Load of rubbish!!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

An underrated flick in the Garfield canon. His charter boat captain, Morgan, may not be very likable, but the actor makes him a compelling tough guy. So, how's Morgan going to pay his debts and keep his charter boat. It's a struggle, especially when wheedling deal-maker Duncan (Ford) keeps tempting him with illegal transporting. It's really a battle for Morgan's soul though he doesn't realize it. On one hand there's faithful wife Lucy (Thaxter) and two small daughters, along with deck hand Park (Hernandez) depending on him for support. On the other, is smoothy Duncan, sultry temptress Leona (Neal), and an array of criminal types offering him money for illegal services. Trouble is Morgan loves both Lucy and his boat, so will he stay honest and get a new livelihood, or will he succumb to seductive overtures from Duncan and turn criminal boat captain. Garfield's Morgan is not a nice guy, so the outcome is uncertain. Every other word is a smart-alecky remark, and though he loves wife Lucy and the two little girls, he seems to forget them when obsessing about his boat. Clearly, his ego is tied up with being a captain.It's a perfect Garfield role, and he gives no quarter. At the same time, Thaxter works wonders as the sympathetic wife without getting smarmy, a really difficult role. And shouldn't overlook Neal whose grinning blonde temptress resembles a figure from perhaps the lower regions. Then too, inclusion of Black actor Hernandez was a bold one for 1950 when Black actors were still mostly servants or comic relief. Moreover, his inclusion results indirectly in one of the most brilliantly poignant final scenes in film annals. I get the feeling the writers were doing their best to avoid a typical Hollywood ending, which was still the norm. All in all, the movie deserves a ranking just below Garfield's celebrated Force of Evil (1948) as a study in self-realization. Please, TCM, revive the flick whenever you can.

John Garfield's penultimate film was a more faithful adaption of Hemingway's minor novel To Have And Have Not yet ironically the original title had to be changed for reasons that elude me as I have always believed that titles cannot be copyrighted. Be that as it may Garfield turns in a fine performance as Harry Morgan, married this time around and sailing out of California rather than Havana. Phyllis Thaxter is excellent as his world-weary wife and Patrica Neal's whore in all but name complements her perfectly and gets the lion's share of the one-liners. Wallace Ford is suitably oily as the architect of all Morgan's troubles and Juan Hernandez lends sterling support as Morgan's crew-cum-friend.

***SPOILERS*** Fishing boat Captain Harry Morgan, John Garfield, reaches his breaking point when all the pressures of keeping his prized possession-his boat-drive him to commit a robbery at the Santa Anita Racetrack. After being involved in a Chinese smuggling operation in order to be able to get back to the US from Mexico after his two fishing customers Hannagan & his moll Lona Charles, Ralph Dumke & Patrica Neal, stiffed him Capt.Morgan, or Cappy as he likes to be called, ends up killing his pre arranged, on his boat, contact Mr. Sing, Victor Sin Yung. That's after Mr. Sing pulled a piece, or gun, on Cappy when he refused to pay him his shipping free or $200.00 a head for each of smuggled 8 Chinamen that he promised Sing to sneak into the USA.Now back in L.A with a possible murder rap, the killing of Mr. Sing, facing him the dispossession of his fishing boat for non payments is the very last thing that Cappy has to worry about. It's the sleazy and oily F.R Duncan, Wallace Ford ,who got Cappy involved with Mr. Sing & the 8 Chinamen who's now blackmails him into getting involved in a race track robbery planned by the notorious Danny & his Boys headed by Danny, Guy Thomajan, himself. Danny wants Cappy ,on his fishing boat, to be the gangs getaway driver after the robbery is pulled off. What's even worse if that's at all possible is that Cappy's old lady Lucy, Phyllis Thaxter, is threatening to leave him an take the kids along with her if he doesn't stop running around with the blond & sexy Lona who in fact Cappy really has no interest in! Lucy gets so jealous of Lona and her supposed attraction to her hubby Cappy Morgan that she dyes her dark hair blond, to the shock and dislike of her two young daughters, just to impress him!Painting himself into a corner Cappy reluctantly goes along with Danny & his Boys plans to knock off the race track but has an ace, or a pair of .38's, up his sleeve if anything goes wrong. Like Danny knocking him off when he gets the job done by sailing him and his boys to the safety of Catalina island. As for the that lowlife and back stabbing F.R Duncan he gets his at the race track when trying to outrun the police and make it together with Danny a& Co. to the L.A pier he's shot in the back by racetrack security guards. That all happens while Duncan offers no resistance to the cops or security guards who shot him! Which is a big was a no-no to the then Hayes Commission, a good guy never shoots a bad guy in the back, back in those days but in him being the slime-ball that he was the Hayes Commission must have overlooked it.***SPOILER*** wild shoot-out on Cappy's boat the "Sea Queen" by Danny & the Boys after they offed Cappy's first mate and good friend Wesley Park, Juano Hernamdez, and left him there to rot before dumping him, with Cappy's help, into the Pacific Ocean. Cappy knowing that his fate would be the same as Wesley's got his chance,in checking the boats motor,to pull out his hidden .38's and blow the whole murderous bunch,Danny & the Boys, away. But not after being plugged a good number of times himself by them that in the end Cappy had to have his right, and good, arm amputated in order for him to survive! Survive to start a new life as the manager at his wife Lucy's brother's lettuce farm outside Salinas California.P.S Very emotional scene at the very end of the movie when we see a distraught confused and worried young Joseph Park, Juan Hernandez, all alone on the pier as all the attention swirls around Cappy in his heroic acts in the movie. No one and I mean no one bothered to tell Joseph the fate of his dad Westly who was shot and thrown overboard by Danny & the Boys. But on second thought since Joseph's dad was deep sixth and by then very probably shark bait no one on shore really knew what happened to him.

Garfield is the owner of a charter boat, The Sea Queen, and is having financial problems. His boat is taken from him and he has to support his wife and kids. So far, so Hemingway, more or less.It's not very Hemingwayish thereafter, although that doesn't matter much. Howard Hawks' "To Have And Have Not," was based on the same short novel as this film but didn't stick to the novel's plot either. Why should they? Who wants to watch movies about a one-armed fisherman who gets killed at the end? Garfield agrees to rent his boat for use in a getaway by some big-time robbers. He plans to capture them all and collect the reward that will get him out of hot water. But the thieves scramble aboard at an awkward moment and must shoot Garfield's buddy and helpmate, Juano Hernandez.The angry Garfield takes the boat to sea pursued by the Coast Guard, which plays the role in this movie that the stern and uncooperative cops play in most noirs. There follows an exuberant shoot out along the lines of "Key Largo." The performances are okay. Garfield is Garfield. Phyllis Thaxter -- I don't know. She's a little elegant for the part of the dutiful, loving, proletarian housewife. She was a judge's daughter, after all. Patricia Neal, a fine actress, is not essential to the story and is made up and garbed in an ungainly way. The gangsters are stereotypically nasty in their looks and behavior.The final gun fight is excitingly staged by the seasoned director Michael Curtiz and the set is mounted on gimbals that give the illusion of a small boat at sea -- a nice touch -- with hanging objects swinging from their hooks and deck chairs pivoting wildly on their stands. Another nice touch, not too sentimental: when the Sea Queen is towed back into port and the bodies removed and Garfield is taken to the hospital, the crowd on the pier disperses while some cop waves his hands and goes through the familiar routine -- "Move along. Nothing to see here." The pier quickly empties and in that desolate silence only one small figure is left in long shot -- Hernando's little boy, looking around, wondering where his father might be, not knowing that he's been murdered and his body dumped at sea.