. 243.You Must Remember This (retrospective for Warner Brothers' 85th anniversary), American Masters, PBS, broadcast September 23, 2008. Hemingway and Hawks worked on the screenplay during the remainder of the fishing trip. They decided the film would not resemble the novel, but rather would tell the story of how Morgan met Marie. Marie's character was extensively altered for the film.

In May 1939, Hemingway sold the book rights to the Hughes Tool Company, with whom Hawks had connections. Hawks bought the book rights in October 1943, then sold them to Warner Bros. Pictures. Because the rights to the novel bounced between sellers, Hawks made ten times more money selling the rights than Hemingway did. On learning this, Hemingway reportedly refused to speak to Hawks for "three months". The screenplay for To Have and Have Not loosely follows the novel's first four chapters, and a few names and personality traits remain, but otherwise the film bears little resemblance to Hemingway's novel.

Writing Howard Hawks recruited Jules Furthman to work on the screenplay. Completed on October 12, 1943, the initial screenplay was 207 pages. It resembled the novel more than the final screenplay did. By the end of December, Furthman had completed a revised screenplay with sixty fewer pages. Hawks instructed Furthman to alter Marie's character to be more sultry and masculine like Marlene Dietrich. In the previous version of the script, Bacall's purse was stolen; after the revision, Bacall's character stole the purse. Much of Bacall's character was based on Hawks's wife Slim Keith. Some of her lines reportedly came directly from Keith. According to Keith, Furthman even suggested she ask for script credit. Hawks instructed Furthman to work on the final screenplay and stop writing the second version of the screenplay. The second version had Bacall as a minor character in case she proved to be poor for the role. Furthman worked on the screenplay throughout January and February 1944 and recruited Cleve F. Adams and Whitman Chambers to help him with the work. He completed it before February 14, 1944.