throwback thursday: favorite movie towns

A post from 2009:

movies I'd like to visit, maybe even live there

Hollywood is not really a town, if you've ever visited. Not a town like the small one that some folks come from, or a bigger one, like where I live, here in D.C. But every once in a while Hollywood puts out a movie that takes place in "a small town," just like the ones that we know never really existed, but maybe would like to visit, or at least pretend to live in, for ninety minutes to an hour. And it's clear that the key to the attraction is as much the locals as the remote location.

In Doc Hollywood Michael J. Fox plays his usual smart-ass, this time as a hot-shot doc wanna-be Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who lands smack dab in the middle of the squash capital of the South. After waking to a morning skinny-dipping goddess vision and a pee-in-the-woods mating ritual, he is smitten with the girl, the town and its cast of kooks and so are we. And it's got Woody Harrelson in a good bit part, among others. Anther film with the same small town fish-out-of-water fun is the brilliant Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray reliving a day and getting to know everyone and everything really well until he gets it right. He also is in one of my all-time favorites. What About Bob, where he takes over Richard Dreyfuss's vacation, family and life ably abetted by some helpful neighbors.




Julia Roberts manages to lure Richard Gere from the Big Apple, or is it the other way around, in Runaway Bride? The Maryland town she is supposed to inhabit is full of a bunch of people you'd want to hang out with. Any town that sports Joan Cusack would be worth looking into. There are strange, unexplained details that make you wonder. What's with all the multiples? There are different sets of twins and triplets in many background scenes. Maybe it's something in the water...Housesitter, directed by Frank Oz, is another small-towns-and-romance-go-great-together movie, where Goldie Hawn insinuates herself into Steve Martin's life after a one-night stand. It's interesting, because we watch her fall in love with his house and his life and his family and (most of) his friends and have to wait impatiently for him to catch up. Oz hits another home run with In and Out, which has Kevin Kline slowly but surely discovering his inner homosexual and learning that everyone in town still loves him as much as we do. The final scene where everyone parties down so that his mother can get the "wedding" she always dreamed of is pure fun. And again, Joan Cusack lives there.




Casablanca is a classic, with the magnificent Bogie and an exotic collection of individuals all trying to escape from something. Wartime and romance are major plot points, but as the credits roll, I am secretly glad that Bogie has decided to stay in Casablanca with Louis and fight the good fight. It sure seems like they're going to have a hell of a time.



There are some other excellent movies that have fascinating small towns that I am glad I only have to visit for a little while, as they would be terrifying to live in full-time. Hitchcock must have been fascinated by small-town America, because he depicts it many times, all to sinister effect. Two of my favorite of his movies, Shadow of a Doubt and The Birds turn the safety and familiarity of living in a place where you know everyone on its head, as one town is hosting a serial killer and the other is besieged by unexplained deadly bird attacks. A holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life, actually shows a town, that no matter how wonderful some of its inhabitants are, would be a pretty rough place to have to live. I'll pass, thanks.

I don't live in New York any more, but once you have, it never quite leaves you. New York is not a small town, but there have been a few film fantasies that somehow manage to get a sense of the city. Guys and Dolls is a real slice of Broadway history, both musical and depicting the sorts of characters that used to hang out near Times Square. A far cry from the Disney theme park that exists there today. And Marlon Brando sings! The Godfather, Part II is a crime classic, but it also gives a slice of what it meant to be an Italian immigrant in this country, coming through New York. Another fun film set in downtown New York is After Hours, the ultimate trip through SoHo in the 80s with Griffin Dunne being dragged from one bizarre situation to the next. Woody Allen is well-known to be in love with his home town New York and has made movies set in the city many times, but as an ex-new Yorker, I don't really get a strong sense of the city, except as travelogue, in his films. Hannah and Her Sisters is one exception, where the SoHo and downtown sequences seem truly "the city," as Michael Caine tries to seduce Barbara Hershey in bookstores, her partner's painting studio, and on the street.

So whenever big city life gets to be a bit much, I know I can retreat to one of these film oases. Any other favorite film fantasy small towns?

bogart: in search of my father by stephen bogart

If anyone thought that being the child of famous parents was a walk in the park, they need go no further than read Stephen Bogart's memoir, Bogart: In Search of My Father. The book is half memories and anecdotes about his father, and half spiritual quest to quash, once and for all, his personal demons about spending his life in his father's shadow.

Stephen holds his dad's Oscar for Best Actor in The African Queen

Actor Humphrey Bogart was 44 when he met 19 year-old Lauren Bacall while filming To Have and Have Not in 1944. They fell in love while making the iconic film, but Bogie and Baby couldn't be together right away, as Bogart was still married to his third wife, Mayo Methot. He filed for divorce the following year, and Bogie and Bacall were married on May 21, 1945. Four years later their first child was born, a son, Stephen, named after Bogart's character's nickname in To Have and Have Not. A few years later, in 1952, Bacall gave birth to a daughter, Leslie, named after Bogart's friend Leslie Howard, who helped jump-start his film career to more serious roles by insisting he play in the film the role he created on the New York stage, of Duke Mantee, in The Petrified Forest.

Stephen was only eight when his father passed away from esophageal cancer. He does have memories of his father, but he fills in his kaleidoscopic portrait with great anecdotes from family friends like Katharine Hepburn: like his dad's notorious drinking (which helped both The Rat Pack), his early life, his marriages, his long and winding road to success as an actor, his iconic outsider role of Rick Blaine in the film classic Casablanca.

He also quotes his mother and echoes much of the biographical information she provided in her memoir, By Myself. As much as Bogart spent much of his life railing against being only known as "Bogie's son," one senses that the parent he really has issues with is his mother. In a terse but emotional passage he describes how his parents left him, at the age of two, to go on safari to Africa and film The African Queen. As Stephen waved goodbye to them as their plane took off, his nurse holding him actually suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage and died, right there, on the tarmac. And, as Bogart tells his readers, once she was informed, his mother didn't come back. She continued on with the trip. It's clear he has never forgiven her.

The most heart-rending section of the book comes at the end, as he details his father's failing health, bout with cancer, surgery, and eventual death. Tough guy Bogie ended up frail and unable to walk downstairs, but he still met daily with friends like Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, and Frank Sinatra. He kept his trademark "needling" humor intact, "Put me in the dumbwaiter and I'll ride down to the first floor in style." Neither Bogie nor Bacall ever talked about his impending death, to their friends, each other, or the kids, but the man himself knew, as Hepburn told his son, "Spence patted him on the shoulder and said, 'Goodnight, Bogie.' Bogie turned his eyes to Spence very quietly and with a sweet smile covered Spence's hand with his own and said, 'Goodbye, Spence.' Spence's heart stood still. He understood.'

In Bogart: In Search of My Father, the reader learns about Bogie along with his son. Bogart also includes stories about his youth post-Bogie, his rebellion, troubles with drugs and relationships. He tries to draw parallels to their lives, some of which stick, some don't. He had a major chip on his shoulder soon after his father passed away, "One day a kid said to me, 'Too bad about your father,' and I slugged him." It may have been a tough road for Bogart to accept his roots and learn about his dad's life. maybe even hardest to accept was how so many people loved his father, wanted to share his memory. But now Bogart has not only faced his demons and accepted his father's legacy, but he has embraced it. As the head of the Humphrey Bogart website and the driving force behind the now annual Humphrey Bogart Film Festival, he works hard to preserve and promote his father's legacy. He has come a long way.

it's a wrap: humphrey bogart film festival

I just got back from the second annual Humphrey Bogart Film Festival in Key Largo, FL, and like many of my fellow attendees, I am already looking forward to next year's festival. Attendees were treated to a series of events where they could meet and greet festival organizer and son of the actor, Stephen Bogart (host of WXEL's Bogart on Movies) and renowned film critic and historian Leonard Maltin, as well as take in a list of over twenty classic films, all celebrating the theme of "Romance."

I was lucky to be able to see some classic Humphrey Bogart-Lauren Bacall films over the weekend: To Have and Have Not, screened outside under the moon and stars; Key Largo at the nearby Lion's Club which was transformed into Rick's Cafe Americaine; and Casablanca and The Big Sleep for the first time on a big screen. In a panel discussion hosted by Caroline Breder-Watts, film historian and host of WXEL's “Listening to Movies,” she and Bogart and Maltin and the audience engaged in a lively discussion of the diversity of Humphrey Bogart's roles throughout his long career. ...

Leonard Maltin and Stephen Bogart field questions at Sunday's brunch

... The Humphrey Bogart Film Festival is quickly becoming a tradition for film buffs and Bogie enthusiasts. As Leonard Maltin shared at the festival's closing brunch on Sunday, "Movies are meant to be a communal experience. ... they can make difference in your life. [when you see a great one it sounds] a loud gong that doesn't go away."

You can read the complete post at Cinema Sentries.

favorite song friday: "play it once sam, for old time's sake ..."

This song seems an appropriate ear worm for me for this weekend, where I'll be attending the Humphrey Bogart Film Festival in Key Largo.

Ilsa [Ingrid Bergman], "There's still nobody in the world who can play "As Time Goes By" like Sam."

You can here the full song, performed by Dooley Wilson, here.

here's looking at you, kid — the humphrey bogart film festival

This weekend I will be attending the 2014 Humphrey Bogart Film Festival (May 1-4), and writing about my experiences for Cinema Sentries (and also on this blog). I can't wait! I inherited the love of Bogie and classic films from my dad, and am thrilled to have chance to check out this festival, now in its second year. Put together by Bogart's son Stephen Bogart and the Humphrey Bogart Estate, the festival meets every year in Key Largo, Florida, the setting for the classic John Huston film of the same name that starred Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Claire Trevor, and Edward G. Robinson. Also in Key Largo is another iconic item from a Bogart film, the steamboat the African Queen.

This year Stephen Bogart wants to honor his parents, one of Hollywood's most famous couples, Bogie and Bacall, with the festival them of "Romance." Bogie is reported to have said of Bacall, "She's a real Joe. You'll fall in love with her like everybody else." Who can argue with that? ...

Bogie and Baby, during the filming of To Have and Have Not

I will be trying to fit in as many of the Bogie/Bacall pairings as I can, along with classics like The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, Sabrina, and the amazing Casablanca, which is set to be screened outside on Friday evening. As Bogie said of his first truly romantic role, "I didn't do anything I've never done before, but when the camera moves in on that [Ingrid] Bergman face, and she's saying she loves you, it would make anybody feel romantic." Seeing Casablanca and Bogie and Bergman and Claude Rains and all the rest under the stars should be an experience that is hard to beat ...

Check out my full report on Cinema Sentries.

best movies ever — casablanca

If some Hollywood hotshot scriptwriter or director thinks Casablanca is ripe for a remake I hope there's another writers' strike, because Casablanca is unique. For its time, its stars, its general attitude. They don't make 'em like this anymore. They can't.

When Casablanca came out in 1942 the United States was at war. The characters that populate the Casablanca of the film were mostly war refugees, trying to escape their invaded homelands for a better life in America. The film takes place right before the United States stepped into the fray. War in the 21st century is an entirely different proposition. We live in such a global world these days that wars are at once not so very far away and just far enough to be forgotten as we cruise the Internet for the next viral video.

"I stick my neck out for nobody."

But that wasn't the case for Rick Blaine (Humphey Bogart, in his first major romantic role). We first see Rick in the remote Vichy France outpost of Casablanca, with local French Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains) lording it over the inhabitants. Casablanca is a way station for anyone trying to escape the Third Reich or their demons. Rick has opened Rick's Café Américain, and everyone comes to Rick's — to get new identity papers, make illegal transactions, gamble, or just have a drink (or two or three.) But Rick is a lone wolf, and won't sit down to drink with his customers.

Woman: What makes saloonkeepers so snobbish?
Banker: Perhaps if you told him I ran the second largest banking house in Amsterdam.
Carl [waiter]: Second largest? That wouldn't impress Rick. The leading banker in Amsterdam is now the pastry chef in our kitchen.
Banker: We have something to look forward to.

Rick's has a truly international clientele, and every table at Rick's has someone trying to work some deal to get out of Casablanca, including everything from selling jewels to sexual favors. Bogart as Rick interacts with some of Hollywood's best character actors, including Peter Lorre as Ugarte, who has stolen letters of transit and asks Rick to hold them for him, and Sydney Greenstreet as Signor Ferrari, a rival nightclub owner who also runs the local black market. The letters of transit are one of the most famous of film MacGuffins. They are key to the plot, and practically every character mentions them or wants to get hold of them. Some even die for them, but they are so unimportant by the end of the movie, as the only thing anyone watching cares about is whether Rick and Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) will end up together.

The divide between what was happening at Rick's and what was going on in the real world outside the theater when the film was first released was a very slender one. Many of the extra and bit-part actors in Casablanca were actual Jewish and/or European refugees from the Nazi occupation: Peter Lorre (M), Conrad Veidt (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, Marcel Dalio (The Rules of the Game, Grand Illusion), and Helmut Dantine, to name just a few.

Louis, "The waters? What waters? We're in the desert." Rick, "I was misinformed."

Casablanca starts off like many other pictures of the period, with a spinning globe, stern narrator, and the announcement that two German couriers bearing letters of transit have been killed. Nazi Major Strasser (Veidt) lands at the Casablanca airport, greeted by Louis, who assures him not to worry as he expects to apprehend the perpetrator that evening at the local hotspot, as "Everyone comes to Rick's." Rains as Louis is wonderful and complicated, and practically steals the movie from its top stars. He enjoys his authority and the illicit pleasures it brings as perquisites, but he is no fool. He kowtows to the Germans and Vichy government when necessary. He has a fondness for Rick, but not so much so that he wouldn't turn him in to the Germans if he was pressed and it would save his hide. He is first and foremost out for himself, and could easily, if more charmingly, have echoed Rick's famous line, "I stick my neck out for nobody."

Rick is the ideal role for Bogart. He combines the steel edge from gangster roles like "The Roaring Twenties" with a world weariness that makes him the perfect romantic hero. He also looks pretty dashing in his white dinner jacket and later, trenchcoat. He is emotionally raw and vulnerable. The audience gets to see him run the emotional gamut - in love, closed off, maudlin and drunk, angry and nasty, noble and determined to do the right thing. But he is still a man of mystery. We're never told exactly why he's an expatriate.

Louis: What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?
Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Louis: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert.
Rick: I was misinformed.

A broken heart led Rick to Casablanca, and he is trying hard to remain detached from everything around him. He doesn't interact with customers or anyone if he can help it, he doesn't cut anyone a break at the casino, and he isn't particularly friendly with Nazi officers.

Major Strasser: Are you one of those people who cannot imagine the Germans in their beloved Paris?
Rick: It's not particularly my beloved Paris.
Heinz: Can you imagine us in London?
Rick: When you get there, ask me!
Louis: Hmmh! Diplomatist!
Major Strasser: How about New York?
Rick: Well there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade.

Casablanca has some of the most famous quoted and misquoted ("Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'") lines in movie history, but all of the dialogue is excellent. When Major Strasser tries to intimidate Rick by rattling off his vital statistics and facts from his past, Rick's response is, "Are my eyes really brown?" No one can shake up Rick. At least, not until Ilsa walks in.

"Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'"

Now all his rules get thrown out the window. He joins Ilsa and her traveling companion, Czech Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a hero and leader of the Resistance, for a drink, surprising and intriguing Louis and raising Major Strasser's suspicions about him even higher than they were before.

Victor, the third side of this triangle, as played by Henreid, is a bit of a stiff, but somehow it works for the movie and his character. He plays his part as if he's the star of the movie, not Bogart. Victor may be a hero in the war and in the world, but he's clueless when it comes to Ilsa. He has his mind on bigger things and would agree with Rick that "the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world."

Rick, now in friendly saloonkeeper mode, is putting on a show for Louis and Victor and the Nazis, but mostly for Ilsa. As soon as she leaves the club with Victor he crumbles. Ugarte is grabbed for the murder of the German couriers, but Rick doesn't care. Only his past romance is on his mind, "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."

Roll the flashback to Paris ... we learn about their love affair and why "As Time Goes By" and Sam (Dooley Wilson) were such an important part of their lives. "Here's looking at you, kid." They plan to flee Paris and the Nazis together, but Ilsa leaves without him, Sam handing him her goodbye note, ink running in the rain. As Rick wallows in his old heartbreak, Ilsa picks that moment to come back to the club and speak to him privately and it doesn't go well, for either of them.

So much light and pattern

The film is a classic because it can be enjoyed on so many different levels. It is the ultimate movie romance. It is also a thriller and a war/propaganda film. It is film noir, with director Michael Curtiz in top form. The cinematography, sets, and lighting are superb. Black and white lines and shadows recur repeatedly throughout the film, echoing the trapped, caged-in atmosphere of life in Casablanca. In one of the only outdoor scenes, Rick and Ilsa meet in the market and are both in stripes — Rick in a striped tie, Ilsa a striped blouse, still bringing up past hurts and betrayals. Ilsa finally tells Rick that Victor is her husband — and has been all along, even when they knew each other in Paris. She had presumed him dead, but was informed that he managed to escape from a Nazi concentration camp right before she and Rick planned to leave Paris. So many secrets, so many stifled emotions.

Everything has changed for Rick. That evening at the club a young Bulgarian girl approaches him and begs for him to help her husband, who is losing heavily at the roulette table. She promised Louis sex in exchange for passage for the two of them out of Casablanca, but if her husband can come up with cash, she won't have to offer herself. If the girl had approached Rick before he saw Ilsa again, would he have even considered helping her? Not very likely. But Rick is thinking a little differently about love and life these days, and he fixes it so the young couple can get what they need and get out of town (sorry, Louis.) News of his act of generosity goes like wildfire through the club, thrilling and inspiring all of his employees. Like the Grinch, his heart has begun to grow a few sizes.

When Ilsa comes to him again, this time armed and demanding the letters of transit, the scene plays as if from another Bogart film, The Maltese Falcon, with Rick at first treating Ilsa as Sam Spade did Brigid O'Shaughnessy — like a conniving, two-timing dame. But this is a different movie and a very different romance. Angry words soon melt away and Rick and Ilsa rekindle their romance in the back room, while Carl (Sakall) and Sascha (Leonid Kinskey) smuggle Victor in the front door, trying to escape the local authorities, who want to arrest them for attending a Resistance meeting. The Vichy police arrive and take Victor prisoner, and Rick momentarily seems happy, thinking that circumstance may help remove this romantic obstacle from his life. But the next day he's in Louis's office, wheeling and dealing to get Victor released. To help him, or get rid of him? Casablanca is about love and choices and honor. Can Rick truly get past his feelings of betrayal to forgive Ilsa? To help her and Victor? Can he and Ilsa rekindle their affair and run away together? What about the Nazis?

"Here's looking at you, kid."

Casablanca only gets richer with multiple viewings. Once you know whether Ilsa will get on that plane with Rick or with Victor you can relax and just watch the actors do their stuff, drinking in all the little details in the settings and nuances in the script. Rick and Ilsa have some of the best romantic close-ups in the movies, pulling the viewer "into" their romance. It's a shame Bogart and Bergman never made another movie together, as they had wonderful chemistry. But the chemistry doesn't stop there. Rick and Louis may be cinema's best bromance, solidified by one of the best closing lines in any film, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Round up the usual suspects and watch "Casablanca" again. You'll be glad you did.

"Casablanca: Cast," Wikipedia

Previously published on Yahoo!

This is the another in a series on some of my all-time favorite movies. Feel free to comment or share some of your favorites in the comments.

claude rains, rabble rouser

We tend to think that our celebrities are more outrageous these days, but they are mere children compared to the hellions of yesteryear. Consider Claude Rains, who was married six times, and with a love life even more exciting than some of his movie adventures.

From imdb: 

Isabel Jeans (1913 - 1918) (divorced) He separated from wife Isabel Jeans three times, reuniting two of those times. He finally filed for divorce on grounds of adultery when she miscarried Gilbert Wakefield's baby. She admitted the adultery during the divorce and later married "Gilly" Wakefield. 

Marie Hemingway (1920 - 1920) (divorced) His marriage to Marie Hemingway only lasted months. Rains and Hemingway did not know each other well before marrying, and it was not until after they were married that he found out she was an alcoholic. 

Beatrix Thomson (November 1924 - 8 April 1935) (divorced) He starred in Richard B. Sheridan's "The Rivals" on stage in 1925. His then wife, Beatrix Thomson as well as his two former wives were also in the cast. He and wife Beatrix Thomson separated in 1928. It took almost seven years to finalize. 

Frances Propper (8 April 1935 - 1956) (divorced, 1 child) When his daughter Jennifer was 17, her mother, Frances Proppper, woke her up in the middle of the night, said she was leaving her father, and wanted to know if Jennifer wanted to come with her. Jennifer declined. On the day his divorce from Frances Propper was final, he drank and drove his Bentley into a ditch, totaling it. When they found him he was passed out drunk on the ground and the car was upside down and on fire. 

Agi Jambor (4 November 1959 - 29 July 1960) (divorced) His fifth wife, Agi, was a Hungarian Jew who had escaped the holocaust. She later composed the piano solo "Sonata for the Victims of Auschwitz." When he had had enough of his fifth marriage to wife Agi, he had the locks changed on their house while she was out shopping. 

Rosemary McGroarty Clark (August 1960 - 31 December 1964) (her death) His wife Rosemary died from pancreatic cancer. Rains and his doctor kept the diagnosis from Rosemary until one day she said, "Please don't do that to me any longer. I know what I've got."

Rains could play any kind of part. Leading man, comic sidekick, dastardly villain. No matter what the role he always projected an inner calm, and most importantly, humor.

"Often we'd secretly like to do the very things we discipline ourselves against. Isn't that true? Well, here in the movies I can be as mean, as wicked as I want to - and all without hurting anybody. Look at that lovely girl I've just shot!"

Some of my favorites of his roles include:

Casablanca (1942) - As Captain Louis Renault he practically steals the movie, has an effortless rapport with Bogie, and goes from being a corrupt petty official ["Ricky, I'm going to miss you. Apparently you're the only one in Casablanca with less scruples than I"], to a patriotic hero walking off into the sunset with his new partner in crime.

Notorious (1946) - In an incredible performance, Rains plays Alexander Sebastian, an (almost) sympathetic Nazi. As much as the audience roots for Cary Grant to come and rescue Ingrid Bergman from Rains and his evil mother, director Hitchcock's last shot of Rains is heartbreaking, as the two lovers leave him to his Nazi cohorts, knowing that he will be killed for letting them go.

The Lost World (1960) - Rains is almost unrecognizable under his wig and beard as Professor Challenger in The Lost World - until he starts speaking with his wonderfully mellifluous voice. It's a fun over-the-top performance in a movie with dinosaurs (!)

The Invisible Man (1933) - Again, the voice runs the show, and Rains has one heck of a voice. His performance as a scientist who we watch go mad is amazing. He once again manages to win an audience's sympathy for a crazy, even at times evil, man.

Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) Rains and Vivien Leigh in the title roles are adorable together. They also do great justice to George Bernard Shaw's wonderful play.

The Wolf Man (1941) Rains plays Sir John Talbot, the father of Lon Chaney, who has been bitten by a werewolf. Their last encounter on the misty moors is quite dramatic and exciting, and Rains lends a touch of class to the horror classic.

Mr. Skeffington (1944) Rains made quite a few movies with Bette Davis, but this one, where he plays the title role of a man in love with a self-centered woman who doesn't love him, is one of the best.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) It's Jimmy Stewart's picture, but as crooked politician Senator Joseph Paine, Rains has a blast.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) Rains plays naughty Prince John, after the throne of his brother King Richard the Lionheart, and has a wonderful time being tyrannical, while still remaining untouchable. Basil Rathbone as Sir Guy of Gisbourne has to be the villain in the piece that Errol Flynn can vanquish, while Rains gets to exit stage left at the curtain, to live another day.

The always likable Rains was born in England, but became an American citizen in 1939. He was also an acting teacher, with students including Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud.

"He was a great influence on me. I don't know what happened to him. I think he failed and went to America." [Gielgud] 

I can't think of an actor who I have had more fun watching be very, very bad. What a life and what an actor.

Happy birthday, Claude Rains!

i came to casablanca for the waters

Captain Renault: What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?
Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert.
Rick: I was misinformed.


I was thinking about this great line, in a whole movie full of great lines, and how it seems to me the epitome of Humphrey Bogart's screen persona and his appeal. The words spoken are innocent enough, but let there be no mistake, Bogie's Rick Blaine is not going to tell anyone anything he doesn't want to.
Dialogue in movies like Casablanca is so subtle and multi-layered. Not only do they not make movies like this very often anymore, but people just don't seem to speak like this anymore. With subtext. I am constantly amazed at the brashness of people in conversation, the questions the have no hestitation in asking. Questions, that I was taught when I was growing up, are plain rude—How old are you? How much do you make?—And anything else that one might consider a tad personal.

It's not the facebook generation. They all grow up knowing each other's business, so they don't need to ask the rude questions. It's their parents' generation. Whenever I am confronted by someone that I feel may be prying, or has crossed one of my invisible boundaries, I am going to try and conjure up Bogie and how he answered Louis's nosy parker-ness. The Bogie of Casablanca, not this Bogie ...


Although I love that Bogie, too.

Related articles

• Dvdsdave Kehr: Here's Looking at Bogie, Kid (nytimes.com)
• ON CLASSIC CINEMA Here's looking at you (tech.mit.edu)

movies I'd like to visit, maybe even live there

Hollywood is not really a town, if you've ever visited. Not a town like the small one that some folks come from, or a bigger one, like where I live, here in D.C. But every once in a while Hollywood puts out a movie that takes place in "a small town," just like the ones that we know never really existed, but maybe would like to visit, or at least pretend to live in, for ninety minutes to an hour. And it's clear that the key to the attraction is as much the locals as the remote location.

In Doc Hollywood Michael J. Fox plays his usual smart-ass, this time as a hot-shot doc wanna-be Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who lands smack dab in the middle of the squash capital of the South. After waking to a morning skinny-dipping goddess vision and a pee-in-the-woods mating ritual, he is smitten with the girl, the town and its cast of kooks and so are we. And it's got Woody Harrelson in a good bit part, among others. Anther film with the same small town fish-out-of-water fun is the brilliant Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray reliving a day and getting to know everyone and everything really well until he gets it right. He also is in one of my all-time favorites. What About Bob, where he takes over Richard Dreyfuss's vacation, family and life ably abetted by some helpful neighbors.




Julia Roberts manages to lure Richard Gere from the Big Apple, or is it the other way around, in Runaway Bride? The Maryland town she is supposed to inhabit is full of a bunch of people you'd want to hang out with. Any town that sports Joan Cusack would be worth looking into. There are strange, unexplained details that make you wonder. What's with all the multiples? There are different sets of twins and triplets in many background scenes. Maybe it's something in the water...Housesitter, directed by Frank Oz, is another small-towns-and-romance-go-great-together movie, where Goldie Hawn insinuates herself into Steve Martin's life after a one-night stand. It's interesting, because we watch her fall in love with his house and his life and his family and (most of) his friends and have to wait impatiently for him to catch up. Oz hits another home run with In and Out, which has Kevin Kline slowly but surely discovering his inner homosexual and learning that everyone in town still loves him as much as we do. The final scene where everyone parties down so that his mother can get the "wedding" she always dreamed of is pure fun. And again, Joan Cusack lives there.




Casablanca is a classic, with the magnificent Bogie and an exotic collection of individuals all trying to escape from something. Wartime and romance are major plot points, but as the credits roll, I am secretly glad that Bogie has decided to stay in Casablanca with Louis and fight the good fight. It sure seems like they're going to have a hell of a time.

There are some other excellent movies that have fascinating small towns that I am glad I only have to visit for a little while, as they would be terrifying to live in full-time. Hitchcock must have been fascinated by small-town America, because he depicts it many times, all to sinister effect. Two of my favorite of his movies, Shadow of a Doubt and The Birds turn the safety and familiarity of living in a place where you know everyone on its head, as one town is hosting a serial killer and the other is besieged by unexplained deadly bird attacks. A holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life, actually shows a town, that no matter how wonderful some of its inhabitants are, would be a pretty rough place to have to live. I'll pass, thanks.

I don't live in New York any more, but once you have, it never quite leaves you. New York is not a small town, but there have been a few film fantasies that somehow manage to get a sense of the city. Guys and Dolls is a real slice of Broadway history, both musical and depicting the sorts of characters that used to hang out near Times Square. A far cry from the Disney theme park that exists there today. And Marlon Brando sings! The Godfather, Part II is a crime classic, but it also gives a slice of what it meant to be an Italian immigrant in this country, coming through New York. Another fun film set in downtown New York is After Hours, the ultimate trip through SoHo in the 80s with Griffin Dunne being dragged from one bizarre situation to the next. Woody Allen is well-known to be in love with his home town New York and has made movies set in the city many times, but as an ex-new Yorker, I don't really get a strong sense of the city, except as travelogue, in his films. Hannah and Her Sisters is one exception, where the SoHo and downtown sequences seem truly "the city," as Michael Caine tries to seduce Barbara Hershey in bookstores, her partner's painting studio, and on the street.

So whenever big city life gets to be a bit much, I know I can retreat to one of these film oases. Any other favorite film fantasy small towns?