Casablanca--the movie

Dave Siciliano

Dave Siciliano

Final Approach
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Dave Siciliano
My nieces were in last week and like love stories. We watched several including Casablanca.

What struck me was how the story line of the movie was clearly carried by the actors: not special affects (although there were some for the time.) There was no point where just the interaction of the characters didn't point you in the direction the director intended. When Rick had the papers and Victor told him to just let Ilsa use them to get out; when Ilsa came to him to just let Victor use them showed their complete love for one another.

At the airport when Victor gets on the plane and Rick and Ilsa talk:

Rick: If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
Ilsa: But what about us?
Rick: We'll always have Paris. We didn't have it before...we'd...we'd lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.
Ilsa: When I said I would never leave you...
Rick: And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. Here's looking at you, kid.

They just don't seem to make them like that anymore.

Best,

Dave
 
agreed Dave. Leah and I watched it last month. great movie.
 
I always liked Casablanca, but what I notice about old movies is the dialogue. People don't really speak like that in real life... or maybe they did back in those days.
 
Got chills reading that last scene again. My all time favorite film. Nothing touches it.

I'm beginning to hate special effects.

The "special effects" in casablanca were due to the fact that with the war on during the making of it they were unable to use real aircraft
 
smigaldi said:
They probably didn't, just like I am sure all the women did not look like Ingrid Bergman!
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yea what a bummer.

and wouldn't it be nice if every bar was like Ricks? what a cool place. Only place i've been to that comes close is the Hotel Paisano in Marfa.
 
tonycondon said:
yea what a bummer.

and wouldn't it be nice if every bar was like Ricks? what a cool place. Only place i've been to that comes close is the Hotel Paisano in Marfa.
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Man you are right! Somewhat exotic location and setting but no Rick!

Hey, maybe I should move there and become Rick!

Some guy actually asked me for my autograph in the bar one night. I can't remember who he thought I was but it wasn't Humphrey Bogart
 
wby0nder said:
I'm beginning to hate special effects.
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Not just effects, but even the way they put stuff together, and I think aviation is the reason why. What I call it the 'Bruckheimer effect' (that shaky, quick-cut editing during action scenes that first showed up in TOPGUN) drives me nuts. How the heck do you script / storyboard that stuff?

Give me a Blues Brothers chase scene any day . . .
 
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wby0nder said:
Man you are right! Somewhat exotic location and setting but no Rick!

Hey, maybe I should move there and become Rick!

Some guy actually asked me for my autograph in the bar one night. I can't remember who he thought I was but it wasn't Humphrey Bogart
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You want my autograph? Sure! Who do I make it to? And who should I sign it as?
 
I am getting really tired of special effect, CG and constant, mindless action. As a card carrying "guy" I also do not like love stories. However, Casablanca is just a great film which I have on DVD and have watched numerous times. It is just well done, well acted and filmed in a period of great world strife. Yes, it shows its age with the dialogue and some corniness, but remember it is almost 70 years old! 70!

I would rather watch Casablance than most new films with CG effects, a poor story and poor acting.
 
Everskyward said:
I always liked Casablanca, but what I notice about old movies is the dialogue. People don't really speak like that in real life... or maybe they did back in those days.
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There is a comedian who has a really funny skit about the difference between letters written home to sweethearts during the Civil War, and letters written home today (from Iraq, etc). I will have to see if I can remember his name and find the skit later.. (I can picture him, and he's semi-famous now...).
 
woodstock said:
There is a comedian who has a really funny skit about the difference between letters written home to sweethearts during the Civil War, and letters written home today (from Iraq, etc). I will have to see if I can remember his name and find the skit later.. (I can picture him, and he's semi-famous now...).
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Don't remember the name, but I have read and heard some of the letters written during the Civil War era, certainly not like anything I'd expect to read today.

I'd suspect that what I've read and heard from the Civil War era constituted the exceptions rather than the rule. However, there is a significant difference in how things tend to be written these days vs. in years past. I liked the writing style of yore better.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Don't remember the name, but I have read and heard some of the letters written during the Civil War era, certainly not like anything I'd expect to read today.

I'd suspect that what I've read and heard from the Civil War era constituted the exceptions rather than the rule. However, there is a significant difference in how things tend to be written these days vs. in years past. I liked the writing style of yore better.
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Elisha Hunt Rhodes ring a bell?

He was just a regular guy, not educated at the time, and his letter show some of that. But they are some of the best.
 
Of course, this came out in 1942. Folks did talk a bit differently then (from what I recall and talking to my Dad) and the the public needed icons to look up to for morale purposes. Men had a very different role in society then.

Bogart was the anti-hero. It's funny, because that was big stuff in some of the early 50s movies like Rebel Without a Cause which acted like that theme was original.

Bogart acted tough, and was tough, but in the end, he always did the right thing. I think one could keep their man card watching this one <g>

Best,

Dave
 
wby0nder said:
Man you are right! Somewhat exotic location and setting but no Rick!

Hey, maybe I should move there and become Rick!

Some guy actually asked me for my autograph in the bar one night. I can't remember who he thought I was but it wasn't Humphrey Bogart
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Hollywood did a good job making Burbank and Van Nuys look like Morocco.
 
gprellwitz said:
You want my autograph? Sure! Who do I make it to? And who should I sign it as?
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I asked who they thought I was and it was some movie star that I'd never heard of and can't remember. They didn't believe I wasn't him at first and even after minutes of convincing left with obvious skepticism.

Pretty strange because if you saw me in person you'd never think "movie star". Not in a million years!

I've since started to feel kind of sorry for movie stars because they only pretend to do cool stuff that many of us actually do (Travolta aside)
 
My kids asked me last weekend what my favorite movie of all time was and Casablanca was the answer they got. They asked "why?".
I told them it was the only movie, that, if I was surfing channels and happened across it, I'd always watch it again.
Of course, there's Ingrid Bergman, too.......:yesnod:
 
Anthony said:
I am getting really tired of special effect, CG and constant, mindless action. As a card carrying "guy" I also do not like love stories. However, Casablanca is just a great film which I have on DVD and have watched numerous times. It is just well done, well acted and filmed in a period of great world strife. Yes, it shows its age with the dialogue and some corniness, but remember it is almost 70 years old! 70!

I would rather watch Casablance than most new films with CG effects, a poor story and poor acting.
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Lots of independent films with strong scripts, acting, and characters with almost no special effects. Won't see them at your local mega-theatre though.
 
steingar said:
Lots of independent films with strong scripts, acting, and characters with almost no special effects. Won't see them at your local mega-theatre though.
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Rent Juno if you get a chance. One of my favorite movies from last year.
 
Dave Siciliano said:
What struck me was how the story line of the movie was clearly carried by the actors: not special affects (although there were some for the time.) There was no point where just the interaction of the characters didn't point you in the direction the director intended.
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But..that's how it's supposed to be done. :yesnod:

That's what I like about low to moderate budget live theatre. No funds to hide shoddy acting or shoddy directing with glitzy fluff...and clever editing isn't an option. The actors and tech are there because the stage is their passion and nothing else matters. The skill level of local talent is incredible.

You'd love my theatre acting instructor. She said something like: "Acting is about your ability to become the character and bring a script to life by following the directors vision. It's not about the set, props, lighting or sound. For your final project which is 50% of your grade - you'll get a black painted stage with black curtains. Maybe a chair, table and absolute minimal costume to tell the audience where and when the setting takes place. Some lights so we can see you...and..nothing..else. The rest is completely up to you and I will guide you there. By the way, you'll be doing this in front of an open house live audience who knows nothing about the material... And so we begin by taking our shoes off..."


BTW, I abruptly stopped going to movies in 1991 because after coming out of the last one with ringing ears while wondering what the plot was about due to rapid chop and change scene changes that could induce seizures in a rock, I realized their billion dollar movies closely approximated what comes out the back end of a cow. Since then it's been live theatre where the actor has to convince you there's a dog on the stage to the point that you remember what size and color the nonexistent dog was even a month later.
 
wby0nder said:
...
I've since started to feel kind of sorry for movie stars because they only pretend to do cool stuff that many of us actually do (Travolta aside)
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:rofl: Guess who I was given a privileged audience with... and as I walked in to his dinner party I discovered I was being set up to be humiliated, if not killed....







(in my dream this morning)?


Never watch "Kings" right before you go to bed.
 
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steingar said:
Lots of independent films with strong scripts, acting, and characters with almost no special effects. Won't see them at your local mega-theatre though.
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The problem is finding them. Its like a good book. Where the heck do you find quality stuff to read that you will actually like.

You're right. Major box office stuff out of Hollywood, just doesn't cut it anymore. Once in a blue moon, but very rare.
 
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