Filmsite Movie Review
To Have and Have Not (1944)
Pages: (1) (2) (3)
Plot Synopsis (continued)

A short time later, she glides back across the corridor to reappear in his room with the well-traveled liquor bottle as an excuse to talk. She inquires as to whether he can help her find a way to get off the island. As they both cynically assess their past histories, he reads through her helpless demeanor:

Slim: Here's that bottle again.
Steve: (He laughs) Yeah, it's gettin' to be quite a problem, isn't it? You want a drink?
Slim: Nope.
Steve: I thought you were tired and goin' to bed.
Slim: Yeah, I know, I thought so too. You gave me something to think about. You said you might be able to help me.
Steve: That's right.
Slim: But how can you do that if - Steve, are you gonna take that job with those men who were up here with Frenchie?
Steve: Yeah, if I can find what's left of 'em.
Slim: I flew over Devil's Island. It doesn't look like such a high-class resort.
Steve: Yeah, that's what I heard.
Slim: Well, I don't want to be the cause -
Steve: Look, don't you get the idea I'm doin' this just to help you. I need money too.
Slim: Won't Frenchie help you out without your having to do that?
Steve: I don't want his help.
Slim: Don't do it, will you, Steve?
Steve: Look, didn't you ask me over to -
Slim: Don't do it!
Steve: Why don't you take this bottle and go to bed?
Slim: (She pulls a wad of bills from beneath the lapel of her dress.) Here. Can you use this?
Steve: I thought you said you were broke. (He snickers harshly at her.) You're good. You're awful good. [He quotes her own words about her desire to return to the United States.] 'I'd walk home if it wasn't for all that water.'
Slim: Who was the girl, Steve?
Steve: Who was what girl?
Slim: The one who left you with such a high opinion of women? She must have been quite a gal. (She holds out the money.) You think I lied to you about this, don't you? Well, it just happens there's thirty-odd dollars here, not enough for boat fare or any other kind of fare. Just enough to be able to say no if I feel like it. And you can have it if you want it.
Steve: I'm sorry, Slim. But I still say you're awful good. And I wouldn't...
Slim: Oh, I forgot. You wouldn't take anything from anybody, would you?
Steve: That's right.

At the beginning of one of the screen's most famous seductions, Slim sits on his lap. Before kissing the seated man for the first time, she acts the aggressor role as they engage in flirtatious sexual repartee:

Slim: You know, Steve, you're not very hard to figure. Only at times. Sometimes I know exactly what you're going to say - most of the time. The other times (She sits in his lap), the other times you're just a stinker. (She plants a kiss on his lips.)
Steve: What'd you do that for?
Slim: Been wondering whether I'd like it.
Steve: What's the decision?
Slim: I don't know yet.

Her verdict of his kissing talent requires a second kiss. Then, after kissing him again, he appears baffled. She suggests to her passive partner as she stands:

It's even better when you help.

When this remark doesn't work and produce a satisfactory reaction, she propositions him midway from leaving his room with other famous lines, delivered with a purring, warm voice:

Slim: (She holds up the bills again.) Uh, sure you won't change your mind about this?
Steve: (affirmatively) Uh-huh.
Slim: This belongs to me and so do my lips. I don't see any difference.
Steve: Well, I do.
Slim: Okay. You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. (She opens his door and pauses.) You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together - and blow.

He continues to remain seated in his chair, smoking a cigarette. After she has left, he makes the sound of a cat-call whistle - and then chuckles to himself.

Morgan changes his mind and decides to let Frenchie charter his boat for an undercover mission - an offer by which he can make some money to purchase a plane ticket for Slim to return to the U.S.. In a Caribbean home where a wounded Beauclerc is being hidden, Morgan is given directions for a pick-up point where he will rescue/smuggle some passengers (one of whom is Paul De Bursac) with his cruiser later that evening. Loyal only to himself, he insists on going alone, and explains his about-face decision to aid the Resistance - solely for monetary reasons: "I need the money now. Last night I didn't."

Beauclerc: If you knew what this means to us.
Morgan: I don't want to know.
Beauclerc: I'm glad you're on our side.
Morgan: I'm not. I'm gettin' paid. Oh, and uh, by the way, I'd like that money now.

Back in the hotel's cafe, he tells Slim that he has received advance payment and accepted Gerard's mission in order to buy her a plane ticket:

Steve: I was getting you a ticket on the plane this afternoon that leaves at four. Can you make it?
Slim: Sure. You took that job, didn't you?
Steve: Uh, huh. See, I figure this way, you wouldn't get your feet wet.
Slim: Yeah, that's right.
Steve: Well, that's what you wanted, wasn't it?
Slim: Sure, but I just...You want me to go, don't you?
Steve: Yes, I want you to go.
Slim: OK, Steve.
Steve: Help her get on that plane, will you Cricket?
Cricket: I sure will, Harry.
Steve: Now I'm gonna be pretty busy from now on, so I probably won't see you again. (He caresses her hand as he places the plane ticket back to the US in her grip.) If I ever get up your way...
Slim: Yeah, do that. I'll leave my address with Frenchie so you can find me.
Steve: Maybe I'll know how to whistle by then. So long, Slim.
Slim: So long, Steve.

After he has left, she regrets having had to say goodbye: "Well, it was nice while it lasted."

A not-too-bright Eddie is explicitly told not to join him and slapped in the face by Morgan. [Later, Eddie realizes that the slap was a sign of affectionate concern: "You was thinking of me."] But sidekick Eddie doesn't heed his orders and rides along on the dangerous venture as a stowaway until he is discovered:

Eddie: (sheepishly) It's only me, Harry, it's only me...I knew you'd carry me, Harry.
Harry: If I thought you could swim back, I'd dump you overboard.
Eddie: Oh, you're no joker. You and me's got to stick together when we're in trouble.
Harry: How do you know I'm in trouble?
Eddie: Oh, you can't fool me, I always know. Where are we goin', Harry?
Harry: Eddie, what would you do if somebody shot at you?
Eddie: Shot at me, with a gun? Ha, ha. (He does a double-take.) Who's gonna shoot at me?
Harry: You're lucky nobody.
Eddie: (worried) Now Harry, where are we goin'? What are we gonna do?
Harry: I'll tell you when the time comes. For now, get out some fishing tackle. Aren't you glad you came?
Eddie: (He nods yes.) No.

Following his instructions, Morgan directs Eddie to guide his boat through the fog and dark shadows to an islet in an atmospheric rescue scene. After a signal flashes from on-shore lanterns at the rendezvous site, Morgan takes two people on-board: underground leader Paul De Bursac (Walter Molnar) and his strikingly-beautiful wife Helene (Dolores Moran). Not expecting a female on such a risky expedition, Morgan remarks: "It's your funeral." De Bursac is astonished Morgan is not part of the Free France movement:

De Bursac: You're not on our side.
Morgan: Nope.
De Bursac: I don't understand.
Morgan: I don't understand what kind of a war you guys are fightin', luggin' your wives around with ya...
Helene: (curtly) You say you're being paid for this...Then I suggest you stop talking and take us to Martinique.

On the way back to port, they are accosted by a Vichy government patrol boat. During the skirmish, the courageous Morgan daringly takes a rifle shot at the harbor boat's searchlight. Even though he has told everyone to stay down flat on the deck ("You save France, I'm gonna save my boat"), the cowardly Bursac panics, disobeys Morgan's order, stands up (to surrender to the patrol boat?) and is hit in the shoulder by one of the bullets. They make a successful flight to safety and transfer the De Bursacs to another boat for transport to shore.

When Morgan arrives back at the hotel cafe, he finds that Marie hasn't left with his proffered plane ticket. Although she had the opportunity to protect herself and leave on the morning plane, she is there singing with Cricket at the piano.

Slim: Hello, Steve.
Steve: (to Cricket) I thought you were gonna put her on the plane. (to Slim) What'sa matter, didn't it go?
Slim: Yes, it went but I decided not to.
Steve: Oh, you did. You know, I went to a lot of trouble to get you out of here.
Slim: That's why I didn't go.
Steve: Yeah. (He double-takes.) You dames. A guy goes out and breaks his neck to...well, I might have expected it.
Slim: Steve? You're not sore, are you?
Steve: Look. It would be alright if I had any dough but...
Slim: I got a refund on that ticket. Here. (She hands him a wad of bills.)
Steve: Yeah, that's gonna help a lot. You better hang on to it...
Slim: We'll be alright, Steve. I've got a job.
Steve: Doin' what?
Slim: Frenchie seems to think I can sing.
Steve: Well, it's his place.
Slim: Sometimes you make me so mad I could...
Steve: ...you could do what?

Frenchie hides the severely wounded Free Frenchman De Bursac in the cellar of the hotel, and asks Morgan to help remove the bullet from his shoulder and dress the wound to restore him back to health. Morgan reacts to the preposterous folly of their decision: "Why didn't you put him on the center table, in a goldfish bowl, and be done with it?" He is coerced to assist them when promised that his (and Marie's) overdue rent for their hotel rooms will be dismissed - although he ultimately declines their generosity and refuses their monetary offer: "I'll still owe ya that bill."

In the cellar, Helene is protective of her husband and disputes Morgan's questionable doctoring ability to care for her husband's bullet wound ("You're not a doctor"). They take an immediate dislike toward each other:

Helene: You're not to touch him, do you hear?
Morgan: Well, that's alright with me. I'm not gettin' paid.
Frenchie: Please. She does not know what she's saying. She's not herself.
Morgan: Who is she?
Frenchie: Harry, you promised.

Helene angrily persists in denying him permission to doctor her husband: "I'm not gonna let you do it...," and attempts to slap Morgan, until Slim approaches and convinces her that "he's only trying to help you."

Helene: Who are you?
Slim: Nobody, just another volunteer.

While Morgan removes the bullet under the light of an oil lantern, Helene faints while assisting with the job of administering chloroform to her husband. She falls to the floor, spilling the contents of the bottle of chloroform next to her. Slim takes over Helene's wifely duties and assists Harry as a nurse (fanning the fumes from the floor in the direction of Helene!). As Morgan carries Helene's limp body into the next room to revive her with fresher air, Slim follows and jealously snaps at him, and then jokes about chloroforming her female rival even more:

Slim: What are you trying to do, guess her weight?
Steve: She's heftier than you think. You'd better loosen her clothes.
Slim: You've been doing all right. (He begins unbuttoning her clothing, but she stops him.) Uh, maybe you'd better look after her husband.
Steve: He's not gonna run out on me.
Slim: Neither is she. Steve - is it alright if I give her a little whiff of this? (She holds up the chloroform can. He laughs.)

The next morning, the self-sacrificing Helene explains why she faithfully accompanies her husband on his dangerous travels:

Morgan: Why'd you ever come along with him on a trip like this?
Helene: I loved him. I wanted to be with him.
Morgan: That's a reason.
Helene: There's another reason. They told me to come, our people did. They said, they said no man was much good if he left someone behind in France for the Germans to find and hold.
Morgan: Makes sense.
Helene: I told him I'd only be in the way, that I could do no good, that I was afraid. But the worst of it is that it's been so hard for him to have me along, because I make him that way too. Now he's afraid.
Morgan: Well, he didn't invent it.
Helene: Invent what?
Morgan: Being afraid.
Helene: Thanks, Mr. Morgan.

She apologizes for having acted so foolishly, appreciating what he has done with his change of heart to help save her husband: "I don't think I'll be angry again with anything you say."


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