Harry (John Garfield) is a guy who is having a world of trouble. His fishing charter business is having nothing but bad luck and he's having a hard time supporting his family as well as keeping his boat. He's so desperate that he does something he never thought he'd do--work for mobsters to make some quick money. But these people are thugs and the deeper Harry gets, the harder it looks for him to survive. Can he possibly keep his boat, his family AND his head?

This film is a more faithful adaptation of the story that was made several times. First, it was a Bogart/Bacall picture, "To Have and Have Not" and later it was remade two more times as well as was the inspiration, in part, for "Islands in the Stream". So, if this all seems familiar, this is probably why.

While the Bogart version is very stylish, I think this later John Garfield film is superior. The dialog (like the original) is very snappy but the film seems more realistic and taut. It also features some nice supporting performances by Juano Hernandez and Wallace Ford. In many ways, the film plays like "To Have and Have Not" merged with "The Killing" as well as "Key Largo". Tough, very dark and very well made--one of Garfield's best because it was NOT formulaic and that final shot by Michael Curtiz was amazingly good.

By the way, if you watch the film, you might (like me) think that Patricia Neal's character wasn't necessary for the movie. What do you think?

The Breaking Point cannot properly be called a remake of To Have And Have Not as that classic film was altered to make the story relevant for domestic consumption in wartime America. There was also added the legendary chemistry of Bogey and Bacall in their first film together. Ernest Hemingway did not write that for the movie-going public.

The Breaking Point is far more Hemingway and far more realistically done. John Garfield makes a perfect Hemingway hero and the locations along the California coast aren't glamorized in any way. This is a working class locale and the black and white cinematography and wind swept look given by same reflects Garfield and the area he is raising his family in.

Garfield plays a World War II veteran who wanted to earn a living on the sea and have Phyllis Thaxter raise their daughters in that coastal location. But business comes in cycles and a bad season finds Garfield owing everyone including the butcher, the baker and candlestick maker. Most of all he owes for fuel and that guy is ready to take the boat for payment.

When a charter client stiffs him on the bill, Garfield is forced to make some bad choices to pay his bills and support his family. Providing some of those bad choices is Wallace Ford playing a truly sleazebag shyster living on the Mexican side of the Pacific coast who ostensibly will get you a quickie Mexican divorce, but dabbles in all kinds of illegal fields. Actually I'm being unfair, shysters make bad lawyer jokes about Ford.

Providing a little temptation for Garfield is Patricia Neal who is trying very hard for the same Lauren Bacall effect. She's the girlfriend of the client who stiffed Garfield in the first place and she has most original and cynical point of view about life and men.

The Breaking Point provides John Garfield with one of his best performances in his next to last film. And he far more fits the Hemingway conception as does the overall film itself.

Harry Morgan (John Garfield) charters his boat for fishing trips. He has financial troubles and a family at home. Hannagan and his companion Leona Charles (Patricia Neal) hire Harry for a trip to Mexico. Sleazy Duncan and Mr. Sing hire Harry to smuggle Chinese migrants into the States. Everything keeps going wrong.

It's six years after Bogie introduces a 19 year old Bacall in the less than faithful adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not. The studio tries it again with a more direct adaptation of the story. While Garfield is no Bogie, he brings his own abilities. He has a rougher personality. He's less appealing but he's something else. He is very much Harry Morgan. He does the wrong things a lot of the times. He's not heroic. He's one step away from being a criminal with excuses. There are great moments with his family. It may not be as iconic as a Bogie movie but this is real good.