lee harvey
Ex-Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2005
- Messages
- 1,164
Film: Casablanca (1942)
So it took me 30 years to actually sit down and watch this movie. I always just close-mindedly dismissed it as "some cheesy old black and white type movie that could never hold my interest" since I'm into contemporary movies. In fact up until I watched Casablanca, I had a prejudice towards any old black and white films even if somebody recommended it to me.
Anyway, the other night I decided to open up my mind and watch this classic to see what all the hype was about. I was in for a treat, this movie cast a spell on me that riveted me to my seat. I got sucked into the dystopia of Casablanca and fit right in with all the sordid characters. It takes place in the dusty tinhorn city of Casablanca in Morocco.
Basically I don't think I can make the movie sound interesting, since when it was described to me, it didn't sound interesting - you just gotta see it. IMO It's an awesome movie, I watched it 3 times in the last week.
The plot is pretty simple;
Humphrey Bogart plays Rick, the owner of Cafe Americain, a fancy little gin joint in Casablanca, Morrocco – which is a main center for escape from war-torn Europe during WWII because the Nazi's have no control there. Basically all these cool cats come to Rick's including his ex-lover Ilsa, and Victor Lazlo, a concentration camp survivor and enemy of the Third Reich. The Nazi's are desperate to recapture Lazlo. He has escaped from their grip too many times and they're not about to let him leave Casablanca alive. The charaters all get swept up in danger.
All the characters are instantly solid and classic, Bogart is totally cool like "Deckard" in "Bladerunner", men are men, women are beautiful and strong, the bad guys are the good guys, The "Café Americain" is full of smoke, booze, vice, and mystery.
I can tell now that "Bladerunner" borrowed some style from this film.
I highly recommend sitting down some day and watching it.
So it took me 30 years to actually sit down and watch this movie. I always just close-mindedly dismissed it as "some cheesy old black and white type movie that could never hold my interest" since I'm into contemporary movies. In fact up until I watched Casablanca, I had a prejudice towards any old black and white films even if somebody recommended it to me.
Anyway, the other night I decided to open up my mind and watch this classic to see what all the hype was about. I was in for a treat, this movie cast a spell on me that riveted me to my seat. I got sucked into the dystopia of Casablanca and fit right in with all the sordid characters. It takes place in the dusty tinhorn city of Casablanca in Morocco.
Basically I don't think I can make the movie sound interesting, since when it was described to me, it didn't sound interesting - you just gotta see it. IMO It's an awesome movie, I watched it 3 times in the last week.
The plot is pretty simple;
Humphrey Bogart plays Rick, the owner of Cafe Americain, a fancy little gin joint in Casablanca, Morrocco – which is a main center for escape from war-torn Europe during WWII because the Nazi's have no control there. Basically all these cool cats come to Rick's including his ex-lover Ilsa, and Victor Lazlo, a concentration camp survivor and enemy of the Third Reich. The Nazi's are desperate to recapture Lazlo. He has escaped from their grip too many times and they're not about to let him leave Casablanca alive. The charaters all get swept up in danger.
All the characters are instantly solid and classic, Bogart is totally cool like "Deckard" in "Bladerunner", men are men, women are beautiful and strong, the bad guys are the good guys, The "Café Americain" is full of smoke, booze, vice, and mystery.
I can tell now that "Bladerunner" borrowed some style from this film.
I highly recommend sitting down some day and watching it.