At least we'll always have Key Largo

Key Largo, the last of the films that real-life couple Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made together, is filled with suspense from beginning to end. Bogart plays Frank McCloud, a man who has come to visit the family of a dead war buddy on a small island in the Florida Keys, where his widow Nora Temple (Bacall) and her wheelchair-bound father-in-law run a hotel.

Bogart's visit to the deserted place is heralded by some suspicious men and a loud lush, who at first try to deter him from meeting with his friend's family. After making the acquaintance of Temple and her father-in-law (Lionel Barrymore) McCloud is invited to stay the night. Before it's over, he discovers the other guests at the hotel are a gang led by former mobster Johnny Rocco (gangster extraordinaire Edward G. Robinson).

The story has several subplots. There's a giant hurricane coming, and the last one took out several homes. McCloud's buddy was a war hero, and his memory forces McCloud and Nora to suppress their growing feelings for one another. To complicate matters further, the local police are searching for some Native Americans who've escaped from jail.

While these all tie well into the original story, Key Largo's most compelling aspect is McCloud, who struggles to find himself after a war that lost him his best friend and cost him the security he once had in life. These are the conflicts that determine the outset of the story.

Once the hurricane has passed and Rocco gets the shipment he was waiting for, he finds out that the boat and crew he sailed in with abandoned him during the storm. His only means of escape is taking the hotel owner's boat and Bogart to sail it.

Key Largo is a wonderful Hollywood classic. This didn't use a bunch of fancy fight scenes, rather; it's about smarts. Sure, they all have guns, but this plot is much more psychological; in the end, it comes down to whom can outwit whom.

Each of the characters in this film is a fun stereotype to watch. There's the hero who must find it in his heart to see beyond his personal burdens and save the day; the beautiful, emotionally conflicted and defenseless heroine; the older good guy, too injured to be of any use; the classic bad guy who is so bad he's cruel even to those who are loyal to him; and the assorted henchmen who follow their leader because they are either too scared or too stupid to consider other possibilities.

Key Largo [HTML_REMOVED]opens Friday at The Grand Illusion on 50th and the Ave. and will be screened until Dec. 14. For show times, visit [HTML_REMOVED]www.grandillusioncinema.org[HTML_REMOVED].[HTML_REMOVED]

Reach Intermission reporter Rebecca Bale at rebeccabale@thedaily.washington.edu.