Timeless

Rating: 10/10 (16 September 1998)

I saw this movie for the first time 56 years after it was first made and it could still move me with intensity. There's something simple and pure about the way it evokes its emotional power, somehow never losing that power over time. Also, I must say that Humphrey Bogart suddenly became the single man I wanted to be like after watching this film, more than Sean Connery, more than James Dean. He has this coolness which remains the pinnacle. True, this style and character is much better shown in The Maltese Falcon. In Casablanca Bogart is exposed; his coldness came from a broken heart, and he still has some of that compassion left within him. But I still look up to him, and deeply feel for him.