“Here’s looking at you, kid”: The story behind the famous ‘Casablanca’ line
Remaining one of the most widely-quoted movies in Hollywood history a full 80 years after release is no small feat, which speaks volumes about the enduring status of Casablanca as one of the most iconic motion pictures to have ever been made.
Winner of three Academy Awards from eight nominations – including ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’ – even people who haven’t seen Casablanca will be aware of at least one of its many unforgettable quotes, such is the way in which the screenplay ended up infiltrating the public consciousness and refusing to leave.
Whether it’s “of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine”, “we’ll always have Paris”, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”, or even the widely-misquoted “play it, Sam”, the script is packed with instantly-recognisable lines of dialogue that have been endlessly repeated the world over.
Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine and Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa Lund make for a legendary double-act, so it’s only fitting that one of their most famous interactions spawned what’s arguably the most well-known line from all of Casablanca. Of course, repeated thrice throughout the film after first being uttered helped immeasurably, but it wasn’t even in the initial drafts to begin with.
In Aljean Harmetz’s book Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca, it’s revealed that Bogart inspired the line after saying it to Bergman during their downtime on set while he was teaching her how to play poker alongside her English coach and hairdresser. Upon hearing it, the writers decided that it perfectly suited the character of Blaine and the dynamic established between himself and Ilsa, and it ended up as one of the most iconic soundbites ever spoken aloud in cinema.
Even more fascinatingly, Bogart had originally used the line in Midnight, which was released eight years before Casablanca in 1934. Despite being the eighth-billed name in the cast and only playing a supporting role, though, the drama was renamed Call It Murder and sent back to cinemas in 1949 with Bogart front-and-centre in the marketing materials to try and capitalise on the star power he’d amassed in the years since.
Even at that, nobody associates “here’s looking at you, kid” with Midnight/Call It Murder, even if it has the same actor saying the same thing. Having been named as the fifth greatest movie quote in history by the American Film Institute, it would be an understatement to say that Bogart’s off-handed comment during a game of poker between takes might just rank as the most inspired improvisation to be lifted from behind the scenes chatter and inserted into a screenplay.
