Originally written March 7, 2012

This was a movie that I had to watch for a Cinema Appreciation class in college. This is one of those movies that I’ve heard so much about for so long, that people say how classic it is, and stuff like that, but I had never seen it before this. So I was excited. However, that happened with Citizen Kane too, which I ended up not liking, so I was nervous about it going in.

It’s a love story, really. It’s about a man named Rick who is in love with a woman named Ilsa, and he hasn’t seen her for a while. She suddenly comes back, but only to find that she’s now married. The two still love each other, but nothing can be done at that point. However, complications start to arise when Ilsa and her husband need exit visas (which in that time period were really expensive and hard to get), and the only man who has them is Rick.

The sound of the plot alone doesn’t interest me, but it actually turns out to be a lot more interesting than you would think. I was really impressed by the movie. It actually wasn’t boring (which was my Citizen Kane complaint), and had some classic scenes and dialogue that kept me entertained. I liked the characters, especially Rick (Humphrey Bogart did an excellent job playing him), and overall the movie really does feel like a classic.

4.5/5