We'll always have Spoilers:

The Classic. Casablanca. I can finally say I've seen it.

And the amazing thing is - it's as good as it's reputation.

It's hard enough to find the time to watch current movies, much less see what I've missed over the last 100 years or so of cinema; but sometimes I get in "classics" mode and try to watch a few. And so many times they don't live up to their reputations. But this one does.

The time is December 1941, during the second World War. The place is Rick's Cafe Americain, in Casablanca, in unoccupied French Morocco. Here refugees wait to acquire an exit visa to make the trip to Lisbon, Portugal, and eventually reach the United States in an attempt to escape war-torn Europe.

Rick (Humphrey Bogart) is owner and proprietor of the cafe where the better class of refugees and locals gather in the evenings. Everything's fine until Rick finds out that Victor Laszlo, the Czech escapee of a Nazi concentration camp, is coming to Casablanca, and the Nazis will stop at nothing to keep him from reaching the Americas. But who does Laszlo have on his arm when he arrives at Rick's? Ilsa (Ingmar Bergman). And of course, out of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world, she had to walk into his. With this turn of events, the famous story is set. We find out that Rick and Ilsa have a past in Paris, that her relationship with Laszlo is more than what it seems, and that neither Rick nor Ilsa have quite gotten over each other.

I've seen a number of movies that could fall into the genre, Classic Films, and the last time I was this enamored with a movie that was popular before I came of movie-going age was when I was sitting in the dorm room in college watching Animal House. (I was 7 when that film came out.) Now, I am in no way comparing Animal House and Casablanca; my only point here is that so often it seems like films that are considered Classics must be been much better at the time they were released. I still enjoy them 20 or 30 or 40 years later, but they seldom stand up to that amazing reputation they have. Maybe that's just my limited viewing experience, but only time (and more movies) will tell.

As the story plays out, I realize why this film is such a classic. The story. The dialogue. The acting. It's truly an amazing film. I even got goosebumps when Sam plays As Time Goes By, while Ilsa's eyes water and she remembers her time in Paris with Rick. Casablanca is truly a piece of art, and it's a joy to watch.

Though sometimes the dialogue seems a bit corny, it flows; and it fits the characters and their circumstances. Bogart and Bergman are amazing together, though if current news articles are to be believed, neither seemed to care for this movie, or for each other. And though anyone who's remotely culturally literate knows parts of the story and has heard half the dialogue quoted in a dozen different venues, you still find yourself transfixed, asking, "What's going to happen next?"

Casablanca is an excellent film, which I'd recommend to anyone, whether they have an interest in classic cinema or not.

			See it if you haven't yet. See it even if you don't like old movies, or black and white film, or even if Peter Lorre creeps you out. Don't see it if you don't like good film, can't stand a good story, or would just prefer to watch another rousing episode of Paradise Hotel.

© 2003 Jim Manchester

Originally posted to Reel People, 8/11/03