- John Huston has a penchant for employing external agents to illuminate his characters' internal problems. In The Maltese Falcon, it was the black bird that spurred a gang of crooks to cross and double-cross each other. In The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, it was gold that pushed Dobbs completely over the edge. Now, in Key Largo, it's a powerful hurricane that shows up to lay bare men's souls. Before the storm hits, there is much talk about what constitutes bravery, but it's only after the storm arrives that the hero and coward archetypes really show themselves.
- As the story opens, Major Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) is headed to Key Largo to visit the family of the late George Temple, with whom he had served during the war. When the Major arrives at their family hotel, however, it seems strangely overpopulated with thuggish goons. He finally meets Frank's father James (Lionel Barrymore) and his widow Nora (Lauren Bacall) out back, only to discover that suspicious characters have rented out the entire resort. It isn't long before the crooks' rather thin cover story wears through, however, and the crime boss Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) shows himself and takes charge.
- Rocco is a vintage Robinson hood who likes nothing more than to hear about how great he was before the government chased him out of the country. In fact, he's so fond of recalling the good old days that he even tracked down his old girl, Gaye Dawn (Claire Trevor), a former nightclub singer who, these days, carries a drink better than she carries a tune. Robinson and Trevor are both perfect in their roles, and their characters and histories are so fully fleshed-out that you can easily imagine their Prohibition days together without needing to see them explicitly. Rocco's current plan is to meet up with the Miami gangster Ziggy (Marc Lawrence), do some business, and then hightail it back to Cuba before the government catches up with him. Despite some local trouble with the cops, it appears as though he's going to succeed. Then the storm hits.
- The arrival of the hurricane is absolutely amazing, both in terms of the special effects employed and the sudden reversal in tone it sets for the film. Rocco's frantic pacing and constant snarl during the storm evoke a caged tiger who's suddenly been knocked off the top of the food chain. Rocco isn't accustomed to being pushed around, even if it is Mother Nature doing the pushing. On the other hand, the Major is accustomed to standing up to tyranny, so he takes the opportunity to prove how brave he really is. After the storm has passed, the final famous confrontation shows a greatly diminished Rocco losing control over his goons and resorting to cowardly tricks to try to beat the Major. I think Huston's final message is a reasonably blunt "this is what happens to tyrants", but he conveys simple messages much more impressively than most.
