Project 501: Casablanca (1943)
Thursday, April 30th, 2009
So, here we are in 1943. Casablanca.
What is there to be done about this movie? How can anybody, especially anybody sitting barefoot on a sofa in 2009 actually review it? The jury is pretty much in by now, and I think it’s going to do okay. Seriously, if you don’t like Casablanca…well, I’m not sure we can be friends anymore. This is the movie, the movie with something for everybody: it’s funny and sad, suspenseful and romantic, perfectly and endlessly quotable. It is possibly the least overrated movie ever.
It’s that quotability that’s probably kept Casablanca popular through the years: aside from its compulsive watchability, it’s one of the most-quoted, most-ripped-off movies ever made. You hear the dialogue and see the scenes duplicated in so many places that they’ve ceased to be from Casablanca at all, as far as the collective consciousness goes. And so instead of a review, we’re going to talk today about the legacy of Casablanca: five lines Casablanca gave the world.
- “Play it again, Sam.”
Ironically, nobody in the movie ever says these exact words in this exact order (the closest line is, “Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By.’”), but like so many other co-opted lines, it doesn’t really matter anymore. It’s since been used for a Woody Allen movie, a chain of consignment sporting-good stores, and many, many bad jokes.
- “As Time Goes By”
Okay, not so much a line as a musical entity. But this is the song for loving and longing, and it’s practically a character in itself. By the end of the movie, you don’t really want to hear it anymore, just as Rick doesn’t (sort of)—not because it’s not a good song, but because you’ve seen too much, just as Rick has.
- “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
As noted in When Harry Met Sally—a Casablanca fan film if ever there was one—”best last line of a movie ever.”
- “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
Whether or not you’re annoyed by Rick calling his perfectly-adult girlfriend “kid”—gentlemen, I’d avoid this if you want to keep your own perfectly-adult girlfriends, not to mention your man parts—this one’s become a classic for toasts, unoriginal romantic moments, and general cheesiness. However, in the context of the movie, it’s super-super-poignant. (This line is prominent in yet another Nora Ephron/Meg Ryan vehicle, Sleepless in Seattle. Apparently Ephron has a thing for this movie, which seems perfectly respectable in a screenwriter.)
- “We’ll always have Paris.”
Like all of the memorable lines from Casablanca, this one’s a heartbreaker in the context of the movie. On the other hand, it remains relevant: somebody, someplace, will always be remembering a time he or she had in the City of Love, most likely when it isn’t being invaded (”the enemy wore gray; you wore blue”). This one’s also been used in millions of other places, most recently (…maybe) in mutilated form on an episode of Chuck (”We’ll always have Omaha”). Everybody can say this at some point, though, right? Everybody’s got a Paris in the heart or on the mind?
That’s it. (Well, that’s not it—we haven’t even gotten to “Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but someday, and for the rest of your life!”—but that’s five.) From all of pop culture, I say: Thank you, Casablanca.
Next up on Project 501: Going My Way (1944)
Project 501, Oscar winners, Best Picture winners, Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart, Woody Allen, Play It Again Sam, Nora Ephron, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, Meg Ryan, Chuck











