Lauren Bacall Appreciation Thread

[DACrowe]

In lieu of last night's tragic news (officially making this an awful week all around), I thought that the damest of dames whose voice purred superiority deserved her own appreciation thread.

Lauren Bacall is one of they last great movie stars from Hollywood's golden age, and from the moment she slinked onto Howard Hawks' To Have and Have Not (at the unbelievable age of only 19) she captivated moviegoers just as much as Bogie. They would go on to make three more movies together after being married the following year, and amongst them The Big Sleep and Key Largo are true classics of film noir.

After Bogie's passing in 1957, Bacall continued to leave her mark on moviemaking with films like Designing Woman and the musical How to Marry a Millionaire. She received an honorary Oscar in 2010, but she has been honored by a legacy that will go far beyond her lifetime and ours.

What are some of your favorite Lauren Bacall films or moments?

 

[Breogan]

To Have and Have Not
The Big Sleep
Dark Passage
Key Largo

Yeah those, mostly know her from her Bogie partnering.

 

[flickchick85]

Key Largo and The Big Sleep are two of the truly definitive film noirs, and two of my favorite films of all-time, so for me, she's just as much the face of the genre as Bogie is. And of course she continued to give great performances decades later. The Mirror Has Two Faces really stands out in my mind. She was funny and ultimately a little heartbreaking there.

Speaking of funny, I feel like her comedy work has gone relatively underappreciated over the years. How to Marry a Millionaire is a joy, and in large part because of her and her chemistry with the other ladies (Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable).

Lauren Bacall - more than Vivien Leigh, more than Bergman, more than either of the Hepburns - was the Queen of Old Hollywood to me, as I felt she represented the very best of what made that era so special.

 

[DACrowe]

I agree that Key Largo is very underrated. The Big Sleep is grew, but while she ain't a fatale in Key Largo, she gets to play someone more straightforward, which appealed to her attitude there and it was a great mythic battle between Bogie and Robinson. The Big Sleep is wonderful but it is far more impenetrable as a piece of plotting. Both are great though and so is To Have and Have Not (mostly because of Bacall!).

I was never really a fan of Dark Passage though if I am being honest.