To Have and Have Not (film) his fishing boat to tourists, along with his unofficial mate Eddie (Walter Brennan). Eddie is Harry's close friend and one time trusted co-worker, but he has of late become an alcoholic. The island is a tinder-box of dissent, harboring many people sympathetic to Free France. At his hotel home, hotel owner Gérard (Marcel Dalio) (known as "Frenchy" to English speakers) urges Harry to help the French Resistance by smuggling some people off the island. Harry steadfastly refuses, choosing to keep aloof from the current political situation. Also at the hotel, he meets Marie ("Slim") Browning (Lauren Bacall), a young American
To Have and Have Not (film) the title, the name and a few personality traits of the main character Harry Morgan, the name of Marie, the name of Eddie, and the name and character traits of Johnson. Johnson is the only character that remained the same in the novel, in every revised screenplay, and in the film. The film only bears resemblance to the first four chapters of the novel. Howard Hawks recruited Jules Furthman to work on the screenplay. Completed on October 12, 1943, the initial screenplay was 207 pages. It resembled the novel more than the final screenplay did. By the end of December,