“Here’s looking at you, kid,” wasn’t even a line from the Humphrey Bogart classic film, Key Largo. But that didn’t stop Bertie Higgins from making it part of the chorus to “Key Largo,” his biggest-and most endearing-hit. I loved that movie. In the days before VCRs and cable, I’d watch it every time it came on (public TV broadcast it regularly)-it’s part of what’s made me so into hostage dramas. The song is nothing like the movie. In the film, Bogart’s character is a bit of a douchebag, and he arrives at a hotel in the Florida Keys where Edward G. Robinson is holding Lauren Bacall’s family hostage. In the song, Bogie and Bacall go “sailin’ away to Key Largo.” And the music video was filmed in Tarpon Springs, not Key Largo. But who cares, it’s still a great, cornball classic.
Bet you’d forgotten about it, too, huh? That’s partly why I do these GOAT features. For guilty pleasures.
Further listening: Don’t. Higgins had a few other minor hits, like Casablanca and Just Another Day in Paradise, but really. Don’t bother.
Cover versions: Believe it or not, there are a few.
