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 who made dozens of films throughout his career. Some of them are timeless classics that changed the face of cinema, like the 1941 noir film "The Maltese Falcon" and the 1948 Western "The Treasure of Sierra Madre." He eventually won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1951 romantic adventure film "The African Queen," in which he had to contend with not only the notoriously feisty Katharine Hepburn but also real live leeches. There's one movie that's considered practically perfect, however. So perfect, in fact, that it has a 99% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, barring just a single negative review.

There are plenty of Bogart movies to enjoy out there, but just one of them managed to cement itself in our collective consciousness in such a profound way. This film won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay the year it came out, beating out other major contenders like "For Whom the Bell Tolls." It's been referenced in everything from Bugs Bunny cartoons to the movie "Barb Wire," which somehow has the same plot. So, which Bogie flick is it?

That's right, it's "Casablanca"!

"Casablanca" is one of those great enduring classics, a movie 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. Sure, without any context at all it's a bit too theatrical, but when audiences understand that the film was released the same month in 1942 that Nazis invaded the real Casablanca, it takes on a special new level of meaning. So, it really should be no surprise that "Casablanca" has a near-perfect 99% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes with 136 reviews. In fact, since there's only one negative review in the whole batch, and it's from a rather contrarian critic who calls himself a "pedant, poet, and sot," so it really should be at 100%.

Despite its World War II-era setting, "Casablanca" is a timeless story about a man who runs into the woman he used to love, forcing them to question how fate drove them apart and whether or not they'll be together again. Bogart and Bergman have incredible onscreen chemistry, and "Casablanca" was the film that launched Bogart into superstardom. So, 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.