Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Humphrey Bogart,Ingrid Bergman,Paul Henreid,Claude Rains,Sydney Greenstreet,Dooley Wilson ,whole bunch of deceased actors
I consider myself a movie critic (okay, not a paid one). I don’t watch that many movies but I am very opinionated about good movies and bad. Without a doubt, Casablanca is the best movie ever made. Because the movie is so good, this article is probably going to be very boring.
This tragic love story takes place at a hip bar in Casablanca, Morocco during World War II. With big music bands, casinos, beautiful men and women, and elaborate dining tables, Rick’s Café Americain is House of Blues, Sky Bar, Hard Rock Café, and Planet Hollywood rolled into one. It is unclear if Rick’s sold T-shirts. The center of this story is an aging man Rick Blaine (Bogart) whose smoking and drinking makes you believe that he was Keith Richard’s role model. He and his companion (no, not that kind of a companion) Sam (Wilson) are running a successful bar when a beautiful couple, Victor Laszlo (Henreid) and Ilsa Lund (Bergman), walk into the bar.
Now a bit of history. During the latter stages of World War II, the French surrendered to the Germans proving that the French are a bunch of wimps. The whole French rebellion movement had to go to a politically neutral country, Morocco, before setting their sites in America; ironically, the French were too lazy and wimpy to organize their own rebellion and had to outsource this to people with vertebrae. Basically, if you were fleeing the Germans, you had to go from Occupied France to Unoccupied France to Casablanca to Lisbon to America. And you thought the layovers on charter flights to Cancun were bad. Laszlo, the leader of the Free France movement must get to America. Rick has the tickets (ordered from Will Shatner’s Priceline). Ilsa used to be an old flame of Rick’s. Captain Renault (Rains) is the corrupt but loveable cop who must stop Ilsa and Laszlo from getting free. Sam has no role in the movie so he just plays the piano. He plays the piano to set the flashback scenes and to make the song “As Time Goes By” a cinematic masterpiece.
I believe that best movies are those that make you wonder “what if?” The movies that have captured the audiences’ hearts and directors’ imaginations are these types of movies. Citizen Kane, Gone With The Wind and Cinema Paradiso all fall within this category. However, none of these capture the moment like Casablanca. When you watch Casablanca, try to think of the period. If the movie seems a bit clichéd, it is because this movie was so influential that it was mimicked by other movies. Also, after this movie, you will want to go out drinking and smoking like Rick. Also, you will see how these vices make you age rapidly as Rick seems significantly older than anyone else in this movie.
If you are a guy and you are trying to score (not a one night stand but a potential girlfriend), rent this movie. You may deceive your gal pal into thinking that you may actually have some class, are romantic and intellectual, and love history. And even though we all know that you are just trying to score (like Rick with Ilsa), you can recite some of the corny lines from the movie and melt her heart. Here’s looking at you, kid.
