Explain Humphrey Bogart to Me

He had a deep, masculine voice and a heavy five-o'clock shadow, and a sexy mouth. And he was, unlike most of Hollywood's pretty boys, undeniably straight.

Any questions?

Not convinced

I have this same reaction to him - he does nothing for me and I feel like he plays every character the same way. The African Queen is the only role I've seen him in where he's doing something different.

Humphrey Bogart played the Humphrey Bogart character in lots of Humphrey Bogart movies.

More than good enough for me!

Hated African Queen, couldn’t get through five minutes of it.

OP doesn't like Pedro Pascal, but thinks David Corenswet is a genius.

[quote]Hated African Queen, couldn’t get through five minutes of it.

^^^Loves Adam Sandler movies

Who are you people? The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The African Queen, To Have And Have Not, The Caine Mutiny...what is wrong with y'all?

His films were very popular with men. He was really never a romantic lead except maybe in Casablanca

[quote] Humphrey Bogart played the Humphrey Bogart character in lots of Humphrey Bogart movies.

You claim I bogarted all my movies. You may want to sit on my academy award statue.

[quote]His films were very popular with men. He was really never a romantic lead except maybe in Casablanca

You don't know shit about movies. To Have And Have Not? Key Largo? Even in The Maltese Falcon, he was also a romantic interest, having had an affair with his partner's wife, and the object of Mary Astor's affection.

He had a soulful, no-bullshit quality that appealed to both men and women. True, he played his Bogie self in most of his performances, but that was true of many of the studio-system stars (Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, John Wayne, etc.).

It's not our job to explain the obvious to those without capacity.

Just live with your trollberger deficits and leave us out of it.

I read that Audrey Hepburn was so sickened by his spitting in her face that it contributed to her truancy on the set of ‘Sabrina’. Likewise, her revulsion caused Bogey to begin to question his own sex appeal.

Audrey was forced to go geriatric not just with Bogart but also with Fred Astaire (Funny Face), Gary Cooper (Love in the Afternoon), Henry Fonda (War and Peace), Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady), and Cary Grant (Charade), nearly all at least a quarter century older. What was that about? I can't think of any other actress who had to do that as much.

Why can't Bogart be prettier to please OP's standards for male beauty? That's what REAL male stardom consists of!

The Big Sleep is maybe the sexiest, sleekest noir to come out of classic Hollywood. The plot borders on incomprehensible, but Bogart and Bacall are red hot.

I never found him attractive or a great actor. His status has always been a mystery to me.

On the other hand, Edward G Robinson who also was not attractive was one of the great actors. He didn't receive the acclaim he deserved.

Watch In a Lonely Place

He's great in it

Paul Muni wasn't attractive, but he was the male Meryl Streep in the 30s. I never thought William Powell was attractive, but he was a great actor and very popular.

Women love a guy gone wrong who becomes a reluctant hero for a noble cause, and Bogart had that role down pat. Han Solo is clearly modelled on the Bogart prototype.

R13 They teamed Audrey with a bunch of old men. But not in Roman Holiday, she and Gregory Peck worked.

[quote]The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The African Queen, To Have And Have Not, The Caine Mutiny...what is wrong with y'all?

No one is saying these are bad movies (except for R5 with African Queen), just that Bogart seems to be playing the same character with very minor variations in all of them. I think he does it effectively, but that doesn't mean I want his same shtick every time. (Although presumably that's what the studios wanted.)

R22 - No, he's not playing the same character with minor variations. It's only in your pea-brain.

Would love to splain to you after its splained to me-never got Boggy and I’m a senior???

Muni was attractive (to me at least(, R19, but he could disappear into any number of unattractive characters.

The line "Tennis, anyone?" was his from a 1922 play when he was a juvenile. Hard to picture him being young.

Young Bogie

I also thought Muni was a very sexy guy.

Not a fan either. Hate his voice.

I love The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, and In a Lonely Place—all classics, and he’s great in them.

R7 nailed it. He’s popular with men, like Guy Fieri.

He had a posthumous "comeback" in the late 60s and early 70s in college campus screenings. He was considered by us to be a countercultural anti-hero. Kind of like Steve McQueen "avant la lettre"

[quote] I read that Audrey Hepburn was so sickened by his spitting in her face that it contributed to her truancy on the set of ‘Sabrina’.

HB said of Audrey that she was alright, "If you don't mind a dozen takes." Possibly apocryphal, though. "The Maltese Falcon" is my favorite movie of all time, but mostly because of Mary Astor and Lee Patrick. Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre certainly helped.

He's an average looking guy with an average body who got a much younger, hotter woman to marry him.

Now do you understand why straight guys dig HB so much?

Yes, R32. Then things like Woody Allen’s play Play it Again Sam cemented the new Bogart image.

R34, yeah, but the same can be said of half a dozen dumpy or average looking actors like James Stewart and Jack Lemmon who were chased by much younger beautiful women in movies.

Jack Lemmon? He did a few romantic comedies in the 60s where he was somewhat older than his female stars, but nothing truly egregious. The largest age gap I saw was between him and Catherine Deneuve in The April Fools. He was 18 years older than her. But movies where he was the romantic lead were comedies, and he always had that boyish look. He pretty much stopped doing rom-coms after he turned 45.

Was The Apartment a comedy?

The Apartment is a drama. Or a dramedy. He wasn't much older than MacLaine.

Explain the name Humphrey to me. Not ever a top ten and for good reason.

What I find fascinating is that Bogart was a man of his era. I can't think of any modern actor today who possesses the same qualities as Bogart: masculine, cynical, aloof, down on his luck, hard around the edges, yet a softie on the inside. He was a lot like Gary Cooper; he's nowhere near as attractive, but he's far more vulnerable on screen, which made him sexy to women. I look at Bogart as the American Jean Gabin.

I can understand why attractive women were drawn to him.

The Humphrey Bogart archetype is one who is jaded and cynical, and usually amoral, because he has seen what life has to offer and it ain't good. But when faced with a moral dilemma, ultimately, he chooses right (vs wrong) because there is inherent goodness in him and he sees that there is still hope yet for mankind.

The Bogart persona was the perfect hero/anti-hero for the war & postwar years.

[quote] Yes, [R32]. Then things like Woody Allen’s play Play it Again Sam cemented the new Bogart image.

Also, Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless immortalized him ten years earlier.

The Lux Radio Theatre version of The African Queen is better, r5. Englishwoman Greer Garson was more believable as Rose Sayer than Katherine Hepburn whom needed a vocal coach she never got.

Gregory Peck was closer to A. Hepburn in age but even he was thirteen years older. I think one of the reasons for the success of Breakfast at Tiffany’s was that she was finally paired romantically with someone her own age.

Maybe you had to believe alive then.

Women never found Bogart sexy, R40. Not then, not now.