Casablanca (1942)

Everybody comes to Rick’s.

I don’t know if Casablanca is the best American movie every made…but…

Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman

Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Peter Loree, Dooley Wilson

“What is your nationality?” “…I’m a drunkard.”

“Round up the usual suspects.”                      

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”                  

“We’ll always have Paris.”

"Here's looking at you, kid."

“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Given its cast, memorable lines, and place in movie history it is easy to forget just what a good movie this is.  

For those who haven’t seen it, Casablanca centers on Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and his Café Américain in unoccupied French Morocco two years after the fall of Paris. Everyone comes to Rick’s: gamblers, spies, freedom fighters, and refugees. Standing above it all, Bogart plays chess by himself, drinks, and enforces a code of strict neutrality.

Rick’s world is upended when Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and her companion, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), enter the Café Américain, seeking to escape the Nazis.

Casablanca is a love story. But it is a lot more. It explores the desperation of refugees (many of the actors, including Conrad Veidt, had themselves escaped the Third Reich), presents hard questions about whether moral men may enforce immoral laws, and is full of brilliant tiny details (Rick subtly setting right an overturned glass after a fight in the bar ) that bring something new with each watching.

So yeah, I don’t know if it is the best American film ever made…but it is only one we could have picked to kick off our Classic review section.

Ready to watch it? Casablanca pops up on cable from time-to-time. If you don’t want to wait you can catch it HERE on Amazon Prime.

Have a recommendation for your own best classic American film? Drop us a line HERE.

Five out of Five 🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸Champaign Cocktails at Rick’s.