"Everybody goes to Rick's"

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2004)

I'd seen "Casablanca" many times before taking Robert McKee's "Story Structure" workshop several years ago. His artful dissection of the film--the centerpiece of his presentation--served only to increase my admiration for its many levels of significance. Its narrative design, its psychological subtlety, and its effectiveness as propaganda early in World War II make this a film that offers new insights with each new viewing. Like great literature, its richness remains superlative but never superfluous, and its economy of expression articulate, not taciturn. When I occasionally teach scenes from the film in theater and literature classes, students often note how even very minor characters with only a few lines achieve a presence that exceeds their roles. For many of my students, "Casablanca" becomes the beginning of a "beautiful friendship" with their own capacities for appreciating the kind of artistic integrity it embodies.