WARNING: If youve never seen the movie and dont want anything spoiled do not read on.
Okay, now my question. It is hinted at in the movie but never truly revealed, and I wonder if there any any hypothoses to the question I am about to ask. It is stated that Rick cannot return to the United States and he must forever wander the rest of the planet without ever returning to New York. My question is why? What did he do that he was extradited (sp?) and banished from his country? Murder? Rape? Mayhem? I know there is a quote in the movie where he is asked and he answers something like “All of the above”, but it is never fullied answered. Any ideas??
I like to think he killed a man. It’s the romantic in me.
Actually, I saw “Casablanca” a few weeks ago and I don’t think the question is ever answered. If it was, I missed it.
it’s a variant of a “macguffin” - a plot twist that puts our characters in motion, but the specifics of which are not central to the story in the movie. Since the specifics weren’t needed, they weren’t included, with the added benefit of lending a further air of mystery…
macguffin? definied as -" a plot twist that puts our characters in motion, but the specifics of which are not central to the story in the movie"?
what a strange word.
So basically, regarding the OP, there is no one answer. We are left to our own surmise, 'eh? K, I can live with that. Then I think that I would have to agree with Trion, and for the same reasons.
Yeah - “macguffin” is a strange word - as far as I know, it was coined by Alfred Hitchcock - he had people in espionage situations, etc., and yet never focused on technical aspects of espionage, only on the people and relationships that came about because of something happening in spy-land. I don’t know where he came up with the word…
There’s not just one MacGuffin in Casablanca, or in many other films & stories. A MacGuffin is anything the characters care about that the audience doesn’t.
Well that isn’t true. We care about it, mainly because the characters do. It is simply something that “is” that doesn’t really need any backstory or explanation, but it is esssential to make the plot worthwhile. The transi passes are just that, and in fact they make no sense. The briefcase in Pulp Fiction is a MacGuffin. I would argue that Rick’s mysterious past is not a Macguffin, it establishes some backstory for Rick, which is not inessential.
Just for the heck of it,Tretiak, I am going to debate the point (in other words, I don’t feel passionately about the point, but am curious enough to push back a little).
A MacGuffin is required for to bring the characters together, but the specifics of it are not required, right? Granted, Rick’s background is not as front-and-center as the brief case in Pulp Fiction, but his being barred from the U.S. does lead to him being in Casablanca and the specifics of his being barred aren’t known…
the Letters of Transit to me are NOT a MacGuffin because they are known - they may be a plot device (in other words, there may have been no such thing as letters of transit required to get out of Casablanca - I don’t know) but it’s not like they aren’t known - there’s nothing curious about the actual contents of “letters of transit” - if there were actually such letters, they would be filled with bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo, right?
Hitchcock’s favorite MacGuffin, AFAIK, is in North by Northwest, when Cary Grant is finally told the truth by the US Spy Master as to why he (Grant) is being pursued by the bad spy guys. After Grant is told why he is suspected of being involved with the bad guys, he asks what they’ve done wrong to be considered bad; the US Spy Master says something like “sold some things - government secrets perhaps” and leaves it at that…
The letters of transit are truly a mcguffin in the way Hitchcock meant the term. A true mcguffin is an arbitrary item which is important to the characters in the movie (it is also important to the audience, assuming they care about the characters). The arbitrariness of the mcguffin is the important feature. It didn’t have to be letters of transit; it could have been something else that Victor Lazlo wanted and that the Nazis didn’t want him to have (for instance, evidence of war crimes).
At the same time, another characteristic of the mcguffin is that if it weren’t there, then there would be no movie. No letters of transit, no Casablanca – Lazlo can’t leave; Ilsa has no reason to beg Rick. The mcguffin is unimportant, but the actions of the characters due to the existence of the mcguffin make the movie.
Chuck basically got to answer before I did, A MacGuffin is intended to forward the plot, the plot is intended to develop the character. Ultimatley what you are after is character development (the arc), so the MacGuffin is ultimately unimportant except that it just is and that the characters need/want it. I would like to point out that the correct spelling is MacGuffin.