A masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (27 October 2001)

A classic in every sense of the word. This movie will remain in my Top 5 probably forever. This movie is, in my humble opinion, flawless. The acting is brilliant. Peter Lorre, Dooley Wilson, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Paul Henreid and Ingrid Bergman are all fantastic, but none compete with Humphrey Bogart. The best word to describe his character, Rick, is simply...cool. Rick is the embodiment of cool, and Bogart plays him incredibly. How he did not win Best Actor for this movie, I do not understand.
There are so many powerful and fantastic scenes in this movie, it's difficult to list them all. I love the anthem showdown, Rick meeting Ilsa again for the first time in years, Sam playing the piano for a drunken and depressed Rick, and especially the ending. This is probably the most moving ending in cinema history. There are also so many great lines in this movie. My heart skips a beat every time I hear "Here's looking at you, kid", "We'll always have Paris", the "Play it Sam" lines, the "hill of beans" line, "kiss me as if it were the last time", "maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow...", "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship", etc.
I don't think there has ever been better movie chemistry than that of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Never, ever has a romance film been as powerful as this one. And every time I hear Dooley Wilson play "As Time Goes By", the greatest song in movie history, I am just as deeply moved as if it were the first time I heard it.
10/10