Casablanca

Rick, a nightclub owner experienced in the ways of the world, meets lisa who, together with her husband has to escape the Nazis. Only Rick can help the couple escape. He refuses until Usa succeeds in awakening his idealism.

Comment:
”Play it Sam ... play 'As time goes by' ... ''
The ultimate film line! The golden sentence! This fall it is fifty years since the movie audience first could see and hear Ingrid Bergman utter these sparkling words, in Michael Curtiz' Casablanca. And now this
is to be celebrated with a restored version of one of the greatest successes in film history.
But in my opinion it is not just Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman or Paul Henreid who make Casablanca worth seeing. It is the script and mainly the dialogue, written by Howard Koch, Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein and Casey Robinson, that is supreme.
The lines are the stars of the movie. They perfectly mirror the cynical and free from all illusions atmosphere of the transit town of Casablanca. A place where human life
doesn't have much worth, where the drinks are constantly refilled, where people sell jewells, gold or their own bodies for a transit visa to the United States. This is the environment that forms the background of sentences such as: ''Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world, she walks into mine'' (originally it was supposed to be ''cafes'', but Bogart himself changed it to ''gin joints''), or the classic last line: ''Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship''.
And my personal favorite: Bogart (Rick) and Reins {Renault} sitting outside of Rick's cafe, talking in the warm evening:
Renault: And what in Heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?
Ricle My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Renault: The waters? What waters? We are in the desert.
Rick: 1 was misinformed. (At this point Renault sighs and takes a sip from his drink).
Lines of this calibre, in my opinion, make Casablanca immortal. They are lines everyone would like to utter; everyone wants to be that cool. This is why Casablanca can be seen again and again. At the same time it can be verified that no one says or will ever say: ''Play it again Sam''.
At least not in Casablanca.
Åke Hagman