cult film freak: howard hawks

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Written by James M. Tate / 4/14/2025 / No comments / action , ann dvorak , boris karloff , exploitation , george raft , howard hawks , karen morley , mobster , osgood perkins , paul muni , thirties , vince barnett

PAUL MUNI IN HOWARD HAWKS ORIGINAL MOB-EXPOSE 'SCARFACE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-AlF1UyZaNRyjZyxBIp2VGgdaCneEBycw9MXeYteOmrTxJxuF7hcN23-XgBqlH6HNam-4GM26FNPCOxuJFjU5sybsw53fTBOf2um2_3wBGYN_zha2qK5ximxRjJTtUNTTjAMXXRDWlzdBlcGYHzXk9QdxrIvW1FeJ4t6qMumQ9lNv5vrrGMZMFQ4T6B0L/s2320/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1320" data-original-width="2320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-AlF1UyZaNRyjZyxBIp2VGgdaCneEBycw9MXeYteOmrTxJxuF7hcN23-XgBqlH6HNam-4GM26FNPCOxuJFjU5sybsw53fTBOf2um2_3wBGYN_zha2qK5ximxRjJTtUNTTjAMXXRDWlzdBlcGYHzXk9QdxrIvW1FeJ4t6qMumQ9lNv5vrrGMZMFQ4T6B0L/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: SCARFACE Year: 1932 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>Howard Hawks' SCARFACE is like a Cliff's Notes for a book that's yet to be written... and that's not only relating to the many-decades-later remake starring Al Pacino, but something like, say, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2023/10/R20s.html">THE ROARING TWENTIES</a> where James Cagney (who had ironically starred in the previous years' inspiration <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2023/09/cagney-begins.html">THE PUBLIC ENEMY</a>) takes over a prohibition-syndicate to runs things his way, and that features a comic-relief crony... There it's Frank McHugh, here there's a bumbling, completely out-of-place Vince Barnett while <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2023/10/R20s.html">ROARING</a> tough-second Humphrey Bogart's role is played by his <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/07/DriveBelowTheHiddenRoadblock.html">THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT</a> brother, providing George Raft a resilient, slow-burn gunman that should have had far more importance and screen-time...

action, ann dvorak, boris karloff, exploitation, george raft, howard hawks, karen morley, mobster, osgood perkins, paul muni, thirties, vince barnett

PAUL MUNI IN HOWARD HAWKS ORIGINAL MOB-EXPOSE 'SCARFACE'

Title: SCARFACE Year: 1932 Rating: *** Howard Hawks' SCARFACE is like a Cliff's Notes for a book that's yet to be written... an...

HUMPHREY BOGART WITH LAUREN BACALL IN 'THE BIG SLEEP'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs4JR8kyc0_q1TlH_SucuKQDIEg7asFj0b_amfpQDYUX1Z0z0yQU9Aqd6gMngGNsAdZ4Z3IArT8REYNfWIElfnzsIwnTQ9rKMk6VNQqkO6pF1ukBUos8nowbpV6KCmDo4QW9swAfmyV5FY6BuktNu9kIrEzw9O4Vr9EEkmCSQHM2NiUIvhF-rOHqUqlwFH/s2066/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-01%20at%205.45.14%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1158" data-original-width="2066" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs4JR8kyc0_q1TlH_SucuKQDIEg7asFj0b_amfpQDYUX1Z0z0yQU9Aqd6gMngGNsAdZ4Z3IArT8REYNfWIElfnzsIwnTQ9rKMk6VNQqkO6pF1ukBUos8nowbpV6KCmDo4QW9swAfmyV5FY6BuktNu9kIrEzw9O4Vr9EEkmCSQHM2NiUIvhF-rOHqUqlwFH/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-01%20at%205.45.14%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE BIG SLEEP Year: 1946 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>One of the most important agendas director Howard Hawks had for Humphrey Bogart in THE BIG SLEEP — following his breakthrough in HIGH SIERRA followed by THE MALTESE FALCON and CASABLANCA — was to not only sustain his snowballing stardom, but to make him a ravaging sex symbol...Because every woman here wants him... needs him, even... from a sexy librarian, a sexier bookstore employee (Dorothy Malone)... and even a hot female cab driver gets his number, literally, for a possible nighttime tryst...

dorothy malone, film noir or melodrama, gumshoe, howard hawks, humphrey bogart, lauren bacall, martha vickers, mystery, raymond chandler

HUMPHREY BOGART WITH LAUREN BACALL IN 'THE BIG SLEEP'

Title: THE BIG SLEEP Year: 1946 Rating: ***1/2 One of the most important agendas director Howard Hawks had for Humphrey Bogart in THE BIG SL...

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhZF2XwOULxq2-7vzidub8EE7pMH7cPRv6rA2x1AErUbBg3aAXikZ0CC6cuDCWzJNY7FgOmbMdWw8zszro5VMZHl2junGIwcSL0dY5Kv_72AOTMgsHwasUk7EQukbSD9sSmA0lifPcua3-KaRhof90JlzE2r2zKHrtis4JwX3Qen2QPCG8y6-y7ExBhAt2/s1086/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-02%20at%204.39.07%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="557" data-original-width="1086" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhZF2XwOULxq2-7vzidub8EE7pMH7cPRv6rA2x1AErUbBg3aAXikZ0CC6cuDCWzJNY7FgOmbMdWw8zszro5VMZHl2junGIwcSL0dY5Kv_72AOTMgsHwasUk7EQukbSD9sSmA0lifPcua3-KaRhof90JlzE2r2zKHrtis4JwX3Qen2QPCG8y6-y7ExBhAt2/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-02%20at%204.39.07%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>After Lauren Bacall, in her first feature film, says her iconic line about knowing how to whistle and leaves the room, there's a closeup on American charter boat captain Harry 'Steve' Morgan played by Humphrey Bogart, where he practically looks into the camera while doing a wolf-whistle, giving a knowing grin that seems more like a contrived promotion for the lovely newcomer than part of an action thriller, very loosely based on the novel... originally a magazine serial in pulp fiction style... by Ernest Hemingway...However there are a few faithful elements, like the initial fishing trip with irate customer Walter Sande and Bogart's rummy sidekick Walter Brennan, who needs a drink every minute... only this being a movie, the score Mickey Mouses in a dated fashion (mirroring exact character movements), especially with Brennan who, despite being a pathetic lush, is the supposed comic relief in a picture with comedy as one of the genres...

action, adventure, british film noir/melodrama, ernest hemingway, forties, howard hawks, humphrey bogart, lauren bacall, walter brennan, world war II

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2 After Lauren Bacall, in her first feature film, says her iconic line about knowing how...

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyv0bdkGN9c-s0gfaK8RFtd3-wKhzbexrosInBzzSVguqi4ELUkqLgjmAtYi1H2zfM1zsaOCwL2P8HTohdVykfoHscZBxJm47rO5uEOMaYWURCfz06tyg2_0ZrjDFc1s8JR_7W1h_pVeCkm-4kpOnoGVsE82UzY_ZEgYPsbBPzD2YKb5N874uW_7e-OALd/s1558/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-05%20at%206.55.14%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1558" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyv0bdkGN9c-s0gfaK8RFtd3-wKhzbexrosInBzzSVguqi4ELUkqLgjmAtYi1H2zfM1zsaOCwL2P8HTohdVykfoHscZBxJm47rO5uEOMaYWURCfz06tyg2_0ZrjDFc1s8JR_7W1h_pVeCkm-4kpOnoGVsE82UzY_ZEgYPsbBPzD2YKb5N874uW_7e-OALd/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-05%20at%206.55.14%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Director: Howard Hawks Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Energetic, adventurous melodrama, which might evoke a great sense of
 CASABLANCA deja vu with the same basic premise: tough and independent 
Humphrey Bogart helps a group of foreign patriots for money, meeting 
within a smoky piano bar, and eventually comes
 around to the cause... Only the characters are based on the
Ernest Hemingway novel, changing the location from Cuba to France as 
Bogart's Harry Morgan, a boat-for-hire fishing guide, gets reluctantly 
involved in 
smuggling two important people with the help of sultry siren Lauren
 Bacall and his alcoholic shipmate Eddy (Walter
 Brennan) as most of the film eventually narrows into one setting: although this 
hotel has a tavern area and many rooms, each providing Bogart ample time
 to outwit the local authorities whilst falling for Bacall and keeping 
his rummy sidekick alive.

adventure, film noir or melodrama, forties, howard hawks, humphrey bogart, lauren bacall, walter brennan

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Director: Howard Hawks Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2 Energetic, adventurous melodrama, which might evoke a great sen...

DIRECTOR HOWARD HAWKS RACE CAR MELODRAMA 'RED LINE 7000'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq9V5GMj1RxNxuAEtrhtaEPtQtPZzpmjRRPqfuoMDuWg0wT-Oc5dyeC_M7MD21iNop97kbBHRME2504k3aKm4fmh9cJXiocQYoCX4sUv7r8kmSMPRc4BmS0GkmuM0c3cqKFkIXdnf3C4aUNJvpOSnFyF6BEEVwpoHl-KEFrdUs0O4p8i9jo5UG2fp_9VDv/s1656/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-24%20at%209.42.16%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="725" data-original-width="1656" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq9V5GMj1RxNxuAEtrhtaEPtQtPZzpmjRRPqfuoMDuWg0wT-Oc5dyeC_M7MD21iNop97kbBHRME2504k3aKm4fmh9cJXiocQYoCX4sUv7r8kmSMPRc4BmS0GkmuM0c3cqKFkIXdnf3C4aUNJvpOSnFyF6BEEVwpoHl-KEFrdUs0O4p8i9jo5UG2fp_9VDv/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-24%20at%209.42.16%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: RED LINE 7000 Stars: James Caan Director: Howard Hawks Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>One of the strangest race car movies of all time is also the most grounded, deliberately mundane, and, directed by an old Howard Hawks starring a young James Caan (right before shooting EL DORADO), it's well worth both watching and re-watching since there's so much going on... yet hardly on the actual racetrack...In which Caan's one of several racers though mostly holed-up at a Holiday Inn and partaking in various affairs while driving for Norman Aldan, whose pretty tomboy sister Laura Devon winds up quickly bedded with the film's buried lead in muscular drone John Robert Crawford, whose rushed backstory of a farm boy wanting to be the fastest takes away from an against-the-odds story that should have been Caan's instead...