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The Breaking Point

The Breaking Point

1950
Drama, Crime
1h 37m
Fishing boat captain Harry Morgan charters his boat. Due to strained finances, he is none too careful as to whom he does business with. Real trouble erupts when Harry hires out his boat to transport four men who turn out to be criminals on the lam from a racetrack heist. (imdb)
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The Breaking Point

1950
Drama, Crime
1h 37m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 70.43% from 119 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(119)
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Rated 17 Nov 2016
81
91st
Garfield's great as the antihero who makes a deal with the devil. And then another one. And another. The final shot is devastating.
Rated 07 Jul 2009
73
53rd
Great dark shots that portray how hemmed in Harry Morgan is. We can understand how a good man might break the way he does. And he *is* a good man -- he manages to resist Patricia Neal who is charming as heck; there's no way I could turn her down. The final shot of the little boy is amazing: its emotional power lies in reminding you of what everyone else has already forgotten.
Rated 23 Aug 2023
79
80th
"A man alone ain't got a chance." Curtiz and MacDougall turn Hemingway's weird sprawl into a great little noir drama about the people who never make it through hard work. Garfield is the perfect Harry Morgan for this movie; more likable than the novel, but still carrying all the disillusionment and resentment, and the rest of the cast (Phyllis Thaxter!) match both his tired energy and flesh out the world. The tension builds until it has to break. And that final shot. Holy shit.
Rated 09 Nov 2013
84
77th
The writing and Garfield's execution of his character are what really make the film. For all the bad decisions he makes he also makes quite a few good ones, so things don't feel as forced or doomed as they otherwise might, and Garfield helps sell the conflicted nature of the character and the desperation that leads to the decisions. He's extremely sympathetic without being the least bit pitiable.
Rated 04 Apr 2012
85
86th
Garfield's portrayal of Harry Morgan, a man forced into the seedy underworld out of financial hardship is fantastic. Despite being a broken man burdened by his poor decisions, Morgan remains tough as nails right to the very end. Even more interesting than Garfield's role here are the racial undertones at work in the camaraderie of Morgan and his friend Wesley. The final shot is heartbreaking. Shame the idiotic political witchhunts of its era meant this film never got the due it deserved.
Rated 06 Nov 2010
85
84th
Curtiz makes the impact of the violence deeply felt. The final image is strikingly somber and haunting. Garfield is wonderful in the lead, with great supporting performances. The female characters are also handled very well, treated with complexity. Curtiz makes excellent use of dramatic angles and overhead lighting, and although the action scenes are sparse, they're loaded with tension. The film's biggest problem is a sluggish middle section, but otherwise it's a winner.
Rated 22 Jun 2022
70
96th
The Breaking Point (1950) is said to be a more elaborate version of To Have and Have Not (1944) as far as the the story goes, but I still prefer the '44 film because... it's Bogart & Bacall. That's not a knock on John Garfield or Patricia Neal, who are both terrific in this '50 adaptation, but it's not like you can compete with one of the most iconic romances in screen history and the impact it had. This is still a great film regardless of the competition of Ernest Hemingway's material.
Rated 29 Jul 2018
80
78th
Strong noir film where the femme fatale is almost an afterthought. There are a lot of bad decisions heaped on bad decisions, but the stubborn captain keeps plunging headlong. The first half of the movie went pretty slow to set up the foundation, but the last twenty minutes led to an outstanding (if mostly Hollywood-esque) ending. This version has the better story and characters, but To Have and Have Not had Bogey and Bacall, so it's a close call which is "better."
Rated 11 Jun 2019
94
74th
Extra points on this one for a very different setting. It was an unpredictable crime drama as well.
Rated 10 Mar 2019
88
58th
87.50
Rated 05 May 2019
61
47th
There are some moments that really make this film. Especially the last sequence with a final shot that leaves you heartbroken, but overall it was kinda, ehhh. Decent story, decent plot.
Rated 01 Oct 2020
95
95th
Redenção Sangrenta estreava há 70 anos nos EUA. Meu segundo filme gris protagonizado pelo Garfield essa semana e é uma pedrada daquelas, soa tão resplandecente dentro do macarthismo com o último plano de cortar o coração com o menino esperançoso dentro do genocídio negro ocorrendo e nenhum branco se importando porque todos os brancos estavam mais preocupados com a inevitável amputação do "left arm" para se sobreviver. Porra, que pedrada. Box Versátil Filme Noir Volume 4.
Rated 28 Mar 2024
76
82nd
A movie so good that I had mistakenly thought Burt Lancaster was in it.

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