# "Casablanca" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 13, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881 "2007-05-13T00:31:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/1 "2007-05-13T00:31:17Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/2 "2007-05-13T01:23:25Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/3 "2007-05-13T01:39:31Z")
‘we’ll always have paris.’ what woman doesn’t know EXACTLY what that means. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/4 "2007-05-13T01:50:23Z")
The single best movie ever made. Even if it is just a bunch of famous quotes strung together. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Agonist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@Agonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agonist)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/5 "2007-05-13T02:06:36Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] The single best movie ever made. Even if it is just a bunch of famous quotes strung together. 😃 [/QUOTE] 🙂 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. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/6 "2007-05-13T02:12:20Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/7 "2007-05-13T02:14:02Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/8 "2007-05-13T02:30:37Z")
I love _Casablanca._ Watch it every couple of months or so. It’s my favorite film. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/9 "2007-05-13T02:38:18Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/10 "2007-05-13T02:56:51Z")
If you like _Casablanca_, you should definitely check out _[Gilda](http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/24990_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](http://www.freeinfosociety.com/images/ae/reviews/gilda2.jpg). Wise man. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/11 "2007-05-13T02:57:43Z")
It’s one of my all-time favorite films too. On a sadder note, it’s the only film my mother still recognizes. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/12 "2007-05-13T02:59:41Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/13 "2007-05-13T03:02:59Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] 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. [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/14 "2007-05-13T03:14:52Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olive_The_Other_Reindeer)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/15 "2007-05-13T03:20:56Z")
Casablanca - so many myths . . . . Ann Sheridan and Ronald Regan in the leads and “Play it again Sam” among the top. Almost a perfect film. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/16 "2007-05-13T04:27:46Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/17 "2007-05-13T04:29:05Z")
[QUOTE=Typo Knig] The airplane in one of the worst special effects in a mainstream movie. [/QUOTE] A worse airplane is in [Across the Pacific.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034428/) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/18 "2007-05-13T04:30:58Z")
[QUOTE=Scubaqueen] ‘we’ll always have paris.’ what woman doesn’t know EXACTLY what that means. 🆒 [/QUOTE] Dammit, I’m the guy always getting the note washed away in the rain. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/19 "2007-05-13T04:41:38Z")
Great movie, one of my all time faves. I got a big kick out of the [remake](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115624/), too. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881/20 "2007-05-13T05:07:56Z")
Man, I’m sitting here at work and just thinking about the la marseillaise scene gives me goosebumps [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casablanca/403881.md?page=2)