Humphrey Bogart's 5 Best Moments In Casablanca, Ranked

Humphrey Bogart gave one of the finest performances of his career in the role of Rick Blaine in Casablanca, and created plenty of iconic moments. Casablanca is often ranked alongside Citizen Kane, The Godfather, and Vertigo as one of the greatest American movies ever made. It’s one of the most moving love stories ever committed to film. Bogart leads one of the silver screen’s greatest ensembles in the Casablanca cast.

Casablanca represents the pinnacle of Old Hollywood filmmaking. It was put together like any other movie back then: the studio grabbed a piece of material — in this case, an unproduced play — and gave it to a director-for-hire and a couple of stars under contract. But it was the perfect storm: the timely material tapped into the ongoing resistance against the Nazis; the director-for-hire, Michael Curtiz, had the ideal temperament for the story; and the contracted stars, Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, shared electric on-screen chemistry.

5 Rick Is Reunited With Ilsa

A Fateful Reunion

The story of Casablanca begins proper when Rick’s former lover, Ilsa Lund, wanders into his café. When Ilsa sees Rick’s friend, the house pianist Sam, she requests that he play their song, “As Time Goes By.” Rick is furious, because he ordered Sam to never play that song again, since it reminds him of his broken heart, and then he’s shocked to see the woman who broke his heart in his place of business.

The song sets the mood perfectly for this bittersweet romantic reunion, and Bogart plays the scene beautifully.

“As Time Goes By” was voted into second place on the AFI’s “100 Years... 100 Songs” list, surpassed only by Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz. The song sets the mood perfectly for this bittersweet romantic reunion, and Bogart plays the scene beautifully. Ilsa is the reason Rick is such a cynical grump, but he can’t hide his elation when he sees her again.

4 "Of All The Gin Joints..."

Iconic Casablanca Line

After his unexpected encounter with Ilsa, all of Rick’s buried emotions come rushing back to the surface. He sits alone in the dark, knocking back drink after drink, trying to process those feelings. Sam comes in and tries to convince Rick to put down the bottle and go to bed. During this sullen conversation, Bogart utters one of the most memorable quotes in film history: “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

The subtext of this line is applicable in all walks of life. Life has a way of surprising people with coincidences that completely change the course of their lives. Rick was content to spend the rest of his life lamenting his lost love, wishing Ilsa hadn’t left him and wondering why she did. But then, by pure chance, she wandered back into his life.

3 Ilsa Confronts Rick About Their Past

Past Lovers Confront

From the moment Ilsa comes back into his life, Rick struggles to hide the fact that he resents her for leaving him without even giving a reason. After his business is shut down, Ilsa confronts him in the deserted café to set the record straight. She confesses that she still loves him and explains why she left him. When they met and fell in love, she was under the impression that her husband had been killed while escaping from a concentration camp.

Upon discovering that Laszlo was alive and hiding out nearby, Ilsa had to leave Rick to take care of him. After hearing this confession, Rick’s bitterness fades away. Bogart gives a masterclass in screen acting as he subtly shows Rick letting go of his resentment and softening his rough edges.

2 Rick Tells Ilsa To Board The Plane

Selfless Act of Love

Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) standing close together at the end of Casablanca — Rick and Ilsa standing close together at the end of Casablanca

The ending of Casablanca is one of the greatest final scenes in movie history. Right up until the film’s closing moments, the story seems to be heading somewhere completely different. Aware that Rick is in love with Ilsa, Laszlo pleads with him to take her to safety while he boards a plane to Lisbon to evade arrest. Until they’re on the tarmac at the airport, that’s the plan: Laszlo will leave and Rick and Ilsa will be together after all.

As deeply as he loves her, and as much as he wants her to stay with him, he can tell it’s not what she really wants.

But at the last second, Rick tells Ilsa to get on the plane and go with Laszlo. As deeply as he loves her, and as much as he wants her to stay with him, he can tell it’s not what she really wants. As he explains why she’d regret staying with him, Bogart delivers another one of Casablanca’s best quotes: “Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.”

1 The Beginning Of A Beautiful Friendship

A New Friendship Begins

Rick and Louis walking into the fog at the end of Casablanca

While Bogart’s most iconic pairing in Casablanca is with his perfectly matched co-star Ingrid Bergman, she’s not the one he shares his last scene with. In the final moments of the film, Bogart shares the screen with Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault, the shamelessly corrupt local prefect of police. After Rick shoots Strasser dead and the police arrive to make an arrest, Renault protects Rick.

Renault suggests that he and Rick join the Free French resistance government in Brazzaville, setting up the next chapter of Rick’s story. As Rick and Renault walk off into the fog, Bogart delivers one of cinema’s most iconic final lines: “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Although Rick lost the love of his life, he keeps his chin up at the end of Casablanca. He didn’t end up with Ilsa, but he did get closure — and, with it, a renewed sense of optimism.