To Have and Have Not is based on Ernest Hemingway's book of the same title, although the country was changed to protect the innocent. Wartime Martinique, not Cuba, was the backdrop for this initial pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. The paying public ate it up. It was a top ten grosser in 1944. Critics called it Casablanca II, but nobody ever says "We'll always have Vichy."
Bogie's character tries to stay out of politics, but he was living in a time when good people had to stand for something, lest they fall for anything. It's amazing how history repeats itself.
He turns his fishing boat into an escape pod for members of the French Resistance. That's an act of heroism akin to hiding Anne Frank in the attic, or walking away from Ingrid Bergman to form a beautiful friendship with a French cop.
Located just outside Vichy is the Saint Pourçain region. Domaine des Berioles makes white wines from the rare Tressallier grape and chillable reds from Gamay. They run a Vichy drinker anywhere from $20 to $50. For the stateside drinker, there are several wineries in the Vichy Wine and Arts District of Napa. They could leave you thinking, "We'll always have Vacaville."
The Big Sleep has Bogie and Bacall in their 1946 noir splendor. Everyone in this movie is running from someone else, except of course hard-boiled private eye Philip Marlowe. He's probably the man you see when you look over your shoulder.
Bogart makes murder and intrigue look about as hard as leaning against a wall and flipping a coin. Bacall sings "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" with just the right amount of hair-flip-I-don't-care.
Try The Big Sleep Cocktail: cognac, champagne, sugar and a squeeze of lemon. I hear it's pretty good. But we need something a bit darker, don't we? Talbott's Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Pinot Noir brings the magic of the Santa Lucia Highlands to us for a bit less than $40 a bottle. That AVA name, Santa Lucia Highlands, always makes me want to hear "The Happy Wanderer" on bagpipes, even though I know it's in Monterey County.
Key Largo is a film noir from that genre's golden age, 1948. It's also the fourth and final film pairing of Bogie and Bacall. Bogie is a war hero who visits his dead buddy's family. It sounds like a dreadful time, what with the hurricane and all, but Lauren Bacall plays one of the family members. Things are looking up.
Edward G. Robinson is cast as a holed-up mobster who claims to be on a fishing trip. That story doesn't hold water for anybody. It brings to mind the old joke that wraps up with, "You didn’t come here to fish, didja?"
Just the words Key Largo summon images of the film's tense standoff between Bogart and Robinson. Unfortunately, it also dredges up memories of the pop song that was far too popular for a solid stretch of 1981. Where were A Flock of Seagulls when we really needed them?
It may be hard to imagine a winery in the Florida Keys, but Key's Meads, on Key Largo, has mead for the adventurous. Mead is wine made with honey, and it's pretty tasty. Of course, it may be easier to get your hands on a Largo Ridge wine, from up around Ukiah, CA.
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