UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTERS, CRACKLING DIALOGUE, a hauntingly nostalgic score, all set to the backdrop of an ever-important cause — casablanca is A beautiful, bitter glass of brandy on the rocks.
Regan Humphrey
Casablanca (1942) drops us into the titular North African transit town, where refugees fleeing the terror and menace of Nazi Germany collect, all the while plotting and praying for escape to the free world. For respite, Casablancans water themselves at Rick’s, a saloon with music, booze, and gambling, a place that equalizes anyone who steps through the door. The saloon’s owner, Richard Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is as uncaring and given to chance as his patrons’ fates, until an old flame, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), walks in one night, on the arm of Victor Laslo (Paul Henreid), famed leader of the underground Resistance and Germany’s most-wanted fugitive.
REF SCORE: 38%
Soundtrack: 100%
Story: 100%
Writing: 100%
Diversity: 40%
Daring: 70%
Racism: PRESENT – 50%
Gender Bias: PERVASIVE – 80%
Homophobia: ADDRESSED – 20%
SUMMARY
Of all the movies in all the towns in all the world, Casablanca walked in with iconic performances, highly-quotable lines, and enough pop-culture references to last us the 78 years since it hit the silver screen. A legendary film about uncertain times, Casablanca is a postcard to the present, offering the grim and the hopeful on one plate.
ref score 