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.
Review of The Breaking Point
