Bogie: In His Own Words

Bogie + Dark + Brooding = Sexy
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     If there ever was a man that did things his way and said to fudge with anybody and everybody that didn't like the way he did it, that man would be Humphrey Deforest Bogart.
     In all reality, Bogie should never had made it in Hollywood. After all, he wasn't classically good looking. He was short. And he had a peculiar way of speech. Yet, by his own force of nature, he did make it. He bid everybody a fond "screw you", and proceeded to show them all. Being that Bogie is one of my favorite actors of all time, I'm very glad that he did.
   I've never been a part of a blogathon, and I'm still getting a hang on this whole blog bit in the first place, so when it came to deciding what I should do for this Bogie Blogathon, I found myself on a never ending merry-go-round. First I decided to do a film review, but then I scratched that idea. I could, I thought, write a little mini-biography. Again, I scratched that idea. I was up at bat, and already had two strikes. The next idea was going to go one of two ways: another strike, and it was game over for me, or a home-run in the idea department (or at least one that got me to first base). Finally, I got a hit.
     Ever since I "discovered" the classics, one of the greatest things I love about the films besides the actors, actresses, directors, etc., etc., etc., is the most terrifically awesome witty lines that has ever been written in film history. It was through my love of classic film quotes, that I hit upon the fact that Bogie's way of life could be explained through his own quotes in his own films. So, here we go.

Bogie and The Maltese Falcon
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The Maltese Falcon Quotes:

Sam Spade: I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble.

(Bogie got into a lot of "trouble" in his life. He was one half of the Battling Bogarts, and if that doesn't spell trouble, I don't know what does. He also, along with wife Lauren Bacall, spoke his mind about what he thought of the Red Scare in Hollywood. The Panda Bears incident . . .)

Sam Spade: When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it.

(Again, Battling Bogarts. Suffice to say Bogie knew how to handle his own.)

Sam Spade: People lose teeth talking like that. If you want to hang around, you'll be polite.

(Some say he was a hard one to handle. He liked to bait people, get their hackles raised. Others of course said he was very nice, polite.)

Sam Spade: Don't be too sure I'm as crooked as I'm supposed to be.

Rick in the rain, reading Ilsa's letter. One of the saddest
scenes in the whole film to me.
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(Many have said that Bogie wasn't really like a lot of the tough characters he portrayed.)

Casablanca Quotes:

Rick: I stick out my neck for nobody.

(Ah, but we all know he did.)

Major Strasser: What is your nationality?
Rick: I'm a drunkard.
Captain Renault: That makes Rick a citizen of the world.

(He really was a citizen of the world.)

Rick: I'm the only cause I'm interested in.

(Again, we know this wasn't so.)

Rick: I'm on their blacklist--their roll of honor!

(He found himself on the Warner Bros. "Black List" a lot of times.)

Rick: Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the word, she walks into mine.

(Just as it was for Rick and Ilsa, it was fate for Bogie and Lauren Bacall to find one another.)

In a Lonely Place: Did they, or did they not
kill? That is the question.
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In a Lonely Place Quotes:

Mildred Atkinson: Before I started to go to work at Paul's, I used to think that actors made up their own lines.
Dixon Steele: When they get to be big stars, they usually do.

(Being one of the biggest stars ever, did Bogie ever make-up his own lines? I think maybe he did.)

Dixon Steele: There's no sacrifice too great for a chance at immortality.

(He made sacrifices, and thanks to celluloid, he will be forever immoral.)

Dixon Steele: It was his story against mine, but of course, I told my story better.

(Bogie had a lot of stories to share, and they were unlike any others.)

Dixon Steele: It's much easier to get people's names into the papers than it is to keep them out.

(And Bogie saw his name in the papers a lot of times . . . for the good and the bad.)

Bogie on The African Queen.
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The African Queen Quotes:

Charlie Allnut: One thing in the world I hate: leeches. Filthy little devils.

(Self explanatory I think . . .)

Rose Sayer: Who do you think you are ordering me about?
Charlie Allnut: I'm the captain, that's what!

(He was the captain of his own boat, The Santana.)

Charlie Allnut: Let's go while the going's good.

(He went, and the going was fantastic.)

Charlie Allnut: Never say die. That's my motto.

(It was also his way of life in the early part of his career.)

Charlie Allnutt: It's a great thing to have a lady aboard with clean habits. It sets the man a good example. A man alone, he gets to living like a hog.

Bogie with co-star Pard, played by Bogie's
real life pooch, Zero the Dog, on the set of
High Sierra.
Photo Courtesy of http://www.acertaincinema.com

(If there were truer words ever spoken, I've yet to hear them.)

High Sierra Quotes:

Roy Earle: I wouldn't give you two cents for a dame without a temper.

(Bogie had a few of those in life . . .)

Big Mac: Times have sure changed.
Roy Earle: Yeah, ain't they? You know, Mac, sometimes I feel like I don't know what its all about anymore.

     Well, this has been my contribution to the Bogie Blogathon. Perhaps some might disagree with the quotes that I have chosen, but I feel that they are a perfect example of the life of the one and only Humphrey Deforest Bogart.