Casablanca (1942)

"It's a classic!" my father would shout from the basement as we complained to our mother that Dad had taken our busted up Zenith hostage. With nothing to do on a Friday night, the thought of having to watch a black and white film was a fate worse than death. Rather than subject ourselves to such torture we decided, instead, to take turns climbing head first into a sleeping bag, spinning around, and trying to stay on our feet while everyone else tried to tackle us. We called it "Witch." Don't ask me why. Now that I am older, and have suffered many near concussions from playing Witch, I have finally watched Casablanca. I must say I was pleasantly surprised.

For those of you that don't habla espanol, Casablanca is Spanish for Housewhite...I mean white house. And here I thought that the only good movie involving a white house was "First Kid" starring Sinbad (not the sailor). Well make that two good movies.

Casablanca's leading man is Humphrey Bogart, a weird name for a good lookin' dude. Can I just go off subject for a moment and say that I understand Humphrey's appeal with the ladies, and I understand why he is so popular. So why on earth did a toad like Clark Gable become famous? I thought he was famous because everyone back then was ugly but Mr. Bogart proved my theory wrong. Not only is he handsome (I'm comfortable saying so), but he is a decent actor to boot. A lethal combination. But I digress.

This film takes place during WWII in Casablanca, an unoccupied French town in North Africa. It's essentially a refugee's toll booth on the long road to America. Refugees from what? Well the Nazis of course. Rick Blaine (Bogart) runs a saloon, and is happy being alone until in walks his ex-love ("Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."). She is a total "Betty" and turns the heads of everyone, including the feminine chief of police. Without getting too tied up in the plot let me just say there is a love triangle scenario, a few bar fights, an underground leader looking for a visa, and a sad but romantic resolution in the end. If you want to know more watch the movie!

I was very impressed with everything about this movie. Maybe it is because I went in pessimistically. The plot was intriguing, the characters identifiable, and above all they had a token black man ("Play it again Sam."). Also, you'll be surprised at the number of quotes you know from this movie. If you aren't then you've already seen the movie and this blog is just a waste of your time. At any rate if you like a good romance film, give this one a try. My dad wasn't lying when he said, "It's a classic!"

The bottom line:
Rating: 4.0
Would I own it? Maybe after I buy "Good Burger." (also starring Sinbad)
Would I recommend it? Yes. And not just to old people living under a rock who haven't seen it.

If you want to see Casablanca in pop culture check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvjFsZJqAPs