Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart by Stefan Kanfer

“The best part” of Kanfer's new biography chronicles the benchmark moments when the Bogie legacy was enhanced, such as Jean-Paul Belmondo’s mimicking of Bogart’s sneer in Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless.

(Knopf, 288 pages, $26.95)

“Why do we continue to need Humphrey Bogart?” asked Alyssa Rosenberg in The Atlantic. On the face of it, “it doesn’t actually make sense” that the late film star endures as a romantic hero when handsomer, more dashing actors were long ago relegated to the second tier. The question of Bogart’s enduring appeal goes unanswered by former Time film critic Stefan Kanfer in his sometimes thought-provoking new biography, but it’s always there. Bogart was scrawny (his Navy enlistment papers listed him at 5 feet 8 inches, 136 pounds), and he had a slight speech impediment and carried a scar on his upper lip. But against long odds, he has become a lasting symbol of American manhood.

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