The Breaking Point

“I hate mornings. Worst part of the day.” It’s unfortunate that Howard Hawks’ To Have and Have Not is more well-known than Michael Curtiz’s The Breaking Point because the latter is a far superior adaptation of Hemingway’s novel, especially when viewed through a noir lens. Increasingly appreciated as a masterpiece as more fans discover it, Curtiz’s film is cold, stark, and desperate, but just redemptive enough to move the viewer emotionally (the final shot is a gut punch) and just tense enough to satisfy viewers’ appetites for action and danger. Ostensibly a story about a war veteran trying (and failing) to support his wife and young daughters by captaining a leased fishing boat for tourists (“a boat jockey”), his growing desperation pushing him into illicit gigs (smuggling illegal immigrants, driving the getaway boat for a burglary), the film is also a psychological profile of a postwar American man struggling with his own expectations of manhood. Not only does the sea bring opportunities that tempt Harry Morgan (John Garfield) financially, but also sexually, as excitable customer Leona Charles (Patricia Neal) tries pulling him into an extramarital affair, all but mocking his simple wife Lucy (Phyllis Thaxter) who has remained steadfastly devoted to maintaining his home and raising his children, even dying her hair blonde to match Leona’s. Puerto Rican actor Juano Hernandez plays first mate Wesley Park whose good nature and devotion to Harry earn him the kind of reward only noir can deliver. Unsurprisingly, Garfield’s performance is riveting, Morgan’s ego constantly battling with his sense of duty, and MacDougall’s script finds that difficult spot right between power and subtlety and stays there for the entire 97 minutes. The noir visuals pop off the screen whenever Harry meets in backrooms with shady clients, while a misty haze occasionally creeps onto the pier to add a dream-like quality. Harry Morgan is going through his own personal hell, but he could also represent nearly any American man in 1950; when insisting that he gets his life together to keep his family fed and clothed, Lucy tells him, “That’s the biggest war there is, and you’d better realize it.”