5 reasons to see Casablanca again

So what if it's actually shot in black and white in a Hollywood backlot with model planes? Casablanca is loved by film snobs and normal people – and it's exciting despite the Hays Code that didn't allow sex or violence. We give you five damned good reasons to see it on the big screen on its 70th anniversary.

1. Bogart is Rick - and everybody comes to Rick's!

As the owner of Rick's Cafe Americain, Bogey's character isn't a musclebound freak, nor is he a guy who has any particular gifts such as IT coding, talking or shooting. His real skills are survival and being able to wear a white dinner jacket for an entire film without getting it dirty. As Rick Blaine, Bogart plays a man who "sticks his neck out for nobody." That's what he says. Yet when a refugee's pretty wife asks if it would be wrong for her to sleep with the chief of police in order to save herself and her husband, Rick fixes it so she doesn't have to. So, you see, Rick does stick his neck out - but only if it's the right thing to do. That's Rick's secret: he's a good guy who wants to look like a tough nut. Result? We love him. Oscar loved him too: Bogart won one for this role, his first as a romantic lead.

2. Ilsa's a wow!

The female star of Casablanca, Ingrid Bergman, isn't like today's model-faced stars. She's got a big round, expressive face that speaks louder than any dialogue. But it's only when she enters a room do you notice that she's actually got the body of a supermodel – legs that are a mile long and a tiny waistline. She's that quixotic combo of total beauty, passion and normalcy. She's the good, loyal, beautiful wife who, thinking her husband is dead, has a torrid, passionate and lasting affair with Rick. Who else could annihilate the tough guy with a soft heart? The camera loves her, Rick loves her, her husband loves her and so do we. Bergman acts the snot out of any scene and makes it look easy.

3. Love Hurts!

Rick's relationship with Sam, the piano player is one of the truly great bromances: understated manly affection. Either would take a bullet for the other, but there's no tears here. Yet, when Sam plays As Time Goes By, Rick falls to pieces. The song that evokes Rick and Ilsa's great love is a tune that stabs Rick in the heart. The quote, "Play it again, Sam" has become shorthand for the pain of love. In fact, Rick never says it. He says, "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'." One of the greatest throwaway lines in cinematic history – way better than "Do or not do; there is no try." Bogart and Sam made it okay to get drunk and bawl your eyes out like a baby because you've got a broken heart.

4. The Quotes!

Casablanca's chock full of quotes you've heard before from friends, family and celebrities. Hell, the quotes are even used in other movies. Casablanca's best gifts are quotes about the rottenness and beauty of romance – it gets you ready for Valentine's Day, good or bad. "Here's looking at you, kid", "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" and "We'll always have Paris" have all entered common use. "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine" is tricky and requires exact memorising. "Round up the usual suspects!" provided the title for The Usual Suspects. Of course, those are just Casablanca's best known quotes. Serving the Nazi major, Carl the waiter says, "I have already given him the best, knowing he is German and would take it anyway." There are many, many more, including, "What watch? Ten watch." See it and you'll get it.

5. Great characters!

Everyone's on the take in Casablanca and Hollywood's greatest players immortalised this fact by giving superb performances, turning Casablanca into a microcosm of the world with a warm knot of kooky personas within its treacherous surrounds. Sydney Greenstreet as the fat, coffee-loving Signor Ferrari, Peter Lorre as the sweaty, pivotal Ugarte and, of course, Dooley Wilson as Sam, Rick's best mate. Claude Rains pitches his role as Captain Renault so finely that you don't know if you're supposed to like him or not, while Conrad Veidt is the most hateful Nazi that ever stepped into the casbah. And S.Z. Sakall is brilliant as Carl, the waiter, who's almost as smart as Rick.

The winner of three Oscars, Casablanca is right up there with Citizen Kane as the greatest film of all time. Here's lookin' at you, kid.

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