Casablanca

Talk about Casablanca here.

I haven't watched this movie yet and there's three things about this movie that I heard about it:

• "Play it, Sam" - Apparently, that's a case of Beam Me Up, Scotty!?
• "Round up the usual suspects." - And I thought The Usual Suspects created that term...
• That airplane departure scene. That's the ending of the movie, right?

edited 23rd Sep '11 11:27:34 PM by dRoy

Well it is considered one of the greatest romance films of all time. The amazing thing is, nobody knew it was going to be. Seriously, a tonne of writers were taken of the film every few days. Its this big mish-mash that by all rights really shouldn't really work, but it does. I like to think it's because of Bogart's performance.

yeah
humphrey bogart and the female lead's character is one of the best actor chemistry out there
theres also the fact that this was made in world war ii in mind
the story is about romantic sacrifices which is what people had to deal with during wwii

And I thought The Usual Suspects created that term...

I thought it was just...a term.

edited 24th Sep '11 6:25:42 AM by EgregiousEric

Hey now, me no native English speaker.

its also one of the most beautiful black and white films
all of the shots are gorgeous

Everything in this movies is gorgeous.

It also has either 5 or 6 quotes on the AFI's top movie quotes list of all time.

Casablanca was also one of the most quoted films for awhile.

"Play it Sam." (Which is not a misquote, although most people are thinking of the "Play it again Sam" scene rather then the later "Play it Sam")

"Round up the usual suspects."

"I was misinformed"

"Here's looking at you kid."

"We'll always have Paris."

"I'm shocked! Shocked, to find that gambling is going on in here." Which led to the meme of the Captain Renault Award. Anytime someone says "I'm shocked, shocked that [something obvious] is going on" they are (probably unknowingly) continuing this meme.

"Leave him alone... you're bad luck to him."

"Of all the gin joints in all the World... she walks into mine"

"You'll regret it, maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but soon- and for the rest of your life."

"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship"

It's super charged the popularity of "As Time Goes By"

Definitely worth watching. There is a reason it consistently appears in the top rankings of all time movie bests.

Probably one of the most memorable movies, it has a lot of famous quotes and popularized "As Time Goes By". I've seen this movie a few times. I saw it in a movie theater when TCM had the 70th anniversary event, and watching it with a large group of people made it seem even funnier. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman are great in this movie, and so is Dooley Wilson's singing.

One of my favorites, although I like it a bit less ever since I leaned (from Cracked) that Curtiz probably should've been in jail for manslaughter rather than making it, due to taking unnecessary risks in his Noah's Ark that allegedly left three extras drowned.

Another thing I learned from Cracked was that there were apparently plans for a truly odious-sounding sequel to this film. It would've apparently broken many Aesops, doing things like revealing Rick was totally an Allied spy the entire time and the whole 'jaded and cynical' thing was an act as well as killing Victor offscreen.

Cracked ruins everything.

Actually, Curtis was a font of hilarity when asked about the making of that movie. ("He was coughing all over her because he smoked six packs a day")

Casablanca is a lot like Ocean's Eleven; just an excuse to have lots of cool actors in a room together. The only misfire, imo, are the Paris flashbacks. The whole thing is pretty schmaltzy, from Bogey Driving a Desk to the funny "aw nuts" face he makes when he reads the Dear John letter.

There were two series, one in the fifties and another in '83. The latter had Ray Liotta as the bartender (But not Rick? That's dumb), Scatman Caruthers as Sam, and Hector Elizondro as Renault.

Lauren Bacall did a featurette where she slammed both shows and then praised Bugs Bunny (Carrotblanca) for finally getting it right.

edited 30th Jul '12 10:22:58 PM by johnnyfog

If I'm not mistaken, there WAS a TV series based on it, briefly...I think it was called Rick's Place.

edited 30th Jul '12 10:06:10 PM by Robbery

I think that's a major part of it, but it's definitely not just him.

Writing Excuses made the argument that the myriad writers managed to stumble over a way of structuring the plot around character development that makes the most intense psychological and emotional impact on the audience, completely by accident, and then started trying to replicate it after it became such a success. (Which is why earlier films can feel 'off' to the modern viewer.)

Although, I think what makes the movie great is not only that it uses The Hollywood Formula about relationships well, but provides an interesting subversion to The Hero's Journey. Casablanca actually has a really simple plot with The Hero and his Love Interest trying to escape the Big Bad by passing the Threshold Guardian, except that the Love Interest and Threshold Guardian were lovers really complicates things and all the conflict is between those two, The Hero doesn't really do anything.

edited 7th Sep '12 5:25:34 PM by shiro_okami

Casablanca is among my favourite films of all time. There are very few films where I can't think of any way it could be improved, but Casablanca is one of them. Everything about this film is wonderful.

I could see that, I guess, but honestly I have no tolerance for The Hero's Journey whatsoever. It's kind of useful for analysis, I guess, but I don't think it's nearly as 'monomythic' as its proponents claim, and it's nigh-worthless in actually crafting stories.

It's not meant to be useful in crafting stories. The "Hero's Journey" is an observation of how stories tend to behave, not a rule imposed upon them.

It's a good-looking, witty, technically well-made movie from an underrated director (I believe he was the guy who did the Errol Flynn Robin Hood); but Ilsa is an annoying twit and Victor is a moron, which kind of prevents me from caring about the love triangle in any meaningful way. I like Rick, but I think somewhat less of him for being hung up on this ninny, and I have no desire to see him end up with her.

The Go-Karting with Bowser stuff where everyone, good and bad and in-between is hanging out at Rick's bar and trading quips, intrigues, and random displays of nationalism is the part of the movie that actually holds my attention.

Necro.

I finally got around to watch it a month ago.

And my God, it was awesome. In my opinion, it deserves the praise it gets. The ending was particular badass. I never thought that "Round of the usual suspects." could sound so awesome.

Man, I actually expected the resistance leader to die.

Also, the guy who got taken away by Nazis in the beginning...that guy had a such a sad puppy eyes.

That'd be why people just loved Peter Lorre, even when he was playing some kind of creeper. Which was about 90% of the time.

Yeah, Peter Lorre, that was the name.

I looked the trope page of this movie and it says that Lorre was actually a Holocaust survivor, which adds even more depth to his perfomance during the scene.

Very interesting.

edited 15th Jun '13 3:29:26 PM by dRoy

I watched Casablanca as part of my film and culture class last semester. One of the interesting points of the discussion is that while the film is renowned for the romance, it also serves as a Commentary for America's own neutrality and eventual involvement during WW 2.

I don't think Lorre qualifies as a Holocaust survivor. He came to Hollywood in 1935, well ahead of anything other than economic oppression and some travel restrictions. Still, one can imagine, given that he was Jewish and Hungarian, that he had strong feelings about what was going on.

Huh, I didn't know that.

They slipped in some hints that Renault is gay for Rick, too. I didn't notice it until Ebert pointed it out.