Daily Dialogue — December 31, 2015

Sam: Boss, ain’t you going to bed?
Rick: Not right now.
Sam: Ain’t you planning on going to bed in the near future?
Rick: No.
Sam: You ever going to bed?
Rick: No!
Sam: Well, I ain’t sleepy either. 
Rick: Good, have a drink.
Sam: No, not me — 
Rick: Then don’t have a drink.
Sam: Boss, let’s get outta here.
Rick: No. I’m waiting for a lady.
Sam: Please, boss, let’s go. There ain’t nothin’ but trouble for you here.
Rick: She’s coming back, I know she’s coming back.
Sam: We’ll take the car and go drivin’ all night. We’ll get drunk. We’ll go fishin’ until she’s — 
Rick: Go home, will ya’?
Sam: No, sir. I’m stayin’ right here.

Sam starts to play piano.

Rick: They grab Ugarte, then she walks in. That’s the way it goes. One in, one out. Sam.
Sam: Yes, boss.
Rick: It’s December 1941 in Casablanca. What time is it in New York?
Sam: My watch stopped.
Rick: I’ll be they’re asleep in New York. I’ll bet they’re asleep all over America. [pounds fist on table] Of all the gin joints and all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.

Rick turns to Sam.

Rick: What’s that you’re playing?
Sam: Oh, just a little somethin’ on my own.
Rick: Well, stop it, you know what I want to hear.
Sam: No, I don’t.
Rick: You played it for her, you can play it for me. 
Sam: I don’t think I can remember — 
Rick: If she can stand it, I can. Play it.
Sam: Yes, boss.

Sam reluctantly begins to play “As Time Goes By”.

— Casablanca (1942), screenplay by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch, play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Drunk. Today’s suggestion by Katha.

Trivia: When Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein won an Oscar for their script, they became the first (and only) Academy Award winning twins.

Dialogue on Dialogue: Alcohol is technically a depressant, so a perfect match for Rick’s mood once Ilsa suddenly reenters his life. In this scene, we get a chance to peer into the pain at the core of Rick’s psyche and artfully transition into one of the most famous flashbacks in cinema history: Rick and Ilsa’s time together in Paris.

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