Five reasons you should watch a Humphrey Bogart Movie

“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”

It’s 65 years since Bogie left this mortal coil, and yet regularly people refer to his movies as classics. Now you don’t need to be a film noir buff or a hipster to get something out of one of his films. Personally, I always watch them and find myself thinking that I was born about 70 years too late. So, for everyone else out there, why should you watch the movies starring a guy that died probably before your parents were born? Or why should you re-watch them? Let’s explore.

5. You get the best wise cracks!

“I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners. They’re pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings.”

Whether it be Sam Spade or Phillip Marlowe or any other character played by Bogart, they all seemed to know how to talk smart. Bogart delivers these lines so convincingly that you believe he would talk to some punk on the street that way. Not only are they funny, so many of them are equally intimidating. Who can forget him saying “People lose teeth talking like that. If you want to hang around, you’ll be polite” in the Maltese Falcon?

There’s a reason why his lines are often quoted (and sadly mis-quoted). Not just were they well written, but you hear them and naturally think how cool those lines are. I’ve looked for reasons to utter the words “such a lot of guns around town and so few brains!” Maybe tomorrow I'll get to disarm some young thug and it will get a workout.

4. Not your typical love story

“Here’s looking at you kid”

Now at the end of Casablanca as Rick and Captain Renault walk away together, that’s not how a love story is supposed to end. It’s the right thing, it’s less a story about love than it is about sacrifice. What about Key Largo, when did Nora realise, she loved Frank? The romance is secondary to so many of his stories and yet you end up in love with him every time. Was he flawed? oh yeah, he was, but he was also very loveable.

His art was being the tough guy, the guy that could take on the mob, take a beating at the hands of thugs hired by Eddie Mars and still be a guy that someone fell in love with. Maybe it speaks of toxic masculinity, or maybe it speaks to the character beneath.

3. His leading ladies

“She tried to sit on my lap while I was standing up”

There are women who are pretty in their time, then there is timeless beauty and Bogie acted opposite some of the most beautiful. The obvious and first that springs to mind is Lauren Bacall, by any standards of beauty she is breath-taking. Bacall and Bogart met on the set of To Have and Have Not and went on to star in a number of other hits. Their on-screen chemistry is electric and the way they play off each other is astounding. It's no surprise that this electricity flowed off-screen as well.

You can’t forget Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, his long-lost love returning after all those years. What man wouldn't give it all up for her? Martha Vickers in The Big Sleep playing the bratty younger Sternwood daughter. Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen and then the other unrelated Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn playing Sabrina Fairchild in the original Sabrina. I recently bought a Blu-ray copy of the last movie as a present for a dear friend, the lady behind the counter was maybe 25 years old. She looked at Audrey and said "My God, she was just so beautiful and classy".

If Bogart isn't your thing, then I'm certain that these ladies of genuine class will be.

2. For the acting

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."

There are not a lot of fancy special effects in these movies. You will likely spot a lot of the mistakes in continuity and editing, even for someone without a critical eye. Most of them are plays that have been filmed, they don't need fancy effects. But you will believe that Rick loves Ilsa, or that Sam Spade is upset that his partner has died, or that Frank McCloud made a promise to George Temple in the war.

It’s just good acting.

1. For a laugh or a cringe

“When you’re slapped you’ll take it and you’ll like it”

These movies were set in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. They don’t know what politically correct is, because they didn’t understand the offense that they were causing. Do a lot of these movies stand up against today’s standards? No, they do not. Although if you read the books some of the movies are based on, it’s even worse.

Bogart smokes, drinks, resorts to violence and is a misogynist in a lot of his roles. If you can accept that, and still watch the movies you may find a moment that is amusing or cringeworthy, or both. It’s a study of the times to understand how the world saw things, how it treated certain people and how far we’ve come since.

“When your head says one thing and your whole life says another, your head always loses.”

Thank you for reading. I hope that this inspires you to either check out some Bogart or re-live with some nostalgia.