The most influential movie ever made

Rating: 10/10 (4 August 2005)

Look no further than some of the memorable quotes listed here to begin to understand why this film is so beloved. At 60+ years of age the dialog is still a thing of beauty - quick, funny, cutting. Rick casually cuts down important figures of the community with the briefest of comments. Watching this movie today you are instantly reminded of other modern classics, but then you have to know that this one launched them all. The dialog of Pulp Fiction - comedic banter about topics ranging from foot rubs to french cheese burgers are interspersed with scenes of high drama - how different is it here when you are looking at the possible collapse of a city at the hands of the Nazi's in the midst of WWII.
Rick: Your cash is good at the bar. Banker: What? Do you know who I am? Rick: I do. You're lucky the bar's open to you.
Woman: What makes saloon keepers so snobbish? Banker: Perhaps if you told him I ran the second largest banking house in Amsterdam. Carl: Second largest? That wouldn't impress Rick. The leading banker in Amsterdam is now the pastry chef in our kitchen.
Concepts of "rounding up the usual suspects", "of all the gin joints", "This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" have been parodied, stolen re-used and homaged in many good films since.
This film was mad during the height of WWII - it is not a look back at the Nazi horrors - it takes on the Nazi's head on. The scene where they sing the French national song is terribly moving in 2005 - imagine what it would have been like in 1942.
Watch the film again and think of how many films it reminds you of and realize that this was the film that helped make those others possible.