The Breaking Point (1950)

[Akijama]

The Breaking Point Blu-ray PRE-ORDER

New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with biographer and film historian Alan K. Rode (Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film)
New piece featuring actor and acting instructor Julie Garfield speaking about her father, actor John Garfield
New video essay by filmmakers Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos, analyzing Curtiz’s directorial techniques
Excerpts from a 1962 episode of the Today show showing contents of the Ernest Hemingway House in Key West, Florida, including items related to To Have and Have Not, the novel on which The Breaking Point is based
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by critic Stephanie Zacharek

[PowellPressburger]

John Garfield directed by the great Michael Curtiz! I am in Day One!

[hoytereden]

A great Noir that pulls no punches. Grim, and that final scene........

[JoeBuck]

Soooooooo good! This will be high on my list of priorities for August and I may even buy it on day one!
This announcement was a very nice belated birthday present!

[The Great Owl]

Another great film noir for my collection!

[Hoke Moseley]

Haven't seen this, but have been interested in it for years. Looking forward to blind-buying.

[octagon]

I love remakes, I'm in

[G. Costanz]

Nice!

[blufellas]

I will be blind-buying this. I can't get enough of Film-noirs!

[javi92]

A great film. I've only seen it recorded off a TCM broadcast, so I'm sure a new transfer will be like seeing it for the first time.

[tallrichard]

This is a Day ONE! I won't even wait for the Christmas sale at B&N....it's that good!

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

A great Noir that pulls no punches. Grim, and that final scene........

By final scene do you mean

[Show spoiler]that final shot? Curious because I felt it was very startling it's a wow ending. It really floored me.

I'd never even heard of this film until this announcement. And today I didn't even realize it was a remake of To Have and to Have Not! Both films are great and both films really have nothing to do with each other.

Great Criterion disc and Criterion and Barnes & Noble extended their 50% off sale so you can grab it at a great price.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

I'd never even heard of this film until this announcement. And today I didn't even realize it was a remake of To Have and to Have Not! Both films are great and both films really have nothing to do with each other.

Technically, it isn't a remake. It's a more faithful adaptation of Hemingway's novel, much in the same way Carpenter's The Thing differs drastically from Hawks' movie.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

By final scene do you mean

[Show spoiler]that final shot? Curious because I felt it was very startling it's a wow ending. It really floored me.

I'd never even heard of this film until this announcement. And today I didn't even realize it was a remake of To Have and to Have Not! Both films are great and both films really have nothing to do with each other.

Great Criterion disc and Criterion and Barnes & Noble extended their 50% off sale so you can grab it at a great price.

Yes, the final shot. So damn haunting.

[The Great Owl]

I just finished watching my Criterion Blu-ray of The Breaking Point.



John Garfield plays Harry Morgan, a charter boat captain who is struggling to make ends meet so that he can provide a good life for his wife, played by Phyllis Thaxter (Superman: The Movie, Act of Violence), and their two children. His sturdy postwar morals are challenged when he accepts a dangerous job from a crooked lawyer, played by Wallace Ford (Shadow of a Doubt, Spellbound), and brushes with flirtation with the insanely sexy Leona, played by Patricia Neal (Breakfast at Tiffany's). Juano Hernandez (Kiss Me Deadly, The Pawnbroker) is terrific as Morgan's loyal shipmate.

The Breaking Point, which was directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, Mildred Pierce), is the second film adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel, To Have and Have Not, after the iconic Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall movie by the same name. This Curtiz film is more faithful to the Hemingway novel, and it also excels as a truly devastating film noir that takes us into some bleak corners rarely explored by most works even in that genre.

This is a sobering movie in every sense, because it gives Garfield's Harry Morgan a tough, but likable edge that is all the more heartbreaking when we sense the economic and moral walls collapsing around him despite his best efforts. The fact that Morgan has such an amazing relationship with his wife compels us to pull for him all the more. Many of the best films noir reverberate in American culture because the storylines, which portray beleaguered middle class and lower class people struggling to "keep up with the Jones's" during tough times. For this reason, many of them are just as relevant today as they were in post-World War II America. Morgan never stops fighting fiercely to keep his head above water, and the movie's violent conclusion is gripping because we desperately want him to succeed, despite his falling from grace with both his family and the law. The final camera shot of The Breaking Point is one of the most saddening cinematic gut-punches that I have ever seen in my life.

John Garfield's striking looks and his blend of toughness and vulnerability made him especially suited for film noir, and he excelled in noir titles like The Postman Always Rings Twice, Force of Evil, Body and Soul, and He Ran All the Way. The story of Garfield is a story that ended too soon, because of the unfortunate way that the Communist scare affected his career, and because of his untimely death from a heart attack at the age of 39.

It's a shame that The Breaking Point was poorly received because of Garfield's blacklisting, because, under different circumstances, it could have been one of the most famous films noir ever made. It's high time for this movie to be reevaluated, so I'm glad that it's now out on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection.

This Criterion Blu-ray sports a wonderfully filmic presentation of this black-and-white movie, and I feel justified in giving it a five-star picture rating. The audio is quite good, and the sound quality accentuates many of the movie's most impactful plot points by way of small details, like the sound of the sewing machine operated by Morgan's wife when she struggles to help him keep the family fed.

I'd love to have seen a commentary track on this Blu-ray, but the supplements that we do get are quite fascinating, especially the extra with John Garfield's daughter. I also love The Breaking Point. Fluid Style documentary.

This Blu-ray has my highest recommendation.

[montyb]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just finished watching my Criterion Blu-ray of The Breaking Point.



John Garfield plays Harry Morgan, a charter boat captain who is struggling to make ends meet so that he can provide a good life for his wife, played by Phyllis Thaxter (Superman: The Movie, Act of Violence), and their two children. His sturdy postwar morals are challenged when he accepts a dangerous job from a crooked lawyer, played by Wallace Ford (Shadow of a Doubt, Spellbound), and brushes with flirtation with the insanely sexy Leona, played by Patricia Neal (Breakfast at Tiffany's). Juano Hernandez (Kiss Me Deadly, The Pawnbroker) is terrific as Morgan's loyal shipmate.

The Breaking Point, which was directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, Mildred Pierce), is the second film adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel, To Have and Have Not, after the iconic Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall movie by the same name. This Curtiz film is more faithful to the Hemingway novel, and it also excels as a truly devastating film noir that takes us into some bleak corners rarely explored by most works even in that genre.

This is a sobering movie in every sense, because it gives Garfield's Harry Morgan a tough, but likable edge that is all the more heartbreaking when we sense the economic and moral walls collapsing around him despite his best efforts. The fact that Morgan has such an amazing relationship with his wife compels us to pull for him all the more. Many of the best films noir reverberate in American culture because the storylines, which portray beleaguered middle class and lower class people struggling to "keep up with the Jones's" during tough times. For this reason, many of them are just as relevant today as they were in post-World War II America. Morgan never stops fighting fiercely to keep his head above water, and the movie's violent conclusion is gripping because we desperately want him to succeed, despite his falling from grace with both his family and the law. The final camera shot of The Breaking Point is one of the most saddening cinematic gut-punches that I have ever seen in my life.

John Garfield's striking looks and his blend of toughness and vulnerability made him especially suited for film noir, and he excelled in noir titles like The Postman Always Rings Twice, Force of Evil, Body and Soul, and He Ran All the Way. The story of Garfield is a story that ended too soon, because of the unfortunate way that the Communist scare affected his career, and because of his untimely death from a heart attack at the age of 39.

It's a shame that The Breaking Point was poorly received because of Garfield's blacklisting, because, under different circumstances, it could have been one of the most famous films noir ever made. It's high time for this movie to be reevaluated, so I'm glad that it's now out on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection.

This Criterion Blu-ray sports a wonderfully filmic presentation of this black-and-white movie, and I feel justified in giving it a five-star picture rating. The audio is quite good, and the sound quality accentuates many of the movie's most impactful plot points by way of small details, like the sound of the sewing machine operated by Morgan's wife when she struggles to help him keep the family fed.

I'd love to have seen a commentary track on this Blu-ray, but the supplements that we do get are quite fascinating, especially the extra with John Garfield's daughter. I also love The Breaking Point. Fluid Style documentary.

This Blu-ray has my highest recommendation.

Great review The Great Owl. I am so glad Criterion was able to license this from Warner. Other companies like Kino would have destroyed this masterful looking masterpiece. Criterion keeps proving why they are the best in the blu ray format with these great restorations of our favorite classics.

[BluPat]

Thinking of picking this up today. Have never seen it but I have always liked John Garfield. His life was cut way too short. Great actor.

[Richard--W]

Originally Posted by BluPat

Thinking of picking this up today. Have never seen it but I have always liked John Garfield. His life was cut way too short. Great actor.

Don't hesitate.

Buy it now.

You won't be disappointed.

The Breaking Point achieves greatness but it's not a remake. It's another adaptation of the Hemingway novel that uses the same narrative but different details, different scenes, different characters. Hemingway never completed writing To Have and Have Not. He kept rewriting it. The published novel is divided into two parts because it consists of two different versions of the story (and there are several other versions in his papers that haven't been published). That gives filmmakers plenty of material to work with. Curtiz used the other version. Other than the source it has no resemblance to the first film.

It's not a studio-bound film, either, which is atypical of Curtiz's work.

You might want to check out Islands In the Stream (1978) directed by Franklyn J. Schaefner and starring George C. Scott. That was Hemingway's last take on this material, and it's a riveting one.

[BluPat]

I bought The Breaking Point from Barnes & Noble today and I and my husband watched it tonight and I loved it. John Garfield is fantastic as always. I love the quick-witted responses that are usually always in classic movies like the scene with the elderly lady neighbor.... When Harry tells her to mind her own business and the response between them. My husband and I laughed our asses off at what Harry (John Garfield) said to her.

[evilive]

Don't know why I didn't pick this up any sooner. Absolutely loved this! Probably one of the hardest hitting noirs out there.