Bogey and Bacall in KEY LARGO Screening at 9pm February 26th at Webster University

“When your head says one thing and your whole life says another, your head always loses.”

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in KEY LARGO screens at Webster University Tuesday February 26th. The screening will be at 9:00 at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). A Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE. This is the third of four  This is the final film in the Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall collaborations screening at Webster in February.

Humphrey Bogart stars as retired Army Major Frank McCloud, a drifter who has traveled to Key Largo in southern Florida for a new life path and stops on the way to give condolences to the father, James Temple (Barrymore, It’s a Wonderful Life), and his widow, Nora (Bacall), of a friend who died during the Second World War. Temple runs a hotel on the island, though he is greeted most inhospitably by the hotel’s only residents, a gangster named Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) and his entourage of thugs, plus his aging alcoholic girlfriend, Gaye Dawn (Claire Trevor).

Though he doesn’t exactly like the company, McCloud decides to not get involved, as he is just passing though. In the aftermath of the end of prohibition, Rocco has been doing his thing in Cuba, making his way to the keys in a counterfeit money operation he is looking to make the drop-off on. However, once a hurricane threatens the island, they all find themselves at the mercy of the amoral gangster, and when Rocco proves himself too nasty in disposition not to stand up to.

KEY LARGO was directed and co-written by John Huston, very loosely based on a play by Maxwell Anderson. It would come to be known as the final film that Bogart and Bacall made together, their fourth. It is an interesting exploration of heroism, and in some ways a commentary on the United States’ position in the world, with its isolationist tendencies, but in reality, it is hard to sit idly by and see thugs try to cause so much trouble in the world without opposition. it’s also a story of knowing when to fight, as we see a deputy go down for not being able to control his reactions, and indeed, the dead soldier that Frank honors throughout didn’t manage to survive, always volunteering for the toughest duties. Sometimes doing the right thing at the wrong time only ends up getting you killed. Bogie fans will likely get the most mileage out of KEY LARGO, particularly those who like when he collaborates with one of his favorite cronies, like John Huston, Lauren Bacall, or Edward G. Robinson.  Claire Trevor, who plays the gangster’s once beautiful moll who has seen better days, Gaye Dawn, would go on to receive the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

$7 for the general public
$6 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools
$5 for Webster University staff and faculty

Free for Webster students with proper I.D.

Advance tickets are available from the cashier before each screening or contact the Film Series office (314-246-7525) for more options. The Film Series can only accept cash or check.