Key Largo is a classic 1948 film noir crime drama, adapted from a 1939 Broadway play of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart as Frank McCloud, an embittered war veteran who travels down to the run-down Hotel Largo at the approach of hurricane season.
The hotel is run by Nora Temple, played by Lauren Bacall. McCloud is there not to vacation but to pay his respects to her, as she is the widow of a fallen soldier in his unit who died bravely in Italy during WWII. When McCloud first arrives, he finds the hotel closed for the summer but rented out by five men claiming to be on a fishing charter, and a sixth man who never leaves his room.
While hotel prepares for an approaching hurricane, a sheriff and his deputy stop by in search of the Osceola Brothers, two petty criminals who escaped their custody on minor charges. Soon after the police leave, the local Seminole arrive at the hotel seeking shelter, with the Osceola Brothers among them.
As the storm descends, the “fishing crew” takes over and reveals that they are the cohorts of the sixth man, who is none other than the notorious mobster Johnny Rocco. McCloud is at first reluctant to get involved due to his disillusionment from war, but he is inevitably forced to act and confront Rocco in this sultry, suspenseful Florida thriller.
While most of the film was shot in a Los Angeles studio, the initial and exterior shots were filmed at the Caribbean Club at Mile Marker 105 on US 1. The property is still there, but much of the old exterior was destroyed in a pair of fires.
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