In 1943, at age18, Betty Bacall had barely set foot on a stage, and never on a soundstage. She was working as a fashion model in New York when the chic wife of director Howard Hawks saw her on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, and pointed her out to Hawks. He sent for Bacall, cringed at her nasal voice, told her to lower it, and changed her first name. Then, for her first film, To Have and Have Not (1944), he teamed her with Humphrey Bogart, the tough-guy newly-turned romantic hero on the heels of Casablanca's (1942) success. Fireworks flew, on-screen and off, leading to gushy reviews, like this one from the usually cool and judicious film critic James Agee: "Lauren Bacall has cinema personality to burn...a javelinlike vitality, a born dancer's eloquence in movement, a fierce female shrewdness and a special sweet-sourness..." Bogart was still married at the time to actress Mayo Methot but they soon divorced, leaving him free to marry Bacall in May 1945. They stayed together until his death in 1957.
› Howard Hawks was known for taking gambles in his film career. When he met songwriter Hoagy Carmichael at a party, the director had a hunch he'd make a good actor. As Cricket, the saloon pianist, Carmichael turned in a delightful and naturalistic performance. Like Bacall, it was his screen debut and both were risks that Hawks was willing to take based on his keen intuition about their acting abilities. In addition, To Have and Have Not was the result of Hawks' bet with his good friend, novelist Ernest Hemingway, whom Hawks was strongly encouraging, without much success, to write screenplays. Hawks bet that he could make a movie out of Hemingway's worst book and the author picked To Have and Have Not which was actually a pastiche of two Hemingway short stories – “One Trip Across” and “The Tradesman’s Return” and a novella. The film version, as several critics pointed out, owed more to Casablanca than to Hemingway, but Hawks won his bet.
› Unlike Hemingway, celebrated novelist William Faulkner did spend some time in Hollywood dabbling in screenplays. Faulkner was Howard Hawks’ favorite script doctor, and he remained available in Hawks' office and occasionally on the set of To Have and Have Not to finish polishing the script as filming began. By most accounts, it was William Faulkner who saved the picture by suggesting a shift to the Vichy-controlled island of Martinique, which was not only out of the influence of the Inter-American office, it also afforded the opportunity to add Gestapo-influenced villainy since it was filmed during World War II.
› The most famous scene in To Have and Have Not is undoubtedly the "you know how to whistle" dialogue sequence. It was not written by Ernest Hemingway, Jules Furthman or William Faulkner, but allegedly by Howard Hawks. The director wrote the scene as a screen test for Bacall, with no real intention that it would necessarily end up in the film. The test was shot with Warner Bros. contract player John Ridgely acting opposite Bacall. The Warners staff, of course, agreed to star Bacall in the film based on the test, and Hawks thought the scene was so strong he asked Faulkner to work it into one of his later drafts of the shooting script.
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA (1958)
Ernest Hemingway's classic story of man versus nature is strikingly transferred to the screen, with Spencer Tracy starring as the elderly Cuban fisherman who hooks the catch of a lifetime.
THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO (1952)
Based on Ernest Hemingway's classic short story, this powerhouse actioner stars Gregory Peck as a frustrated author/big game hunter who is critically injured during a safari in Africa's Kilimanjaro mountains.
THE FIGHTING 69TH (1940)
James Cagney plays a scrappy Brooklyn boy who is recruited into the all-Irish 69th New York Army Regiment by Father Duffy (Pat O'Brien). Includes the George M. Cohan song, “Over There.”
THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
Writer/director John Huston's masterful study of greed stars Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt as American vagrants in Mexico who team up with grizzled prospector Walter Huston in a search for gold.
MONKEY BUSINESS (1952)
Howard Hawks' "fountain of youth" comedy stars Cary Grant as a scientist whose rejuvenation serum causes chaos for himself and everyone around him.
TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944)
A boat captain in Martinique joins the French Resistance and gets involved with a young woman. Humphrey Bogart co-stars with Lauren Bacall in her screen debut.
› Howard Hawks was known for taking gambles in his film career. When he met songwriter Hoagy Carmichael at a party, the director had a hunch he'd make a good actor. As Cricket, the saloon pianist, Carmichael turned in a delightful and naturalistic performance. Like Bacall, it was his screen debut and both were risks that Hawks was willing to take based on his keen intuition about their acting abilities. In addition, 
› Unlike Hemingway, celebrated novelist William Faulkner did spend some time in Hollywood dabbling in screenplays. Faulkner was Howard Hawks’ favorite script doctor, and he remained available in Hawks' office and occasionally on the set of 
