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Quote of the Day: The Drunkard
“Well, there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn’t advise you to try to invade.” – Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), in Casablanca, to Nazi Major Strasser who had taunted him with the idea of Hitler invading New York.
Hitler thought that Americans were stupid, lazy mongrels who would never withstand a German military machine powered by Aryan purity. When Casablanca hit the screens in November of 1942, events seemed to be conspiring to prove Hitler right.
1942 was a bad year for the United States, though there were some victories just before the release of Casablanca. For most of the year, the Nazis seemed unbeatable and were riding high. Rommel was winning most of his battles in North Africa. Japan was running roughshod over us in the South Pacific. 1942 was the year of the Bataan Death March. The battle of Midway was an important exception, but for most of 1942 we were losing.
I doubt 1942 Americans felt like losers, but the events of that time must have been made them nervous. They couldn’t know then how the war would turn out.
Casablanca, a cinematic middle-finger directed at the Nazis, must have been a tonic for our fellow citizens in 1942. I’ll bet audiences cheered (and laughed) when Bogart said the above line.
Then there’s the scene where Victor Lazlo led the crowd in singing “La Marseillaise” in defiance of the Nazis. Imagine seeing it in 1942, not knowing whether we were winning or losing.
So give yourself a treat. Find that Casablanca DVD in your cabinet and … uh … play it again!
Published in Group Writing
There are a lot of great ones to choose from. I also like the conversation between Bogart and Peter Lorre. “You despise me don’t you!” “I supposed if I gave it any thought I would.”
I picked the one I did because it supported the theme of this post, and I liked the touch of swagger.
I suspect the soldiers in that battle didn’t see it that way.
The point of this post is the exact opposite of 20/20 hindsight. I don’t know your age but I was born in 1959 and never had to wonder who was going to win World War II.
A 1942 movie audience didn’t have that luxury and they had been hearing a lot of bad news.
You still owe Rick’s 10 cartons of American cigarettes.
I shall remember to pay myself. Ha Ha
And Americans had also been hearing about Allied success. The victories were more recent. The last serious Allied military defeat of 1942 was the fall of Tobruk in June. No doubt Kasserine was a shock to the public. By May of 43, the campaign in North Africa was over with the Axis surrender of over 250,000 men.
What Americans did not know, and would not have expected, the last six months of the war would see more American casualties than in the first 30 months of the war.
LOL!
Depends who they were. Probably true for the general public, but countries tend to fight harder as their perimeter shrinks.
And
I’d watched the movie a few times before I realized that it’s set exactly somewhere between December 1 and December 6, 1941.
Ah. The scene that always makes me cry. And the source of another quote of the day post: http://ricochet.com/418557/archives/quote-of-the-day-march-29-play-la-marseillaise-play-it/
Best. Movie. Ever.
“Oh, yes, Ugate. I’m impressed!”
I’m constantly going back and forth between it and Seven Samurai.