Agenda Movie Club: Casablanca

Casablanca

Michael Curtiz

1942

Simply: The greatest movie ever made.

“Tonight he’ll be at Rick’s. Everybody comes to Rick’s.”

“Your cash is good at the bar.”
“What? Do you know who I am?”
“I do, you’re lucky the bar’s open to you.”

“They got a lucky break. Yesterday, they were just two German clerks. Today, they’re the ‘Honored Dead.’”

“I don’t mind a parasite. I object to a cut-rate one.”

“Where were you last night?”
“That’s so long ago, I don’t remember.”
“Will I see you tonight?”
“I never make plans that far ahead.”

“I have often speculated on why you don’t return to America. Did you abscond with the church funds? Did you run off with a senator’s wife? I like to think you killed a man. It’s the romantic in me.”
“It was a combination of all three.”

“What in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca?”
“My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.”
“Waters? What waters? We’re in the desert.”
“I was misinformed.”

“I stick my neck out for nobody.”

“Carl, see that Major Strasser gets a good table. One close to the ladies.”
“I have already given him the best, knowing he is German and would take it anyway.”

“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? Unofficially, of course.”
“Make it official, if you like.”
“What is your nationality?”
“I’m a drunkard.”

“Are my eyes really brown?”

“I was informed you were the most beautiful woman ever to visit Casablanca. That was a gross understatement.”

“Rick? Who’s he?”
“Well, mademoiselle, he’s the kind of man that, well, if I were a woman and I were not around, I should be in love with Rick. But what a fool I am talking to a beautiful woman about another man.”

“We read five times you were killed in five different places.”
“As you can see, it was true every single time.”

“Play it once, Sam, for old time’s sake.”

“I remember every detail. The Germans wore grey, you wore blue.”

“Sam, if it’s December 1941 in Casablanca, what time is it in New York?”
“Uh, my watched stopped.”

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

“Here’s looking at you, kid.”

“Was that cannon fire? Or is it my heart pounding?”

“Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time.”

“How long was it we had, honey?”
“I didn’t count the days.”
“Well, I did. Every one of them. Mostly I remember the last one. A ‘wow’ finish. A guy standing on a station platform in the rain with a comical look on his face because his insides had been kicked out.”

“I’m making out the report now. We haven’t quite decided if he committed suicide or died trying to escape.”

“How did you get in here? You’re underage.”
“I came with Captain Renault.”
“I should have known.”
“My husband is with me, too.”
“He is? Well, Captain Renault’s getting broadminded.”

“What kind of man is Captain Renault?”
“Oh, he’s just like any other man, only more so.”

“Are you sure this place is honest?”
“Honest? As honest as the day is long!”

“As I suspected– you’re a rank sentimentalist.”

“I am shocked– shocked– to find that gambling is going on here!”
“Your winnings, sir.”
“Oh, thank you very much.”

“If you don’t help us, Victor Laszlo will die in Casablanca.”
“What of it? I’m going to die in Casablanca. It’s a good spot for it.”

“Go ahead and shoot. You’ll be doing me a favor.”

“Have you taken leave of your senses?”
“I have. Sit down over there.”
“Put that gun down.”
“Louis, I wouldn’t like to shoot you, but I will if you take one more step.”
“Under the circumstances, I will sit down.”

“Remember, this gun’s pointed right at your heart.”
“That is my least vulnerable spot.”

“If that planes leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it.”
“No.”
“Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon– and for the rest of your life.”

“We’ll always have Paris.”

“I said I’d never leave you.”
“And you never will. But I’ve got a job to do, too. Where I’m going, you can’t follow. What I’ve got to do, you can’t be any part of. Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.”

“She tried everything to get them, and nothing worked. She did her best to convince me that she was still in love with me, but that was all over long ago. For your sake, she pretended it wasn’t, and I let her pretend.”

“Welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win.”

“Major Strasser’s been shot! Round up the usual suspects.”

“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”



Ingrid Bergman in soft-focus on every close-up.

Sydney Greenstreet’s flyswatter.

Unka Joe, I can’t thank you enough for making me watch this when I was 16 and visiting you that summer. Changed my life. I mean that.