Live Life Team
Men love watching heroes. As kids, we read Robin Hood and King Arthur. Then we got older and got into sports legends. Regardless of age, we want to be heroes. This is why “Casablanca’s” Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine is one of the true great film characters.
When audiences meet him, it’s World War II. Rick is the cynical bar owner in the neutral Casablanca. He wears his indifference toward the war on his sleeve. Then his former love, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), walks into his bar with her husband and Rick’s past unravels, despite his attempts to suppress it. And yet, he is always totally in control. Sometimes it’s luck, sometimes it’s knowing when to keep the chief of police and Nazi Majors on a need-to-know basis–Rick always seems to know to do without having to think about it. And even the oft-quoted climactic speech in the end is so noble and heroic and it gives me chill bumps, regardless of how many times I’ve seen it.
We watch Rick for the same reason we watch Bruce Willis in “Die Hard” and Russell Crowe in “Gladiator”. We want to watch guys who know exactly what they’re doing at all times. Never do these characters bow down, question their courage, or even think twice about what is the moral thing to do. This is why films like “The Shining” are true horror films – it’s not the blood and gore, it’s what Jack Nicholson did to his son and what he might do.
