Bogart

[grubl]

How about a Humphrey Bogart retrospective? That would be a blast.

[Derrick]

What movies do you suggest we cover? My favorite Bogart films are:

The Maltese Falcon
All Through The Night
Across The Pacific
Action In The North Atlantic
To Have And Have Not
In A Lonely Place
Beat The Devil
The Big Sleep

And before you ask about them: I don't care for either The African Queen or Casablanca. The African Queen just flat out bores me to tears and Casablanca is all right but for the life of me I just can't fall in love with it the way everybody else does.

[Eddie Love]

While we're being heretical, the Bogie movie I find overrated is IN A LONELY PLACE, which I think has an overblown reputation. And the way you feel about CASABLANCA -- which, of course, I love -- is, I suspect, how I feel about TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, it just doesn't get to me.

[Derrick]

Oct 5, 2010 22:21:51 GMT -5 Eddie Love said:

While we're being heretical, the Bogie movie I find overrated is IN A LONELY PLACE, which I think has an overblown reputation. And the way you feel about CASABLANCA -- which, of course, I love -- is, I suspect, how I feel about TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, it just doesn't get to me.

I've noticed that most fans of CASABLANCA don't like TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, dismissing it as a knockoff of the earlier movie. I prefer TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT because the performances seem livelier to me and that Bogart/Bacall chemistry just can't be beat.

[grubl]

As far as what I'd like to see discussed, aside from your list, definitely some of the early films where he was the worse gangster to Cagney's more honorable ganster (ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, THE ROARING TWENTIES).
Plus, what I consider his finest acting - TREASUSRE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, THE PETRIFIED FOREST, HIGH SIERRA and THE CAINE MUTINY.

I agree on THE AFRICAN QUEEN. I forced myself to get through it once, but I did not enjoy it. Maybe I'll take another stab at it one day.

Derrick, you and I have discussed CASABLANCA before. It may well be my favorite film, it definitely is one of my top three. Whatever your feelings on it, I believe that it would warrant some honest commentary from the both of you in a Bogart themed show.

I do like both TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT and CASABLANCA, and the chemistry is definitely better in the former, but the latter is such a more powerful film. The only film on your list that I really don't care for is BEAT THE DEVIL. I had heard about it for years and when I finally got my hands on a copy I was severely let down. I was so bored I couldn't even tell you what it was about.

Of course THE MALTESE FALCON is incredible, as is THE BIG SLEEP.

[Derrick]

I really haven't paid much attention or even seen most of those early gangster movies Bogart did with Cagney. Have to rectify that error. Probably on either Cagney or Bogart's birthday when TCM undoubtedly will run them.

HIGH SIERRA is indeed one of Bogart's finest acting jobs and one I think is underrated. Did you know this one was remade as a western? I agree with you on the others as well.

I've come to terms with me being in the minority about CASABLANCA. If Tom and I ever do get around to doing this episode, it'll certainly be discussed as I realize that it is "The" Humphrey Bogart Movie. And regardless of how I think or feel about it, it has most assuredly earned a place in movie history.

BEAT THE DEVIL is a movie I'll cheerfully watch over CASABLANCA any day, any time. The loopy characters, the screwball plot, the daffy dialog...for me this movie works perfectly. I always like to see a Humphrey Bogart who doesn't take himself so seriously and looks like he's having fun in a movie.

IN A LONELY PLACE, like "Barton Fink" and "The Whole Wide World" is a handful of movies about writers that I think works as both as a story and as an insight into how a writer's mind works. Movies about writers are hard to do because most of what a writer does is inside his head. So how do you make a movie about an writer interesting? IN A LONELY PLACE is a great example of how to do just that.

[grubl]

I pretty much enjoyed IN A LONELY PLACE. I thought that the ending was a little bit of a cop out (apparently the brutal, more intense ending was nixed by the studio heads).

[james]

So, uh, no defense of Swing Your Lady, huh?

I kid. But before he became a star with The Maltese Falcon, Bogie acted in many Warners films in the 30s, as a contract player. He often played a heavy (as in Dead End and Angels with Dirty Faces, the best of them) but not always. Watching some of these films can open your eyes as to what a Hollywood contract player's career could be like before they became a superstar (if they ever did). Bogie isn't "Bogie" in some of these films, which makes them fascinating to watch, even if they're not very good (though Swing Your Lady is so ridiculous, it's actually kind of fun to watch). You get the idea that the Warners didn't know what they had with the guy. I guess they needed John Huston and Raoul Walsh to tell them.

The High Sierra remake is Colorado Territory, with Joel McRea and Virginia Mayo in the Bogart and Lupino roles.

James

[Derrick]

james,

No, I've never seen SWING YOUR LADY but I do recall seeing Bogart in a Western that had me on the floor in hysterics. Not because it was a comedy. It was a straight Western in which Bogart played the heavy. But he looked so uncomfortable and out of place I couldn't stop laughing every time he was on screen.

I could be mistaken but I believe that was the only Western Bogart ever did and with good reason.

[Eddie Love]

Oct 6, 2010 14:06:52 GMT -5 Derrick said:

I could be mistaken but I believe that was the only Western Bogart ever did and with good reason.

Bogie's two proper Westerns were THE OKLAHOMA KID with Cagney:



...and VIRGINIA CITY with Errol Flynn:



...although, I consider TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE essentially a Western.

[Eddie Love]

Oct 6, 2010 11:17:42 GMT -5 james said:

So, uh, no defense of Swing Your Lady, huh?

I think James is funning about an un-watchable, corn-pone comedy that Bogie played in and was, I believe, the first film where he had top-billing.

[Eddie Love]

Oct 5, 2010 23:20:29 GMT -5 Derrick said:

I've noticed that most fans of CASABLANCA don't like TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, dismissing it as a knockoff of the earlier movie. I prefer TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT because the performances seem livelier to me and that Bogart/Bacall chemistry just can't be beat.

I don't think it's a knock-off so much, as I've just found it a little dull. As I do KEY LARGO. But I'm amenable to re-consider it. As I will IN A LONELY PLACE And, I hate to be heretical again, but I just don't think Lauren Bacall is that great an actress.

The cool thing about Bogie -- unlike some other Golden Age stars -- is that a lot of his lesser movies, even if they aren't lost classics, are pretty good -- or at least he's good in them. I'm thinking of CONFLICT and THE TWO MRS CARROLLS.

[grubl]

I forgot KEY LARGO! I love KEY LARGO! That's Jay Silverheels.

[Derrick]

Eddie,

That would be THE OKLAHOMA KID that had me in hysterics. Cagney never looked right in Westerns either but he was pretty good in TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN.

And much as I love me some Bogart and Bacall (and Eddie G!) I have to agree with you about KEY LARGO. When it comes on TCM I have it on but I'm usually doing something else and just perk up and pay attention when certain scenes are on.

[james]

Oct 6, 2010 16:56:33 GMT -5 Eddie Love said:

I think James is funning about an un-watchable, corn-pone comedy that Bogie played in and was, I believe, the first film where he had top-billing.

Ummm... not entirely.

Mind you, I'm not suggesting it's a good movie...


James