Is nothing sacred? Remaking Casablanca.

[Tiki Tom]

First things first: Rest in Peace to Madeleine LeBeau who played Yvonne, Rick's ex-girlfriend, in Casablanca. She was 92. She will live on forever thanks to the powerful image of her singing the Marsaillaise in the movie.

Now to the second bit of bad news. Apparently the remake mania taking over Hollywood has finally set its sights on Rick, Ilsa, Captain Renault, Victor Laszlo, and the rest.

"a remake of one of the three most romantic films of all time is in the works. Paul Feig, who recently directed Ghosbusters, has been asked to direct it, but has not yet signed."​

http://www.smobserved.com/story/201...ast-member-from-original-dies-at-92/1757.html

Maybe this is a joke. (I did a search and wasn't able to find confirmation anywhere else. Do any esteemed Loungers have additional information?) I can't imagine anyone having the hubris to attempt this with the current crop of stars and thinking they'll pull it off. Or maybe I should be posting this under "you know you are getting old when..." ...someone thinks they can remake Casablanca.

Ah, well. We'll always have Paris.

 

[Frunobulax]

While I agree that it will pale to the original (as it was a product of its time), it's not as if it's not been done before. There was a TV Miniseries, I think in the late 70s or 80s. And Barb Wire (yes, the Pamela Anderson movie) is described as, "Post-apocalyptic remake of Casablanca (1942) set in a sleazy nightclub.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Warner Bros. already remade it once, in 1995, with Bugs Bunny as Rick, Yosemite Sam as Strasser, Pepe Le Pew as Louis, Sylvester the Cat as Laszlo, and Daffy Duck as Sam. The one misstep was casting some random cat as Ilsa. Better they should have cast Bugs opposite himself, in drag.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

I can see Mathew McConaughey playing Rick, Scarlet Johansson playing Ilsa & Christoph Waltz playing capt. Renault.
Haven't seen the latest 'Ghostbusters' but judging by the trailer, it looks like s.......s.........sh.........a film I wouldn't appreciate.

It's like any remake, what does it matter ? we always have the original(s) to cherish.

 

[Frunobulax]

Rick - Matt Damon
Ilsa - Jennifer Lawrence
Victor - Robert Downey, Jr.
Renault - Ben Affleck
Ugarte - Gilbert Gottfried
Sam - Jamie Foxx

Kidding, folks, kidding. Well, maybe not the Jamie Foxx thing...

 

[Bushman]

I could not imagine a more blasphemous act in Hollywood than to remake Casablanca, and with that hot head Fieg at the helm no less.

 

[Fading Fast]

Man, moment, machine.

"Casablanca" worked for so many reasons and worked well-beyond anyone's plans or hopes ("Citizen Kane" and "Gone With the Wind" were supposed to be mega-successful, era-defining movies, "Casablanca" was just another churn-'em-out movie from Warner Brothers).

Trying to recreate that serendipity, that chemistry, that combination of talent and luck is crazy.

Try populating a movie with a Bogart, Bergman, Greenstreet, Reins, Henreid, Veldt, Lorrie, Wilson and others today - maybe we can come up with a wish list from today's stars, but actually getting them all into one movie and having them all click like the original cast is asking a whole lot.

The culture of the time - what could and could not be said / what had to be implied - sexually, politically, socially - gives "Casablanca" so much of its tension and intrigue. The geo-politics of the time would not have the same visceral feel for today's audiences - Hitler's armies were still goose-stepping all over Europe and neither victory nor survival was obvious to the allies.

Back then, the movies had a style that embraced the mild-by-today's-standards action, story-and-character driven flow and feel of "Casablanca" - from the noir-ish and stark black and white cinematography to the public's expectations - gun fights didn't have to go on for ever, bullets didn't have to be filmed in slow motion, gunshots didn't have to echo throughout the theater (Rick and Strassers "duel" would never be as restrained today) - the balance of action, tension, drama, dialogue, unspoken intrigue would be ruined in a modern movie.

"Casablanca" was that blindfolded half-court shot where man, moment and machine came together to make a regular movie a classic - those making it then had no idea what they had done as much of it resulted from the fortunes of happenstance - trying to remake it, is foolhardiness.

 

[Matt Crunk]

While it would never stand up to the original, it might be interesting to see what modern Hollywood does with it. We would expect a train wreck, so if it turns out worth watching, all the better. I'd almost rather see it cast with unknowns than Hollywood's current A-list. Of course we know that would never happen. They could hardly do worse than David Soul as Rick, although I thought Scatman Crothers was excellent as Sam.

 

[Fading Fast]

While it would never stand up to the original, it might be interesting to see what modern Hollywood does with it. We would expect a train wreck, so if it turns out worth watching, all the better. I'd almost rather see it cast with unknowns than Hollywood's current A-list. Of course we know that would never happen. They could hardly do worse than David Soul as Rick, although I thought Scatman Crothers was excellent as Sam.

Maybe if they didn't remake it but did something inspired by it - opened with a twenty minute summary scene of the original and, then, followed the characters after the plane takes off - what happens to Ilsa and Laszlo, where do Rick and Louie go, do Greenstreet and Wilson kill each other, etc. Of course, some conflict or conflicts would have to bring them back to Casablanca - wiser and more desperate / maybe toward the end of the war?

Call it something else, riff off the story, but don't remake it - that could work and would take all the pressure of "remaking a classic" off.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Man, moment, machine.

"Casablanca" worked for so many reasons and worked well-beyond anyone's plans or hopes ("Citizen Kane" and "Gone With the Wind" were supposed to be mega-successful, era-defining movies, "Casablanca" was just another churn-'em-out movie from Warner Brothers).

Trying to recreate that serendipity, that chemistry, that combination of talent and luck is crazy.

Try populating a movie with a Bogart, Bergman, Greenstreet, Reins, Henreid, Veldt, Lorrie, Wilson and others today - maybe we can come up with a wish list from today's stars, but actually getting them all into one movie and having them all click like the original cast is asking a whole lot.

The culture of the time - what could and could not be said / what had to be implied - sexually, politically, socially - gives "Casablanca" so much of its tension and intrigue. The geo-politics of the time would not have the same visceral feel for today's audiences - Hitler's armies were still goose-stepping all over Europe and neither victory nor survival was obvious to the allies.

Back then, the movies had a style that embraced the mild-by-today's-standards action, story-and-character driven flow and feel of "Casablanca" - from the noir-ish and stark black and white cinematography to the public's expectations - gun fights didn't have to go on for ever, bullets didn't have to be filmed in slow motion, gunshots didn't have to echo throughout the theater (Rick and Strassers "duel" would never be as restrained today) - the balance of action, tension, drama, dialogue, unspoken intrigue would be ruined in a modern movie.

"Casablanca" was that blindfolded half-court shot where man, moment and machine came together to make a regular movie a classic - those making it then had no idea what they had done as much of it resulted from the fortunes of happenstance - trying to remake it, is foolhardiness.

Another thing important to realize is that "Casablanca" didn't really become CASABLANCA The Ineffable Greatest Classic Movie of All Time until the rise of the Bogie Cult in the late 1960s and early 1970s -- and that cult, likewise, was tied closely to the culture of *its* time -- Bogart as up-yours antihero standing up for his beliefs was very much in harmony with the rebellious-college-kid zeitgeist of the Vietnam Era.

It was a successful film in 1943, people liked it, it won an Oscar, and it cemented Bogart's screen character, but it didn't have anywhere near the cult it has today. There was no hue and outcry whatsoever when the Lux Radio Theatre adapted it for the air with Alan Ladd and Hedy Lamaar, nor was there when Warners produced a flop TV adaptation with a Cold War motif for ABC in 1955 starring the forgotten Charles McGraw as Rick, and no Ilsa at all -- the roles didn't "belong" to Bogart and Bergman in the way we perceive them today, and they didn't until the Bogie Cult came along in the sixties to declare that they did.

 

[Bushman]

Man, moment, machine.

"Casablanca" worked for so many reasons and worked well-beyond anyone's plans or hopes ("Citizen Kane" and "Gone With the Wind" were supposed to be mega-successful, era-defining movies, "Casablanca" was just another churn-'em-out movie from Warner Brothers).

Trying to recreate that serendipity, that chemistry, that combination of talent and luck is crazy.

Try populating a movie with a Bogart, Bergman, Greenstreet, Reins, Henreid, Veldt, Lorrie, Wilson and others today - maybe we can come up with a wish list from today's stars, but actually getting them all into one movie and having them all click like the original cast is asking a whole lot.

The culture of the time - what could and could not be said / what had to be implied - sexually, politically, socially - gives "Casablanca" so much of its tension and intrigue. The geo-politics of the time would not have the same visceral feel for today's audiences - Hitler's armies were still goose-stepping all over Europe and neither victory nor survival was obvious to the allies.

Back then, the movies had a style that embraced the mild-by-today's-standards action, story-and-character driven flow and feel of "Casablanca" - from the noir-ish and stark black and white cinematography to the public's expectations - gun fights didn't have to go on for ever, bullets didn't have to be filmed in slow motion, gunshots didn't have to echo throughout the theater (Rick and Strassers "duel" would never be as restrained today) - the balance of action, tension, drama, dialogue, unspoken intrigue would be ruined in a modern movie.

"Casablanca" was that blindfolded half-court shot where man, moment and machine came together to make a regular movie a classic - those making it then had no idea what they had done as much of it resulted from the fortunes of happenstance - trying to remake it, is foolhardiness.

Indeed. It's surreal to remember that while this film, which both embraced and scolded America's isolationist stance at the time, was released Hitler was plowing down borders and seizing half of Europe for his own. It would be impossible to repeat that kind of kairos in modern cinema. There's simply no modern day analogue. I also remember picking apart the film in both a film class I took in high school, and a history class I took in college where we analyzed how the various characters represented their various countries, and how the end of the film betrayed Curtiz's feelings about America's isolationism. The film is the perfect example of the timely film, and last to this day because of its timeliness.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I had a conversation with a dear friend that commenced with her remarks about, "that scene where the German officers are singing a Nazi song." I loved pointing out that the song, Die Wacht am Rhein was written long before Adolf Hitler was born, and that its lyrics ("Dear fatherland, put your mind at rest, dear fatherland, put your mind at rest, firm stands, and true, the Watch, the Watch at the Rhine! –Firm stands, and true, the Watch, the Watch at the Rhine!" ) are actually far less bellicose than those of the French Marseillaise ("Let's march, let's march! Let an impure blood soak our fields!").

The interesting thing is that the producers wanted to have the Germans singing a real Nazi song- the Horst Wessel Lied- but it was still under copyright and they were afraid of potential lawsuits for infringement in neutral countries. Moral of the story: Rick may not have been intimidated by Hitler's soldiers... but Warner Brothers didn't want to tangle with Hitler's lawyers.

 

[belfastboy]

First things first: Rest in Peace to Madeleine LeBeau who played Yvonne, Rick's ex-girlfriend, in Casablanca. She was 92. She will live on forever thanks to the powerful image of her singing the Marsaillaise in the movie.

Now to the second bit of bad news. Apparently the remake mania taking over Hollywood has finally set its sights on Rick, Ilsa, Captain Renault, Victor Laszlo, and the rest.

"a remake of one of the three most romantic films of all time is in the works. Paul Feig, who recently directed Ghosbusters, has been asked to direct it, but has not yet signed."​

http://www.smobserved.com/story/201...ast-member-from-original-dies-at-92/1757.html

Maybe this is a joke. (I did a search and wasn't able to find confirmation anywhere else. Do any esteemed Loungers have additional information?) I can't imagine anyone having the hubris to attempt this with the current crop of stars and thinking they'll pull it off. Or maybe I should be posting this under "you know you are getting old when..." ...someone thinks they can remake Casablanca.

Ah, well. We'll always have Paris.

I am not so sure.......even Paris has changed!

 

[Frunobulax]

Maybe if they didn't remake it but did something inspired by it - opened with a twenty minute summary scene of the original and, then, followed the characters after the plane takes off - what happens to Ilsa and Laszlo, where do Rick and Louie go, do Greenstreet and Wilson kill each other, etc. Of course, some conflict or conflicts would have to bring them back to Casablanca - wiser and more desperate / maybe toward the end of the war?

Call it something else, riff off the story, but don't remake it - that could work and would take all the pressure of "remaking a classic" off.

Rick's great-grandson moves back to Casablanca and re-opens the bar?

 

[Fading Fast]

Rick's great-grandson moves back to Casablanca and re-opens the bar?

serving "specialty" cocktails and only locally sourced bar snacks. I'd have to kill myself.

 

[Frunobulax]

serving "specialty" cocktails and only locally sourced bar snacks. I'd have to kill myself.

Nah, I was seriously thinking of a possibly interesting sequel. I was thinking of it being a weigh station for refugees from some of the current activities in the middle east and Africa, making it relevant today. Different characters, different ethnicities, different problems. Same human behavior, same corruption, etc. Give Rick IV some interesting characters to interact with, and some sympathetic folks to stick his neck out for. It's not like we're not currently having arguments in the US of "isolationism" vs. "involvement."

It's a riff off the original story, as you proposed. It doesn't have to be bad.

 

[Fading Fast]

Nah, I was seriously thinking of a possibly interesting sequel. I was thinking of it being a weigh station for refugees from some of the current activities in the middle east and Africa, making it relevant today. Different characters, different ethnicities, different problems. Same human behavior, same corruption, etc. Give Rick IV some interesting characters to interact with, and some sympathetic folks to stick his neck out for. It's not like we're not currently having arguments in the US of "isolationism" vs. "involvement."

It's a riff off the original story, as you proposed. It doesn't have to be bad.

Good points and an interesting idea. I admit to leaning so heavily to the original time period that I hadn't thought of your idea to address present day issues - would definitely take the "remake" monkey off their back.

I still also like the idea of kicking the story forward a few years and seeing what happened to everyone and "reuniting" them for another moment of tension, conflict, moral dilemma, etc.

 

[Bushman]

Still, with Paul Fieg... I just don't like his directorial style, nor his attitude. I wouldn't trust him as an extra on the movie.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I can recall a TV Guide story in the mid-Sixties (you remember TV Guide, don't you, that indispensable roadmap to TV viewing, instead of the fan mag it's become?) . . . anyway, a story about how TV was eventually going to run out of old movies to show and would have to start producing made-for-TV flicks. There was a line in the story about "You remember Casablanca, don't you? Great old flick?" That sounds as if the film was considered a footnote in movie history, an Oscar winner that you caught if it showed up on late-night TV, but not a super-classic as it's thought of today.

A first-year episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., "The Terbuf Affair," played some riffs on the Casablanca theme, with Solo helping out an old girlfriend who is now married to someone else, great Capt. Renault-like lines for Illya, and a downbeat ending, rare for the show. The point is that the writer, Alan Caillou, was ahead of the fandom curve for the movie -- Casablanca wasn't yet the icon it's become. That TV Guide story might be from around that same time, too.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I can recall a Tv Guide story in the mid-Sixties (you remember TV Guide, don't you, that indispensable roadmap to TV viewing, instead of the fan mag it's become?) . . . anyway, a story about how TV was eventually going to run out of old movies to show and would have to start producing made-for-TV flicks. There was a line in the story about "You remember Casablanca, don't you? Great old flick?" That sounds as if the film was considered a footnote in movie history, an Oscar winner that you caught if it showed up on late-night TV, but not a super-classic as it's thought of today.

A first-year episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., "The Terbuf Affair," played some riffs on the Casablanca theme, with Solo helping out an old girlfriend who is now married to someone else, great Capt. Renault-like lines for Illya, and a downbeat ending, rare for the show. The point is that the writer, Alan Caillou, was ahead of the fandom curve for the movie -- Casablanca wasn't yet the icon it's become. That TV Guide story might be from around that same time, too.

The whole "old movies" nostalgia boom seems to have really ramped up following the success of "Bonnie and Clyde" in 1967 -- although you certainly had revival theatres and college film festivals long before that, and the late late late movie on TV, it was during that late-sixties boom/early seventies that all the iconography of "Old Movies" caught on as a pop-culture trend. That's when you started to see Bogie posters on dorm-room walls, that's when you started to get "pork chopsh and appleshaushe" references in contemporary sitcoms, and reverential/satirical movies like "Play It Again Sam," which was Woody Allen's pointed commentary on the whole Bogie cult. In 1964, Casablanca was "an" old movie -- but by 1974, it was *the* old movie.

Warners didn't sell their pre-1948 movie library to television until 1956, remember -- it took several years' worth of repeat screenings on the Big Money Movie and the Late Late Late Show before any of these films caught on to the level of familiarity they'd have in later years.