The Breaking Point

Warner Brothers, which already has taken one feeble swing and a cut at Hemingway’s memorable story of a tough guy, “To Have and Have Not” finally has got hold of that fable and socked it for a four-base hit in a film called THE BREAKING POINT. All of the character, color and cynicism of Mr. Hemingway’s lean and hungry tale are wrapped up in this realistic picture, and John Garfield is tops in the principal role. If you saw that first swing the Warners took six years ago, with no less than Bogart and Bacall in the leading roles, you did not see the Hemingway story. But this time, with Ranald MacDougall hewing very close to the line of character and story development that was laid down by Mr. H., and with Michael Curtiz directing in a beautifully crisp, commanding style, the Warners have got a picture that is a credit to all concerned. It may not be spiritually ennobling, but it is Hemingway. And it is pretty true to life. (Bosley Crowther, “The New York Times”, 1950)