In the dimly lit dining area of Rick's Cafe Americain, Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) sulks with a bottle of liquor beside his right elbow.

The room is dark, save for the right side of Blaine's face (a shadow is cast on the opposite side).

He's still dressed in his white tuxedo; his hair is slicked back.

A look of heartache and pain is fixed upon his face.

It's then that he utters one of the most famous lines in movie history:

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

The scene is one of many in "Casablanca," a film considered by critics and movie buffs alike as one of Hollywood's greatest.

For decades, the film has lived on and left a lasting impression on cinema.

No matter the classic films that have come after, and will come, we'll always have "Casablanca." On the eve of its 75th anniversary, we take a closer look at an iconic offering of the golden-age of Hollywood.

A fight for love and glory

Perhaps the largest reason for "Casablanca" standing the test of time is the myriad of themes and genres of film within the story.

The film mixes drama, romance, action, comedy, politics and war, and puts a nice bow on it.

The story centers around Rick Blaine, a cynical expatriate and night club owner in Casablanca, Morocco, during the early stages of World War II.

Rick's Cafe Americain has become a haven for refugees seeking passage to America, via letters of transport obtained by any means necessary.

Blaine himself claims to be neutral. Rather than being concerned with which side of the fight he is on, he cares only about making money.

This neutrality is put the test when Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), a former lover of Blaine's while he spent a short time in Paris, shows up to the cafe with her husband Victor Lazlo.

Lazlo is hailed as a hero: The Czechoslovkian resistance leader has escaped numerous concentration camps in Europe and travels to Casablanca in hopes of obtaining a letter of transport.

Blaine has become the proprietor of two such letters, after a German officer was murdered.

Police captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains), under the instructions of Nazi major Heinreich Strasser, has informed Blaine that under no circumstance must Lazlo and Lund get the letters and leave the city.

Torn between his former love and doing what is right, Blaine must decide whether to help Lund and Lazlo escape, or to use the letters and flee with the one that got away.

'Here's looking at you kid'

Another integral part of Casablanca's legacy is the dialogue. Various lines throughout the movie have become staples of pop culture.

The film was adapted from an unproduced play by Murray Burnet and Joan Alison titled "Everybody Comes to Rick's."

After Warner Bros. purchased the rights, the studio enlisted Michael Curtiz to direct and Julius J. and Phil G. Epstein and Howard Koch to write the screenplay.

The three men were responsible for some of the most famous lines in movie history.

Along with the "all the gin joints in the world.?.?." line: "Here's looking at you kid"; "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship"; and "we'll always have Paris" have become as iconic as the film itself.

The film also features one of Bogart's most famous monologues, in which he explains to Bergman that "the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans," while justifying why he isn't leaving Casablanca with her.

The film also features a famous quote that has often been misquoted, and is the title of a Woody Allen film.

Many believe that Bogart tells Sam (Dooley Wilson) to "play it again."

However, the actual line is "play it, Sam." He's referring to the classic song, "As Time Goes By."

The song is Blaine and Lund's song, and is played throughout the film.

A mild reception

Despite its current reputation as one of cinema's finest achievements, "Casablanca" was not a hit from the get-go.

The film premiered in Hollywood on Nov. 26, 1942, and celebrated its wide release on Jan. 23, 1943.

Though no reviews were necessarily negative, many critics considered the film only fair.

At the box office, "Casablanca" pulled in $3.7 million, domestically, making it the seventh-highest grossing movie of the year.

It wasn't until the mid-to-late '50s that the film started to really to become a world-wide sensation.

A night at the Oscars

"Casablanca" earned eight nominations at the 16th annual Academy Awards in 1943.

Of those eight nominations, the picture won three awards: Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Director for Curtiz.

Despite being considered Bogart' s best performance in his career to that point by many critics, the actor was nominated but lost to Paul Lukas, who starred in "Watch on the Rhine."

Rains was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but the award went to Charles Coburn for his role in "The More he Merrier."

A lasting legacy

In 1957, the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, Mass., held a screening of "Casablanca" as part of its season of classic Hollywood films.

The screening took place just under three months after Bogart's untimely death.

College students from Harvard flocked to the film's screening, and the theater would go on to show the film every week of finals at the university.

Across the country, college students and young adults became enthralled with the film.

By the late 1970s, "Casablanca" was one of the most frequently broadcast films on television, and critics began holding the film in the highest of regards.

Bogart became the biggest star in Hollywood, starring in classics such as "The Big Sleep," "Key Largo," "In A Lonely Place" and "To Have and Have Not."

He earned his first and only award for Best Actor in 1951, starring alongside another Hollywood screen legend -- Katherine Hepburn -- in "The African Queen."

More than any other film, "Casablanca" can often be found on many outlets' list of greatest films of all time.

The American Film Institute lists the film as the third greatest of all time, while the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) considers it second best.

Esteemed film critic Leonard Maltin considers it to be the greatest Hollywood-made film of all time.

"Casablanca" has been parodied by the likes of Bugs Bunny; used as influences for films like "Brazil"; and served as plot devices for films like Woody Allen's "Play it Again, Sam."

No matter its age, "Casablanca" has stood the test of time, and remains one of cinema's greatest achievements.

llyons@chieftain.com