…that the best movie of all time (for my money) debuted:
Casablanca ends begins year 82.
I can’t post the whole movie – stupid copyrights – but I’ll throw this out there in the unlikely event some of you haven’t seen it.
Me? By my rough count, I’ve seen it something like 86 times in the past forty years.
Appetizer? One of the most gloriously emotionally manipulative scenes in the history of movies:
I’m also reminded that the first time I saw the movie is now closer to the debut than the present day. I don’t want to talk about it.
I remember that I watched this movie in my early 20s, just because it was a classic, and I wasn’t especially impressed by it.
Something like 20 years later I watched it again, and my understanding of politics and the world in general had changed enough that I could really understand what was going on beneath the surface, and suddenly it became a great movie, and I understood why it was considered classic!
Did anyone else have that experience?
I saw it on television, then on video, but Casablanca really came alive for me when I saw it in a theater in 1992. It hits so much harder as a shared experience and although we “know” how it ended, it was easier for me to feel what those who watched it in early 1943 must have felt.
Did anyone else have that experience?
I saw it when I was 19, was very up on the politics and history of the era.
And I was mesmerized from the first moments. Absolutely enthralled.
I think it was in the running to be my favorite movie ever even before the famous final encounter between Major Strasser, Cpt. Renault and Rick Blaine – which just punctuated my resolve.
So no. Not the same experience 🙂
I just watched on YouTube a interview that Ingrid Bergman did some years back with Dick Cavett. She was saying that the cast really hated the movie as they were making it, and how it was going to be very damaging to their careers. She said Bogie among others were really upset at the constant rewrites of the script, and were close to walking away. She went on to say how shocked they all were at the films huge success. I’ve seen the movie several times this year on TCM. I believe it to be one of the best movies ever. YMMV
I’ve watched it several times, often catching it while channel surfing. A couple years ago I decided to watch it on my new HD computer monitor. I was blown away at how rich the black and white texture could be. I’d always been a fan of the film, but after that I was in love.