It still holds up!

Rating: 10/10 (16 September 2002)

After the American Film Institute issued its list of the 100 greatest films of all-time, I started making regular trips to my local Hollywood Video to rent groups of three or four of them. My summer ran out before I could round out the top twenty, but of the handful that I got around to seeing, "Casablanca" was my favorite.
I'm currently enrolled in a Gangster Films class, where we screen and discuss classic films in the gangster genre. Having seen films like the original "Scarface," "The Public Enemy," and others, it amazes me that, while these films are great, they feel extremely dated.
The dialogue is clearly circa 1930, and the sets are all clearly just that, sets.
But then, you see "Casablanca." While the film is now 60 years old, it still holds up to modern cinema in every way. The characters are believable and sympathetic. Rick's unrequited love is painful (emotionally, not because it's awful, because it's not) to watch, not because Bogart is a great actor (though he is. One of the best), but because it's written in such a way that all of us who have ever pined for "the one who got away" know exactly how he feels.
I'll spare you a summary, because by now, you know the story. You know the dialogue, you know the shots. "Casablanca" is one of the most important films ever. It is almost perfect.
It is my sincere hope that the handful of people who gave this film a 1 out of 10 had mistaken 1 as being the highest mark available, because I'd hate to thank that anyone could possibly dislike this film.