Trafiquants d'armes à Cuba

Ernest Hemingway's classic short story To Have And Have Not gets yet another remake, an independent production for Seven Arts that stars Audie Murphy taking the place Humphrey Bogart and John Garfield as Hemingway's iconoclastic fisherman/charter boat skipper.

No Lauren Bacall like slinky low voiced siren to take our hero's mind off business. In fact Murphy is happily married to Patricia Owens. But while he has a happy home life he owes some big money around Key West. His boat isn't even completely paid for and the bank is breathing down his neck.

Eddie Albert maybe the answer to his financial prayers. He wants to charter Murphy's boat for mysterious reasons for a trip to Cuba and remember this is 1958 and the Cuban government is rightly suspicious of strangers without proper clearance going to their island. In fact Albert is a gunrunner looking to sell to revolutionaries at a nice profit.

The film takes no political sides as to whether it favors the Batista government or the Castro revolutionaries. All you gradually learn along with Murphy is that Albert is one ruthless individual and quite the user.

Director Don Siegel shot this film on location in Newport Beach, California, curiously enough exactly where Michael Curtiz shot The Breaking Point, John Garfield's film of this story. Bogart's was done on the Warner Brothers back lot, none of them got anywhere near Papa Hemingway's beloved Caribbean waters. Siegel did keep the action going at a good clip.

Audie Murphy showed a bit of versatility here as an actor, taking a break from the B westerns he was doing at Universal. But Eddie Albert who when he does play a villain does remarkably well as he did in The Longest Yard and Attack. One never thinks of him that way, his image is forever fixed with Green Acres, but he was a favorite of mine and his range never ceased to amaze me.

The Gun Runners is your average B picture film about a controversial political issue in which it takes absolutely no sides.

I picked this movie out because Don Siegel never produces garbage in fact it is almost guaranteed quality what ever the budget...and this movie has a B grade budget.

Audie Murphy and Eddie Albert star in this 1958 rendition of Hemingway's To Have and Have Not. It is an intelligent well filmed maritime adventure. Eddie Murphy is superb as the charming villain--I have never seen a better one. Audie Murphy is boyishly handsome and earnest as the hard up boat captain.

Well worth the watch. No politically correct baggage or tiresome social messages just action and gun running to Cuba.

RECOMMEND

It puzzles me why producer Clarence Greene and Seven Arts thought the public would go for yet another re-telling of Hemingway's "To Have and Have Not" when both the Bogart-Bacall and Garfield-Neal versions are so widely regarded as definitive. But here it is, and I must admit that Mainwaring and Monash have added a few more suspenseful wrinkles to the screenplay and that Audie Murphy does surprisingly well by the Bogart-Garfield role. The other players are equally adept, particularly Eddie Albert as the chillingly convincing heavy and the lovely Gita Hall (in the first of only two movies, alas). And it's always good to see players like Richard Jaeckel, Herb Vigran and Jack Elam in roles that allow them to display their talents.

Beautifully photographed by Hal Mohr on actual Key West locations, the movie also gives director Don Siegel some splendid action opportunities which he handles in his usual dramatic style, although the climax itself seems somewhat truncated by comparison with the preceding versions.

The Gun Runners is directed by Don Siegel and adapted to screenplay by Daniel Mainwaring and Paul Monash from the Ernest Hemmingway novel, "To Have and Have Not". It stars Audie Murphy, Eddie Albert, Patricia Owens, Everett Sloane, Richard Jaeckel, Paul Birch and Jack Elam. Music is by Leith Stevens and cinematography by Hal Mohr.

It's The Cuban Revolution and boat owner Sam Martin (Murphy) finds himself unwittingly mixed up in gun running...

The Hemmingway novel had already been adapted with considerable success twice previously (To Have and Have Not (1944)/The Breaking Point (1950)), so why another variant on the source was commissioned is a bit of a mystery. As it happens, it's no dead loss without pulling up any trees.

Thematic heart comes by way of Sam Martin's moral compass, which is jarred when he learns he is quite simply in over his head. With an adoring wife at home (Owens) and his alcoholic best friend in tow (Sloane as usual good value), the human interest factor is above average. Albert gives quality villainy, with henchmen by his side, and the pic stands out for the moments of violence that take one by surprise.

There's some poor back projection work, but this is offset by some lovely location photography, with Mohr (Phantom of the Opera/The Lost Moment) also bringing some nifty monochrome shadings to key character interactions. Yet ultimately the plus point is with Murphy, who really pushes himself for Siegel, his performance deserved a better film, but as it is he lifts it above average and makes it a must see for his fans. 6/10

Sam Martin and his wino mate, Harvey, run fishing expeditions out of Key West. However, Sam has run into bad times, and, with mounting debt, he is threatened with losing his boat and, thus, his livelihood. When a seeming tourist named Hannagan with a Swedish blonde in tow hires Sam for a quick and illegal trip to Cuba, Sam needs the money and agrees, unaware of the true nature of the cruise. Adapted from Ernest Hermingway's novel, To Have and Have Not, which was previously filmed in 1944 with Humphrey Bogart, "The Gun Runners" is a tight, engaging B film directed by veteran action director Don Siegel.

While Audie Murphy as Sam is no Bogart, he is adequate in the part, although his romantic scenes with Patricia Owens as his wife are awkward and unconvincing. However, Eddie Albert as Hannagan, the duplicitous gun runner, is colorful, and his performance stands out. Everett Sloane as Harvey is also good. Hal Mohr's crisp black and white cinematography is another major asset, especially in razor-sharp close-ups of the principals.

While not on a par with the Bogart classic, "The Gun Runners" is closer to Hemingway and restores the Key West locale, although the action is updated to feature the Cuban Revolution. The relatively short low-budget feature is worth a look and should appeal to fans of Audie Murphy and, especially, to followers of Don Siegel's career.