Casablanca

My Basic Ramblings: This is another situation where I thought "How dare you consider yourself a movie fan when you haven't seen this film!" So, on December 22^nd I watched it. (The file somehow got corrupted on my computer, which is why it took so long to get on the Abattoir.)

If I'd been Rick, there would've been no way in hell Ilsa would have gotten her grubby little paws on those letters of transit. I don't care what her excuses are - if someone who supposedly loved me left me hanging at a train station in Paris, that someone should never expect me to do them a favor, ever. But then again, I'm not Rick. Which is a good thing, because Chris would probably be a little upset if he woke up one morning and found a skeleton in bed with him ('cause Rick would probably be dead by now, y'know....)

But my cynical little standpoint aside, this is a wonderful sweeping romantic movie. Humphrey Bogart is very cool, even if his head looks too big for his body (a point I noted before in my review of The Maltese Falcon). I always thought Peter Lorre's part was bigger than it actually was; basically he sneers and oozes creepiness for a few scenes, then he's killed. He and Steve Buscemi and Christopher Walken would've been great in a movie together - Three Creepy Guys or something like that.

Why don't you ever hear of anyone having the name "Humphrey" any more? Hm........ Humphrey Freemesser. Maybe not.

I read the Internet Movie Database entry for this movie, and apparently the ending was sort of a last-minute idea - Ingrid Bergman spent the entire filming of the movie not knowing whether Ilsa would end up with Lazlo or Rick. Many different endings were filmed; in 1988 an alternate ending was shown at a film festival in Brazil - Ilsa stays in Casablanca with Rick.

This got me to thinking. What other ways could this movie end?

• Rick gives the papers to Ilsa and Lazlo; they head toward the airplane and are shredded to ribbons by the propeller blades.
• Rick gives the papers to Ilsa and Lazlo; they head toward the airplane only to discover the plane is a cardboard prop. The movie ends with Rick sheepishly explaining that they were over budget and had to cut corners, money-wise.
• Rick gives the papers to Ilsa and Lazlo; they get on the plane, the plane takes off, Rick shoots down the plane (this is my personal favorite).
• Rick gives the papers to Ilsa and Lazlo; they get on the plane, the plane takes off, Rick reveals the real papers that he'd kept hidden (that he and Louie use); Ilsa and Lazlo are arrested and killed.
• Rick gives the papers to Ilsa and Lazlo; they get on the plane, the plane takes off, a mysterious voice says "Rick Blaine! You just gave the one woman you've ever loved and her husband tickets to freedom that you could have used! What are you going to do now?" Rick looks into the camera, smiles and says, "I'm goin' to Disney World!"
• Rick gives the papers to Ilsa and Lazlo; they get on the plane, the plane takes off, Humphrey Bogart morphs into Pamela Sue Anderson Lee.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think this film is the first to use the term "the usual suspects", which of course would find itself a film title later.