Tonight's Movie: The Breaking Point (1950) at the Noir City Film Festival

The final film of the 2022 Noir City Film Festival in Hollywood was THE BREAKING POINT (1950), starring John Garfield.

THE BREAKING POINT is a (very) loose remake of TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944), with both films inspired by a story by Ernest Hemingway. THE BREAKING POINT's screenplay was by Ranald MacDougall.

Garfield plays Harry Morgan, who lives on Balboa Island with his wife (Phyllis Thaxter) and young daughters (Sherry Jackson and Donna Jo Boyce).

Harry runs a charter fishing boat, assisted by his friend and employee, Wesley (Juano Hernandez). Harry is having a hard time making ends meet and is at risk of losing his boat. When a customer stiffs Harry on a payment in Mexico, he has no way to afford returning to California and, in order to come up with the needed cash, he agrees to transport some illegal Chinese passengers to a spot on the California coast.

It's downhill from there, are Harry is sucked deeper into criminality. He also flirts with danger in the form of Leona (Patricia Neal), who might threaten his marriage. With his business and relationship with his wife floundering, Harry's life is going from bad to worse in a hurry.

Like NO WAY OUT (1950) earlier in the evening, THE BREAKING POINT was depressing but worthwhile, the kind of film I'm glad I finally saw yet can't say I'll be anxious to watch again soon.

I appreciated that the movie had aspects which are still timely today, as Harry smuggles people into the country; it does not, shall we say, go smoothly.

I especially liked the film's setting and location filming. Relatively few movies were filmed in Orange County, where I live; the movie was set in the same area as THE RECKLESS MOMENT (1948) and THE GIRL MOST LIKELY (1958).

The movie's flaw is that Garfield's Harry is only fleetingly sympathetic; more often he's simply exasperating. His stress when he's stranded in Mexico is understandable, but as he makes one bad decision after another, it's hard to maintain sympathy, especially when his loyal friend (Hernandez) is impacted.

Beyond the unlikeable character, I'm going to say I frankly don't find Garfield particularly compelling. I've seen a significant number of his films and feel he's something of a one-note actor. He's adequate yet rather colorless, lacking many shadings and nuances. I'm sure this opinion will surprise his many ardent admirers, but Garfield's tortured antiheroes tend to grate on me.

Though I've come to appreciate her performance in THE HOMECOMING (1971) over the years, Neal is also an actress I rarely enjoy, but it works here as she plays an annoying woman without moral character. Thaxter and Hernandez are significantly more sympathetic and appealing, but they each spend the entire movie paying the price for Harry's choices.

THE BREAKING POINT runs 97 minutes. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and filmed in black and white by Ted McCord. The score was by Max Steiner.

THE BREAKING POINT is available on Blu-ray and DVD from the Criterion Collection.

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