a classic that's known to people long before they actually see the movie

Rating: 10/10 (26 August 2006)

For years when I was younger I thought I had seen Casablanca, but it wasn't until I was 17 that I actually SAW the entire thing from start to finish. Before that, I had seen some of the most indelible scenes from the picture (I don't remember them all, but one had Peter Lorre, another was when Bogie is drunk in the bar after the bar is closed and Bergman's Isla goes to him and he tells her off, another was, of course, the last scene). It's when one sees all of the story put together and all of those really terrfic scenes in the club that it really does gell as being a classic. It might not be up there for me with the very great films ever like Citizen Kane or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but there's never a minute, a line, or a performance in Casablanca that turns out to be dull or un-watchable. It's by turns very funny in a few spurts even though it's a romantic drama of the highest Hollywood order. For some on the level of movies dealing with loves lost and found and lost again it's no wonder that this takes the cake. Even the last scene, the lines of which have been parodied God knows how many times now, still has that ring of emotion in the greatest escapist sense. It's a must-see-once kind of movie, even if you find that you don't like the movie.
And the cast is probably one of the best reasons to see it. It's really got the best crop of stars and character actors from Warner brothers and beyond. Bogart and Bergman have their spotlight on them here at full blast and they each deliver impeccable performances in roles that aren't too unexpected, but never less than stylish and dramatic. Then there's Peter Lorre, Peter Greenstreet, and of course Claude Raines who probably gives if not his most memorable performance one of his most striking. It's rare that an actor is given such a part that really fits him and still keeps a hold on the viewer so many years later. From the story intrigue and deception and danger involving the Nazis, the heroism and sacrifice that gets involved, and at the core of it- after the club which Bogie owns- is the love triangle that gets resolved in a somber way that makes for a sensational ending. In fact, it's main goal is to be sensational, and for the most part it's truly successful, from its 'a kiss is just a kiss' song to the sweet one-liners.