Key Largo was a 1939 Broadway play written in blank verse by Maxwell Anderson that became the basis for the 1948 film by the same name.
This was actor James Gregory's Broadway debut, playing the character "Jerry".
John Huston was so angry about the deficiencies in the play that he barred producer Jerry Wald from the set of the film.
It was believed that Huston was in a rage over the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings and didn't want to adapt a play by a reactionary who hated Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
[citation needed] A deserter of the Spanish Civil War played by Paul Muni redeems himself in death by defending the family of a true war hero against some Mexican bandits on the tiny Florida island of Key Largo.