So guess what flick I saw last night without looking at the post pic (which is impossible by this point).
T’was an alright film in hindsight.
Gotta say, throughout, it was a bit of a slog at times. Not because it was old. No, no. I like me some old movies here and there (one recco off the top of my head: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Apparently, it inspired Indiana Jones. Black and white adventure that delves into the idea of man becoming the greedy pigs that took advantage of him). Hitchcock has some goodies too. Vertigo, Notorious, Psycho. All goodies.
But I think I kinda just dislike me some overly goodie-good ending; this cuckold, Rick Blair/Blare created just that. So this guy runs a restaurant/cafe/music joint in which he seems to sometimes help people, such as fleeing Jews in 1941, get (back) to ‘merica. Exterior-wise he’s a hard one. Interior-wise, he’s a heartbroken jelly puff. This comes to light when his ex-lover (of course the most beautiful woman in the entire movie, played by Ingmar, excuse me, Ingrid Bergman) comes into his bar. With her husband (the second most handsome man in the film) (Rick is the most, of course). This husband, Victor, is the leader of some anti-Nazi party. But he also wants to go back to ‘merica. And that’s partly what doesn’t make sense to me. I mean, why do you want to leave if you want to also help your people here in Africa and also in Europe? Did I miss something? Is he gonna be a more useful leader of his people, which he’s seemed to build himself up as while on this side of the pond, back in the USA? Is he that much of a sucker for this cheating woman? And Rick. Poor Rick. This cuk risks his life to help his ex-lover, whom he once fucked in Paris while she was lonely, and her husband. Why? Because of his anti-Nazi leaderism and because Rick likes to help escaping Jews. So save his life, he does.
Which, okay, ya, I guess makes sense from Rick’s perspective.
But then what about his friend, the army guy with whom he was going to set up Victor and get him arrested so that Rick maybe with the cheating wife in America? He just overlooks the fact that he betrayed their deal, and therefore their friendship, and murdered his boss right in front of him. But okay, it’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
And what about how Rick coulda just not have made this plan with his buddy and betrayed him, coulda just given over the travel papers to Victor and the lover, Ilsa, and off they go? Cinematic boredom is one reason, yes. Did Rick suddenly change his mind mind mission? Coulda. It’s buyable.
Am I just convincing myself of this stuff? This is such a self-debate about an aged film.
It’s really just the army guy’s logic that makes little sense to me. Oh, he admitted to being a bit of a sleazeball earlier in the movie? Well, does that automatically make him a pushover?
The beautiful friendship is one of two pushovers, I like to think (or maybe I’ve just given too much to too many women, so I’m triggered).
Anyway. The dialogue was pretty good! Many movies of today have dialogue that’s wooden and unrealistic. Classics like these capture the human voice of both sexes. All of their flirtations, power games, insecurities, beggings and hopes and etc. In fact, the adult convos were so realistically business-like that I felt almost stiffled. So much about business at the beginning, it was. And I get it; they’re showing Rick’s hard exterior and unfolding his personality as the film goes, revealing him to be one of love, compassion, and self-sacrifice, though I guess he was tempted to throw Victor to the Nazis in the name of love at one point.
Have I anything else positive to say about this film in the name of balance? Because I sure unloaded for a while there, and I like to give both positive and negative when critiquing any work.
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