(viewed on 8/31/11)

Casablanca falls into the category of “Movies I Think I’ve Seen From Beginning to End But Really I’ve Only Seen a Few Scenes”.  I know, it’s pathetic.  Look, my mom watched AMC a lot when I was a kid, or rather, the television was usually stuck on a classic movie whether anyone was watching or not, a soundtrack to house cleaning or Scrabble games.  So, although a few scenes are very familiar to me, it was a worthwhile film to watch in full for this project.  Now I’m ashamed I haven’t seen it MANY times, that I can’t quote entire scenes from memory.  Sigh.

Like Citizen Kane, this is a classic that deserves every bit of praise that it gets, to the point where writing a word about it seems silly.  What stone has been left unturned?  Only the tiny pebbles of our personal reactions, my friends, and that’s all I can give you.

Look at these two.  Did they know they were making movie history?  Nope.  It was just another movie to them.  Double sigh. Like many films, and especially World War II films, I can not imagine seeing this film when it was released.  The Internet tells me it was released just as Allied forces invaded Casablanca.  Mind-blowing. 

Anyway, that’s just the back drop.  Nazis will make any plot extra tense.  The point is, who doesn’t want to be Rick?  Who doesn’t want to be the guy who runs the bar, who everyone wants to talk to and can’t, who ALWAYS has the perfect line?  (Or, who doesn’t want to be the ONE lady who gets under his skin?)  Humphrey Bogart, with that weirdo mug of his, is one of the few screen actors who won his awards for making it look EASY.  Other actors may take difficult roles that shake audiences up, but old HB is just a regular guy, living on the edge, and he rarely cares at all.  Third and final sigh.  I have a new appreciation for him after this and The Maltese Falcon, and more of his films are now on my list. (Fun Bogart fact: HB was born on Christmas Day 1899.)

But maybe the best thing for me about this movie is that I will now think of Casablanca when I hear “As Time Goes By”, (maybe) instead of/(probably) in addition to Sleepless in Seattle.