I haven’t seen this in 20 years, I don’t think, but it’s on PBS tonight. What a well-crafted film it is!
One thing I’ve gained in the last 20 years is a much more extensive knowlege of American poular song, so I’m noticing the background music Sam is providing. Victor and Ilsa just got to the cafe, and are talking to whatshisface (Claude Rains). The background song? “Love for Sale.”
Nice touch.
Casablanca is probably my all-time favorite film, and yet I still cannot exactly say why.
There is just something about that film - no matter how often I watch Casablanca, it still manages to grab me, take me to a far off place and make me feel like I am living the story for the first time.
Whenever I am home sick, I pull out the DVD, wrap myself in a blanket on the couch, and watch the film. It just makes me feel better - comfort food for the senses perhaps?
‘we’ll always have paris.’
what woman doesn’t know EXACTLY what that means. 
The single best movie ever made. Even if it is just a bunch of famous quotes strung together. 
Exactly. The first time I saw the movie, about ten years ago, I had no familiarity with the plot whatsoever, and yet it seemed like I recognized every other line that was spoken.
Now that the AP exam is over, I’m going to show this movie to my sophomores. I’m sure they’ve never seen it, and it fits the curriculum nicely.
I heard that almost all of the onscreen actors in the La Marseillaise scene were refugees from Europe (even those playing the Germans) so the emotion was very real.
I love Casablanca. Watch it every couple of months or so. It’s my favorite film.
Me too. It’s one of the first DVDs I bought when we got a player. It never gets old, and maybe I’m unschooled, but there’s absolutely nothing to complain about, no matter how many times I watch it.
If you like Casablanca, you should definitely check out Gilda. Many of the same elements: WWII backdrop; casino in an exotic locale; espionage and dames. It’s like Casablanca, plus a sense of humor: it has some of the greatest quotable lines in all of moviedom. And the male lead was originally offered to Bogie, but he turned it down: he didn’t want to share the screen with Rita Hayworth. Wise man.
It’s one of my all-time favorite films too.
On a sadder note, it’s the only film my mother still recognizes.
I love this movie - a serious candidate for the best movie ever.
But the last time I saw it, just a few years ago, I was struck how everyone in the movie viewed America as a bastion of freedom and civilization. In the post-9/11 world, after Guantanamo, Abu Gahraib, “Extraordinary Renditions”, Black Site Prisons, and so forth, I know the world no longer views America as a bastion of anything. It adds a bittersweet note to the movie for me.
More appropriately to the OP, I love the scene in the beginning when Rick watches the plane taking off from the airport. The airplane in one of the worst special effects in a mainstream movie. Bogart’s acting, his facial expression, is some of the best in any movie ever.
I have shown this movie to my students several times over the years. None have ever seen it before, and they all start out bitching because it is in black and white. However, by the time the plane flies off into the fog at the end, they are all begging to see it again.
Are you seeing Casablanca on PBS this evening? I have 2 PBS channels to choose from…Bogie and Ingrid are losing out to Ray tonite. Davies, that is–on Austin City Limits.
Casablanca - so many myths . . . .
Ann Sheridan and Ronald Regan in the leads and “Play it again Sam” among the top.
Almost a perfect film.
It’s my favorite movie too. I have the Special Edition DVD, and really need to show it to my girl some time. (If nothing else, she’ll be endlessly amused by the homoerotic subtext between Rick and Louie.) I love every single moment of the film, every damn line – but “Play Le Marseillaise!” always chokes me up a little.
A worse airplane is in Across the Pacific.
Dammit, I’m the guy always getting the note washed away in the rain.
Great movie, one of my all time faves. I got a big kick out of the remake, too.
Man, I’m sitting here at work and just thinking about the la marseillaise scene gives me goosebumps
