Dashed the bill (1958)

Movie
German title	Dashed the bill
Original title	The Gun Runners
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1958
length	83 minutes
Rod
Director	Don Siegel
script	Daniel Mainwaring , ; Paul Monash , ; Ben Hecht (anonymous)
production	Herbert E. Stewart / Clarence Greene / Seven Arts Productions , distributed by United Artists
music	Leith Stevens
camera	Hal Mohr
occupation
	Audie Murphy : Sam Martin; Everett Sloane : Harvey; Eddie Albert : Hanagan; Patricia Owens : Lucy Martin, Sam's wife; Gita Hall : Eva, Hanagan's "friend"; Carlos Romero : Carlos Contreras, revolutionary; Paul Birch : Sy Phillips; Herb Vigran : Freddy, bar owner; Peggy Maley : Bargoer; Jack Elam : Arnold, owner of Sam's yacht; John Qualen : Pop, casino clerk; John Harding : Peterson, ichthyology; Stephen Peck : Pepito, rebel leader; Ted Jacques : Commander Walsh; Richard Jaeckel : Buzurki;

Dashed the bill (original title: The Gun Runners ) is an American feature film by Don Siegel from 1958 and was the third film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel Have and Not Have . Contrary to the literature, the plot is set in the Cuban Revolution .

action

Sam Martin is the skipper of the high seas yacht Lucy-M , with which he organizes tours for wealthy anglers in the Caribbean off the coast of south Florida . But business is bad. He lets himself be persuaded by the opaque Hanagan, who has rented himself on board in the company of his alleged friend Eva, a Swede , to call into Cuba illegally .

While Martin is waiting for Hanagan's return in a small Cuban port town, he meets revolutionaries in Havana , to whom he sells weapons. On his return to port, Hanagan first kills a soldier and then the taxi driver who transported him and who could testify against him as a witness.

All three return to Florida without Martin knowing what happened on land. He did not find out about the murders until later, as the Cuban authorities had informed US authorities of the crimes and it was known that the perpetrator fled on board a US yacht.

Hanagan, who still wants to sell weapons to the rebels, forces Martin, who is now bankrupt, to organize a transport trip. Martin happens to find out that most gun crates are just junk. In a showdown at sea, Martin manages to kill Hanagan and his companions and return to Florida.

Reviews

“The basis for Don Siegel's rather mild action film was a story by Ernest Hemingway, which was already implemented brilliantly - albeit very freely - with the Humphrey-Bogart strip to have and not to have . Don Siegel has not yet reached the class that he later showed. "

- prisma.de

“Directionally indecisive adventure film, which is mostly boring; With the best will in the world, you can't tell from the simple-knit film that the template comes from Hemingway. "

- Lexicon of international film

Historical background

The film plot is set against the backdrop of the Cuban Revolution. Their political motives as well as the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista are ignored. The revolutionaries are portrayed as brutal gangsters who are no different from Hanagan.

The film was shot entirely in California and not on location in Florida. Documentary footage of Havana is mounted at the beginning of the film .

Web links

Spanner in the works in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Report on the production backgrounds
Film clips on youtube.com

Individual evidence

[1] Dashed the bill at prisma.de

[2] Dashed the bill. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 21, 2017 .