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Yes, folks, it is now official. More than 11,000 professional writers belonging to the Writer's Guilds Of America have spoken, confirming what aficionados of the silver screen have long known: CASABLANCA is the greatest screenplay ever written. The Guild members voted and came up with a list of the 101 best screenplays of all time, and the 1942 black and white masterpiece starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman came out on top.
With all the modern gimmicks today's film makers have at their disposal, in the end it is the screenplay that makes or breaks a movie, and the screenplay for CASABLANCA is, in a word - brilliant. Almost every line is a classic. Just look at how much of it has become part of the modern lexicon...
The screenplay began as a script for the stage called, Everybody Comes To Rick's, written in 1940 by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. When they couldn't find anyone to produce their play, in December of 1941 just days after Pearl Harbor, they sold it to Warner Bros. for $20,000, and screenwriters Aeneas MacKenzie and Wally Kline began adapting it for the screen. The name was changed to CASABLANCA, and six weeks later writers Julius and Philip Epstein added their talents to the mix. By May, as shooting was about to begin, two more writers, Howard Koch and Casey Robinson joined the team, so that the final screenplay was a collaboration of no less than eight writers. And the famous final line of the movie - Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship - was actually penned by the producer, Hal Wallis.
The screenplay developed a life of its own, changing almost on a daily basis. Shooting was delayed on numerous occasions when the actors had to learn new dialogue written the night before. The ending wasn't finalized until a few hours before being filmed, and the entire film was shot in only 59 days. It was released in November, 1942, 18 days after Allied troops landed on the shores of Casablanca, and just two months before the Churchill / Roosevelt conferences in that same town.
CASABLANCA went on to win three Academy Awards in 1943, for Best Picture, Best Director, and of course - Best Screenplay. And now, over 60 years later, it is awarded the ultimate movie accolade - the Greatest Screenplay Of All Time. So do yourself a huge favour, and run don't walk to the nearest video store, pick up a copy of CASABLANCA today, and see what a real movie is all about.
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