To Have and Have Not (film) To Have and Have Not (film) To Have and Have Not is a 1944 American romance-war-adventure film directed by Howard Hawks, loosely based on Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel of the same name; however, the story was altered for the film. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan and Lauren Bacall in her film debut; it also features Dolores Moran, Hoagy Carmichael, Sheldon Leonard, Dan Seymour, and Marcel Dalio. The plot centers on the romance between a freelancing fisherman in Martinique and a beautiful American drifter which is complicated by the growing French resistance in Vichy France. Ernest Hemingway and Howard Hawks
To Have and Have Not (film) represents the heroic ideal. Morgan acts on his own interests, yet is not self-indulgent, minding his "own business". He does good, because of the responsibility he feels he has for his personal alliances. Morgan controls and establishes the morality of the film through the distinctness of what one does and what one is. Bogart's character establishes: one's personal identity is not determined by one's actions if they do not allow it to happen. In the film, Slim steals Johnson's wallet, because he did not pay Morgan for his services. When they are both approached by Morgan, Slim shows no shame,