Humphrey Bogart’s 5 Best Moments In Casablanca, Ranked

Humphrey Bogart gave one of the best performances of his career as Rick Blaine in Casablancaand created many iconic moments. Casablanca often classified together citizen kane, the godfatherand Vertigo as one of the best American films ever made. It is one of the most moving love stories ever put to film. Bogart leads one of the best ensembles on the big screen in the Casablanca cast.

Casablanca represents the pinnacle of Old Hollywood cinema. It was put together like any other movie back then: the studio took a piece of material (in this case, an unproduced play) and gave it to a contract director and a couple of stars under contract. But it was the perfect storm: the timely material took advantage of the ongoing resistance against the Nazis; The hired director, Michael Curtiz, had the ideal temperament for the story; and the contracted stars, Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, shared an electric on-screen chemistry.

5 Rick reunites with Ilsa

Ilsa smiling in Casablanca

the story of Casablanca It begins just as Rick’s ex-lover, Ilsa Lund, walks into his cafe. When Ilsa sees Rick’s friend, the house pianist Sam, she asks him to play her song “As Time Goes By.” Rick is furious, because he ordered Sam to never play that song again as it reminds him of his broken heart, and is then shocked to see the woman who broke his heart at his workplace.

“As Time Goes By” ranked second on AFI’s “100 Years…100 Songs” list, surpassed only by Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow.” The Wizard of Oz. The song sets the perfect mood for this bittersweet romantic reunion, and Bogart plays the scene beautifully. Ilsa is the reason Rick is such a cynical grump, but he can’t hide his joy when he sees her again.

4 “Of all the gin joints…”

Rick drinking in the dark in Casablanca

After his unexpected encounter with Ilsa, all of Rick’s buried emotions come to the surface. He sits alone in the dark, drinking drink after drink, trying to process those feelings. Sam comes in and tries to convince Rick to put down the bottle and go to bed. During this sullen conversation, Bogart utters one of the most memorable quotes in film history: “Of all the gin shops in all the cities in the world, she walks into mine.

The subtext of this line is applicable in all areas of life. Life has a way of surprising people with coincidences that completely change the course of their lives. Rick was content to spend the rest of his life mourning his lost love, wishing Ilsa hadn’t abandoned him, and wondering why she did it. But then, by pure chance, she came back into his life.

3 Ilsa confronts Rick about his past

Ilsa confronts Rick in Casablanca

From the moment Ilsa comes back into his life, Rick struggles to hide the fact that he’s upset that she left him without even giving him a reason. After his business closes, Ilsa confronts him in the deserted cafe to set the record straight. She confesses that she still loves him and explains why she left him. When they met and fell in love, she was under the impression that her husband had been murdered while escaping from a concentration camp.

Discovering that Laszlo was alive and hiding nearby, Ilsa had to leave Rick to take care of him. After hearing this confession, Rick’s bitterness fades. Bogart delivers a master class in screen acting as he subtly shows Rick letting go of his resentment and smoothing over his rough edges.

2 Rick tells Ilsa to board the plane

Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) together at the end of Casablanca.

The end of Casablanca It is one of the best final scenes in film history. Until the final moments of the film, the story seems to be heading somewhere completely different. Aware that Rick is in love with Ilsa, Laszlo begs him to take her to safety while he boards a plane to Lisbon to evade arrest. Until they’re on the airport tarmac, that’s the plan: Laszlo will be gone and Rick and Ilsa will be together after all.

But at the last second, Rick tells Ilsa to get on the plane and go to Laszlo. As much as he loves her and as much as he wants her to stay with him, he can tell that it’s not what she really wants. While explaining why she would regret staying with him, Bogart offers another of CasablancaThe best phrases of: “Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

1 The beginning of a beautiful friendship

Rick and Louis walking through the fog at the end of Casablanca

Although Bogart’s most iconic couple in Casablanca He is with his co-star Ingrid Bergman, who matches perfectly, she is not the one he shares his last scene with. In the film’s final moments, Bogart shares the screen with Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault, the brazenly corrupt local police prefect. After Rick shoots Strasser dead and the police arrive to make an arrest, Renault protects Rick.

Renault suggests that he and Rick join the Free French resistance government in Brazzaville, setting up the next chapter of Rick’s story. As Rick and Renault head into the fog, Bogart delivers one of the most iconic final lines in cinema: “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.“Although Rick lost the love of his life, he holds his head high at the end of Casablanca. He didn’t end Ilsa, but he did achieve closure and, with it, a renewed sense of optimism.

Casablanca movie poster

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Casablanca

Set in Morocco against the backdrop of World War II, Casablanca stars Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine, a nightclub owner whose past comes back to haunt him when a former lover comes to ask for his help in getting her and her current boyfriend out. husband smuggled out of the country. City occupied by the Nazis. Ingrid Bergman stars opposite Bogart as Ilsa, with additional cast including Paul Henreid, Claude Rains and Dooley Wilson.

Duration 102 minutes Cast Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet Director Michael Curtiz