He didn’t have classic “movie star” looks. He was short, only 5’8’’, and he had a slight lisp when he talked. Yet Humphrey Bogart is the American Film Institute’s #1 actor of all time and has created some of the most memorable characters seen on film. This week, we’re going to take a look at the first Hollywood icon: Humphrey Bogart.
I was watching Humphrey Bogart movies before I even knew who he was. I don’t know how many old black and white movies my grandma made me watch when I was little, but Sabrina was among them. It was one of Bogart’s last performances and definitely not his best, although it is a thoroughly entertaining movie with a good cast. When I started taking an interest in classic films later on in life, it was cool to already have a connection with “Bogey”.
Bogart began his acting career in plays, but when the stock market crashed, he began to look for film roles. He got his breakout role in 1936 in the movie The Petrified Forest, acting alongside Bette Davis and Leslie Howard. After that, he was typecast as a gangster in several ‘B’ movies before his rise to stardom as Rick Blaine in Casablanca, a man torn between love and obligation, right and wrong, revenge and duty (International Movie Database). This is probably my favorite Bogart movie, because there are virtually no flaws in it. The acting is superb all around, the plot is riveting, the characters have faults but ultimately do the right thing, the lines are insanely quotable, and the bad guys are Nazis. It’s also considered a cinematic masterpiece, staying on top of the American Film Institute’s Top 100 films, despite its age.
But despite the popularity of this movie, it almost didn’t make it past the censors. The movie contained allusions to the main woman character, Ilsa, having an affair with Rick Blaine, Bogart’s character. (SPOILER ALERT) It scraped by because Ilsa thought her husband was dead at the time of the affair, and she leaves with her husband instead of staying with Rick at the end of the film, comforted by the fact that she and Rick will “always have Paris”. The ending of this film alone is packed with famous movie lines. Although you have probably heard them before, they came from Casablanca: “We’ll always have Paris”, “Here’s looking at you, kid”, “Round up the usual suspects”, and “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”.
And of course there is the famous line “Play it again, Sam”, when in fact, this is never spoken in Casablanca. The correct line is “Play it, Sam. For old times sake”.
Some other roles that Bogart set in stone are Charlie Allnut in The African Queen (for which he won his first and only Oscar), Fred C. Dobbs in Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, Lt. Queeg in The Caine Mutiny, and Steve Morgan in To Have and Have Not.
Although he only won a single Oscar during his lifetime, having the bravery to use his real name, Humphrey Bogart, as his acting name should have earned him at least 5 Oscars.
Wow! I would have never guessed that that was his real name, that he was 5'8", and that he only won 1 oscar!
ReplyDeleteI, also, didn't know that all of those great lines came from Casablanca! I use some of those lines on a weekly basis.
I haven't seen too many movies by the Great Bogart but I would suggest Paul Newman! Humphrey may be cool but nobody can compare to the magic of the blue-eyed movie making machine also known as Paul Newman. (cue inspirational music)