Reviewing my top 5 Movies of all Time
Day 3 – Casablanca
“You must remember this. A Kiss is just a
kiss. A sigh is just a sigh. The fundamental things apply as time goes
by. And when true lovers woo, they still
say I love you. On that you can
rely. The fundamental things apply as
time goes by.” With just a few bars in a
chorus, everyone can be taken back to Rick’s Cafe Americain in the middle of
Casablanca. Casablanca, the movie, an indelible part of
the American movie landscape. There are
so many different ways I could go about reviewing Casablanca, and why it fits
on my top 5 movies of all time. But
let’s take a little side trip to understand why I put Casablanca as one of the
top 5 of all time.
What does it mean to have a top 5 of
anything? And what does a top 5 mean to
you, or to me for that matter. I
remember being on a date recently and the person informed me that while
she had a top 5 favorite movies, there was a movie that was not on the top 5 list
that she would watch more often than any other.
She loved The Big Lebowski. Now don’t get me wrong, as a Joel and Ethan
Coen fan I was a great lover of the movie, even going so far as to becoming a
dudeist priest; because, you know, it tied the room together, or something like
that. But I would never have considered
it among my top 5 movies of all time.
And she didn’t put it up their either, but she watched it all the
time. She loved it. So given that I have been relating what my
top 5 is I will get a bit into my criteria weeds for what my own top 5 is before
continuing on.
Top 5 means to me several things. Obviously, it would have to be one of my
favorite movies to watch. In this
instance, I would have to say that Big Lebowski might rank higher than say
Citizen Kane, which I am sure many critics would say is a travesty. But
seriously, other than for film study about technique and storytelling, would
you really sit down and say it is one of those pleasurable films that you could
watch time and again? Maybe some critics
could. I am not among them. I believe that you have to actually enjoy the
piece that you are watching to place it in your top 5. Maybe that makes me antiquated and from a
bygone era of critics. And certainly
with the notion of postmodern art as a kind of manufactured chaos, trying to
state the enjoyability of a film must be a daunting task for some. This doesn’t mean that I place entertainment
value above message or impact. It just
means that I consider it along with those when determining greatness.
A top 5 movie must be timeless in some way. This, unfortunately, tends to eliminate most
films in the comedy genre, unless the comedies are timeless. This is a reason why Buster Keaton’s films,
while not as popular as Charlie Chaplain’s films at the time, tend to wear better than
many of the comics and even than some of Chaplains best works, because the
comedy in them is timeless. Physical
comedy almost always wears better over time than particular sketches. Most sketches that are still funny deal with
issues that focus on the human condition in general, and not on anything
specifically. This is why it becomes
really hard for a comedy movie to make a best of anything list, other than a
list of comedy movies. Although
postmodern comedies are another thing altogether because they make fun of the
human condition. That does make me
laugh; but they haven’t been around long enough, and there aren’t enough of
them that are successful at this type of comedy to be included.
For a film to be in my top 5 it has to impress me when I first watched; it must be good 10 years later; and it must be good 30 years later (even though
some films on the list are not that old).
Aside from being enjoyable and timeless,
the film must move me in some way. This
doesn’t mean that I have to be crying by the end of the film, although
certainly some of the top films have moved me to tears. This doesn’t mean I have to be laughing
hysterically throughout the film, although that might help. What this does mean is that it has to provoke
some sort of emotion in me. This emotion
can be anything. It can be disgust,
anger, fear, happiness, tears, loss, abandonment, etc. But it has to provoke something within
me. I need to be walking out of the film
and the film has to stick with me. I
cannot leave the film and two hours later barely imagine a scene or a line of
dialogue (not that I am the "quote king" of film). It has to resonate far past the initial
watching. This doesn’t mean that I think a movie like Independence Day, Jurassic Park, or The Avengers is
bad. I enjoy those films and will give
them a good rating on a review. But the experience
tends to be limited to the film itself.
For me, a top 5 film must go above and beyond the initial
experience. This is just the place where
a film like Citizen Kane or a Lawrence of Arabia does shine. The movies are beyond fluff and make a person
think long after the film is over. It
may even make one argue about the significance of a plot point, or the symbol
of a particular set piece.
While these three things are but a small
list in the vast array of ways one can judge a film such as: is it technically
sound; is the film accurate; is there some new way of looking at film or new
technical aspects to film making that are enhanced making it a genuinely great film; are
the actors portrayals deep and involving; does the cinematography add or
detract from a piece; are there any obvious set gaffes or miscues in the film;
and is there a person who is genuinely miscast in the film (i.e. Keanu Reeves
in Much Ado About Nothing). I could get
into the weeds in all of these different things. And while I do take every one of these into
consideration, they tend to take a back seat to those three main criteria for my top 5, although not
entirely. So I tend to focus on each and
every one of those things as incidentals to the larger view of did I enjoy it,
is it timeless, and was I moved.
So how do I place Casablanca in the top 5
of all time? We can begin with the
acting and writing. Rick (Humphrey
Bogart), the classic everyman who has been wronged by a lost love. Ilsa, acted elegantly by Ingrid Bergman,
plays the foreign woman who came along to soften the everyman’s heart until
crushing it, leaving him lost in the cold cruel world of Nazis and Fascists
during World War II. In a precursor to
being dumped by text, or as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex in the City would learn by
Post-It Note, Rick is dumped by a letter, without explanation, and without the
ability to respond. Of course this is
all back story to Rick that we do not find out about until later. The story begins with Rick, the night club
owner who stands up for nothing and for no one.
In one exchange with a German General the conversation goes:
“Maj.
Heinrich Strasser: What is your nationality?
Rick Blaine: I'm a
drunkard.
Capt. Louis
Renault: That makes Rick a citizen of the world.”
Rick is a broken man who has decided to get
out of the world the most he can get out of it.
And he is going to make the best of a bad situation for himself, running
a seedy although profitable night club in the city. He even takes advantage of a situation, where
a gentleman who considers him a friend leaves him with letters of transit that
he has murdered and stolen to get them, keeping the letters and possibly
profiting from them in the future when the German’s cannot find them.
Along comes Ilsa to gum up the works. She not only breaks back into Rick’s life
without an explanation, she insists on bringing back to Rick all of the bad
memories that he had before. It forces
Rick to relive all of the pain that he has already suffered at the hands of
her. She goes to the night club and
forces his friend, Sam (Dooley Wilson), to play “As Time Goes By” on the
piano. As soon as Rick hears this he
forces Sam to stop playing until he realizes who has made him play it. The emotions are clearly etched on Rick’s
hardened face as it both destroys and softens his character at the same
time. Later that evening Rick forces Sam
to play the music once again, believing that Elsa is going to show up, and
convincing himself that he can take it just as she can. We end up reliving the painful memories that
he has etched into his brain through a series of flashbacks at the high and low
points of their brief relationship. And then
she shows up first to beg for the letters of transit, then to threaten him at
gunpoint, before breaking down to reveal that she still loved him and why she
had left him in the first place.
What is Rick going to do? Is he going to become a good guy and help
them out? Is he going to help out Ilsa’s
husband and keep Ilsa all for himself?
Or is he going to abandon both of them as he has been broken by
them? I could go into detail about all
of these different things, but I think that would spoil the plot of the
movie. And if you haven’t seen it yet, I
think it’s well worth a watch. The
actors aside from the main three are a who’s who of Hollywood character actors. There is Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Claude
Rains, Conrad Veidt and Paul Henried.
All of them litter this piece with interactions with the main
characters, building up the story in various ways, and all foils for Rick in
certain ways as well. There is Signor Ferrari
(Sidney Greenstreet), the businessman, who is in competition with Rick who sees
Rick go against his own financial self-interest, confusing who Rick seems to be
at the beginning of the film. There is
General Strasser (Conrad Veidt) who is the German general who Rick should want
to get along with in business but who he challenges by allowing French at the
bar to engage in the singing of the French national anthem, making him out to
be more of a patriot and less sleazy businessman. There is Captain Louis Renault (Claude
Rains), the corrupt French officer who Rick regularly buys off, exposing Rick
to be less corrupt and doing things for the benefit of others and not of just
himself. This caricature of Rick we have
at the beginning is slowly blown away by all of the actions these characters
brilliantly bring out in him.
Aside from the brilliant acting and
writing, there is the cinematography itself.
While color was used in a wide array of films by that time, for whatever
reason the Director and Cinematographer, Michael Curtiz, and Arthur Edeson, decided to go with a dimly lit back and white backdrop. For anyone who thinks films should have been
made in color and attempts to colorize such black and white classics, this film
exemplifies the travesty of such a belief.
Yes, shame on you Mr. Turner!!!
First of all, we are introduced to Rick in a dingy seedy nightclub where
some high end clientele but mostly seedy clientele are permitted to drink,
sometimes gamble, but often get into trouble.
Turning that into a colorized place brightens what should be a dark
place. And many of the outside
activities are in back streets and alleys because these are the people that
Rick is dealing with. Also colorizing it
would hurt the nature. But there is just
one shot where Rick is sitting with a bottle and a shot glass and you see the
smoke from the cigarette wafting into the air while the extreme pain and
emotion are written on the contours of Rick’s face, that if anyone tried to
change would just rip out the heart of the film. Here is a man who was broken by the world and
living in the seediest of places. This
cinematography perfectly highlights every wrinkle and every mark of pain that
this man has had to endure in his life and at the hands of Ilsa. It is the moment where the man must confront
the demons of the past. You cannot
imagine that iconic scene being told in any other way. That is the mark of something that is
timeless.
Aside from all of these things, who can
forget all of the lines that we now consider to be cliché, originating in this
one piece. “A penny for your thoughts.” “We’ll always have Paris.” “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in
all the world, she walks into mine.” “Here’s looking at you kind.” “Louis, this looks like the beginning of a
beautiful friendship.” “Round up the usual suspects.” There are so many different lines that you
cannot possibly forget that have ended up in other movies and other settings at
different times. Casablanca has so many
lines there is a movie based upon a line that most people only think are in the
movie, and yet it’s not there. “Play it
again Sam,” is not a line in Casablanca and yet it has gained worldwide
fame. That’s how timeless this piece is.
But the heart of the movie is the Romance
between Rick and himself. I know that it
is a weird thing to say. But truthfully,
Rick has lost the love of himself when his heart is broken by Ilsa; and he
buries himself in the corner of the world to almost have his soul rot. But Ilsa reawakens in him a love for all
sorts of things, not just a love for her.
It’s a love of country; it’s a love of things that are right in the
world; it’s a love of human kind. Ultimately
Rick discovers a love of himself that moves him into action. It’s a story of what real love should inspire
in all of us. I will not say more as if
you haven’t seen the movie you should go and see it for yourself.
Why do I love Casablanca and is it in my
top 5? I love it for the lines. I love it for the Romance. I love it for the silly patriotism. I love it for the sensual
cinematography. I love it because the
acting is amazing, the roles are rich, and for the music that Sam plays on the
piano. I love it because every time I
want to be the one saying, “Play it Sam. Play it for old time’s sake.” I love Casablanca because, ”the world will
always welcome lovers, as time goes by.” I am one such lover.
This Film is Perfectly Toasty
Five Stars
*up next on the top 5 (and probably the one
that will receive the most argument) – Gone with the Wind*
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