MOVIE · 1948

Key Largo

ActionAdventureCrimeDramaThriller100 min

An ex-GI arrives at a hotel in the Florida Keys to pay respects to a fallen comrade’s family, only to find the place taken over by a gangster as a hurricane closes in. Humphrey Bogart is Frank McCloud, a war veteran caught between conscience and caution; Edward G. Robinson’s Johnny Rocco controls the lobby at gunpoint, with Lauren Bacall’s Nora Temple and her ailing father-in-law (Lionel Barrymore) trapped beside him. Claire Trevor appears as Rocco’s worn-down companion, Gaye Dawn. Directed by John Huston, the film keeps its pressure inside a single storm-battered setting, where old loyalties, postwar fatigue, and brute force are all boxed in together.