Humphrey Bogart is the man. Seriously he's the coolest person ever. I can't think of a single actor who exudes the same ... whatever it is Mr. Bogart exudes. He's amazing. He is indescribably undeniably cool but he's not cool in the self-aware Rat Pack sort of way. He's got a huge head, narrow shoulders, wears his pants around his rib cage and he's COOL!
Wow.
CASABLANCA is one of those movies I've always intended to watch. So, through the miracle of Netflix (who's primary function, as far as I'm concerned, is to provide me with a chance to see all those movies I've always wanted to see but couldn't be bothered with going to a video store to not find) I finally saw Casablanca. I was happy to hear all the punchlines that are now basic pop culture ( "Here's looking at you kid." "We'll always have Paris." "Play it, Sam." "This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.") delivered with the emotional weight and naturalness that made them the catchphrases they are. But, what I think I most appreciated about CASABLANCA is it's unashamed drama. This is bad stuff happening to folks at a really really bad time ( fact: WWII was no picnic) and we get to watch them deal with it. What's best is they're not living their lives like a made-for-TV-movie, or rolling around in angst, or smirking because they're so amazingly cool that naturally everything will turn out alright. Nope, these folks are flawed and dangerous but decent and they're just trying to find their way through. Somehow, they manage to make something happen, and whatever we think of their decisions is A) of no concern to them and B) beautiful because of it.
It amazes me is that this film was made in 1945. Admittedly it was mostly at the end of the war, but it still was war. What's our pro-war propaganda like now? Was this a pro-war movie? Will any of our junk last longer than the time it takes to air it? Would singing the Marsellaise be as inspiring to an American audience now like it was then? Probably not, to most of my questions. We don't have a man like Humphrey Bogart around to be in anything. Which is fine. We all can learn from the Rick we have. We can refuse to "stick my neck out for anybody", we can enforce political neutrality in our nightclubs (though I felt quite a surge of nationalistic pride when Rick tells the German general that "there might be a few parts of New York you'd have trouble invading."), or we can decide when and where our line of tolerance is crossed and act accordingly. Whatever. No matter who we are there's always a Casablanca, the place where we get stuck. Whether we grow stagnant or fight our way out is our decision. However, Humphrey Bogart in CASABLANCA might just have shown us the way to overcome.
