To Have and Have Not (film)

To Have and Have Not is a 1944 American romance-war-adventure film with elements of Film Noir directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan and Lauren Bacall in her film debut. Although it is nominally based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, the story was extensively altered for the film.

Plot

The film is set in Fort-de-France, in the French colony of Martinique, in the summer of 1940, shortly after the fall of France. The island is now controlled by pro-German Vichy France. World-weary Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart) has a small fishing-boat which he charters to tourists. Eddie (Walter Brennan) is his unofficial mate, though he's not much use due to heavy drinking. Harry is urged to help the French Resistance smuggle some people onto the island, but refuses.

At the hotel he meets Marie ("Slim") Browning (Lauren Bacall), a young American wanderer, who sings "How Little We Know" with pianist Cricket (Hoagy Carmichael) in the bar. Harry's current charter client, Johnson (Walter Sande), owes Harry $825 ($13,900 today), but Johnson says he can't pay till the bank opens the next day. Harry sees Slim pick Johnson's pocket, and forces her to give him the wallet – which contains $1,400 in traveler's cheques and a plane ticket for very early the next morning. On returning the wallet to Johnson, he demands that Johnson sign the traveler's cheques to pay him immediately. But just then, there is a shootout in front of the hotel between police and the Resistance, and Johnson is killed by a stray bullet. The police take Harry and several others for questioning, and seize Harry's passport and money.