To Have and Have Not: They Really Don't Make Em Like They Used To

The two of you are going to take a beating until someone uses that phone. That means one of you is going to take a beating for nothing, and I don’t care which of you it is!

I was on the mag trainer the other day and had run out of TV DVDs to watch so I decided to pop in To Have and Have Not which I hadn't watched in ages. Everytime I do this with an old beloved classic there's always a small part of me that's afraid it won't be nearly as good as it was before. Well, you never have to worry about that too much with a Howard Hawks film, much less a Howard Hawks film with Bogey and Bacall! Man, I love this film.

Even forgetting all the usual and obvious stuff about how Bogart and Bacall are amazing together, I'm always blown away by how much more sophisticated Hawks' mis-en-scene was compared to just about anyone, past or present. That man sure knew his craft!