Watching those rent-a-mob bands of bearded he-men swaggering around state capitols with their Confederate flags and symbolic AR-15s — what were they going to shoot at, after all? — reminded me of a scene in the old Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall movie Key Largo.
Bogart plays a fishing boat captain home from World War II — a soft-spoken combat veteran visiting the family of one of his soldiers killed during the Italian campaign. Bacall plays the friend’s widow, living in a small resort hotel on a remote Florida island.
A gangster on the lam, played menacingly by Edward G. Robinson, shows up demanding a boat ride to Cuba. Reflecting a different era’s idea of heroism, Bogart’s character avoids what he sees as a pointless confrontation with the thug. He has nothing to prove. But then, as a massive hurricane approaches, the tough guy shows signs of panic. Continue reading.