OH DEAR GOSH I LOVE H. BOGART.

Sam Spade: I hope they don't hang you, precious, by that sweet neck. Yes, angel, I'm gonna send you over. The chances are you'll get off with life. That means if you're a good girl, you'll be out in 20 years. I'll be waiting for you. If they hang you, I'll always remember you.

Brad Pitt is pretty. Clooney's a smooth graying man-boy. Denzel specializes in a nice line of noble jerks. But, dang, folks, you wanna talk real, timeless movie star, you want some Bogart in your life. Yes. Please. And thank you.

If there was a The Voice for actors today, he wouldn't make it. No way. He's not a pretty boy. He's the middle aged guy next door. He balding under that all weather toupe. Hell, he even has a lisp and a wet bottom lip.

It's freaking undefinable. It's there, however, star power.

Woody Allen knew it.

Most folks in the Bogart fan club will tell you Rick Blaine, Casablanca, that's the defining role. Smooth, weather beaten. Looks killer in a white tux or a trench coat. Bracing as a shot of rye but something in the eyes hint at the broken man inside the tough guy.

My favorite is a toss up between The Big Sleep, where Bogart is a jaded gumshoe on a case that drags him down to depths he never saw coming. And there's the trench coat, again. And the rain. Bogart rules in the rain. Yeah.

And The Maltese Falcon, where Bogart's Sam Spade is a seriously flawed hero, a man who's making with the hoo haa with his soon to be iced partner's wife, and again the eyes hint at something twisting around inside that most square jawed heroes wouldn't come near. Bogart may be just as screwed up as the evil gallery of fun house bad guys around him.

I think that's the key. He's not just a dude reciting lines on a sound stage. There's something in there, something actually inhabiting the actor. He was far more natural than other actors of his day, and that unassuming skill enables Bogart to transcend his time. He's human. You can see the character thinking, working through stuff, and damn if that don't draw you right the heck in. Somehow, he comes off the screen like few others. This short, slight lisping man.

Even in something like Doctor X. Now with extra bunny holding.

Oh man, It's dark and I've got some movies to watch. The rain is beating on the roof. The night is long. Pop some popcorn, baby. Bogart's coming over.

P.S: Humphrey Bogart is on the cover of the Beatles of Sgt. Pepper. Here then is a quick run through of the best animated BEATLES' ALBUM COVERS.