The Humphrey Bogart Classic With A Near Perfect Score On Rotten Tomatoes

Humphrey Bogart was one of the world's greatest movie stars. A talented actor with incredible screen presence, the man made dozens of films throughout his career before dying at the all-too-young age of 57. Many of his movies are also timeless classics that changed the face of cinema, although there's one, in particular, that's considered practically perfect, at least according to Rotten Tomatoes. Of course, I'm referring to none other than "Casablanca," a film that has just one negative review out of 135 on the website, giving it a 99% "Fresh" score.

Mind you, "Casablanca" is far from the only Bogart film with a score in that range. In fact, it's not even the highest-rated one on RT, with the actor's 1948 Western "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" being one of several Bogart vehicles that currently holds a 100% score. Similarly, his 1941 noir flick "The Maltese Falcon" holds a 99% score based on 111 reviews, while "The African Queen" — the 1951 romantic adventure film that won Bogart an Oscar for Best Actor and saw him contending with not only the notoriously feisty Katharine Hepburn but some real-life leeches to boot — isn't far behind with a 96% based on 52 reviews.

Directed by Michael Curtiz (with Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch sharing credit for the film's chaotically assembled script), "Casablanca" is one of those great enduring classics that's so much more than the sum of its parts. It's a refugee story told by refugees, a melodramatic romance set during the hell of war, and it's made an imprint on our cultural subconscious that's impossible to deny. 

Despite its World War II-era setting, "Casablanca" is a timeless story about a man (Bogart) who runs into the woman he used to love (Ingrid Bergman), forcing them to question how fate drove them apart and whether or not they'll be together again. "Seeing the film over and over again, year after year, I find it never grows over-familiar," as Roger Ebert wrote in a four-star review published in 1996. "It plays like a favorite musical album; the more I know it, the more I like it." There's nothing self-important about the film either; as Ebert observed, "No one making 'Casablanca' thought they were making a great movie. It was simply another Warner Bros. release." 

Indeed, it's a pretty unabashed melodrama; even Pauline Kael, a critic who was never afraid of (and some would say notorious for) dancing to the beat of her own drum, admitted the film has a "special appealingly schlocky romanticism, and you're never really pressed to take its melodramatic twists and turns seriously" in her review. And sure, without any context, the movie may seem a bit theatrical, but when you remember that it was released the same month in 1942 that Nazis invaded the actual Casablanca, it takes on a special new level of meaning.

As for Martin Scribbs, the film's lone dissenter on RT? He's simply quoted as having described the movie as "overblown," having presumably not been won over by its central romance. Well, you can't win 'em all, right? (Scribbs has also referred to himself as being a "pedant, poet, and sot," so you should probably take his opinion with a grain of salt anyway.)

If you still need further assurance that "Casablanca" is worth the time of day, you need look no further than the film's many other accolades. Besides its RT score, the movie also made Ebert's own list of all-time great films, in addition to trying with "The Third Man" and "GoodFellas" for the 63rd spot on the 2022 Sight & Sound poll (the results of which were based on votes from 1,639 "critics, programmers, curators, archivists, and academics").

Most importantly of all, naturally, "Casablanca" made /Film's own list of the 100 best movies of all time. Writing about the film for us, Witney Seibold echoed Ebert's observation, noting that the movie was a humble product of the old Hollywood studio system that, almost by accident, emerged as an "indelible and timeless" classic instead. "The drama is beautiful, the romance is moving, the politics are assertive, the characters sublime. Even 'As Time Goes By,' written for the movie to sound like an old standard has, in itself, become an old standard," as he put it.

Again, there are plenty of Bogart movies to enjoy out there, but only "Casablanca" has managed to cement itself in our collective consciousness in such a profound way. It hasn't merely been recognized in hindsight, either, as the film won the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay the year it came out (beating out other major contenders like "For Whom the Bell Tolls") On top of that, it's since been referenced in everything from Bugs Bunny cartoons to Pamela Anderson's cult movie "Barb Wire" (which somehow has the same plot, as odd as that may sound).

In short? If you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and watch "Casablanca." It'll be the beginning of a beautiful friendship with one fantastic film.