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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesBy the clearest available count, yes—with an important qualification: Casablanca is the most represented film on the American Film Institute’s movie-quote ballot, with seven entries. That makes it a strong contender for the title, not proof that people quote it more than every other movie in every setting. No audience survey is cited here to establish that broader claim.
What makes Casablanca the strongest candidate?
The American Film Institute’s live 100 Years…100 Movie Quotes page says Casablanca has seven quotes on its ballot, more than any other film represented there. The final ranking gives the film’s “Here’s looking at you, kid” line the number-five spot. Other listed entries include “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship” at number 20, “Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By’” at number 28, and “Round up the usual suspects” at number 32.
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![Casablanca (70th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51dny4S1-eL._SL160_.jpg)
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Casablanca (70th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] | $15.25 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Casablanca (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray) | $21.00 | Buy on Amazon |
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Casablanca - Anniversary Edition Blu-ray - Remastered | $22.71 | Buy on Amazon |
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Casablanca (70th Anniversary Limited Collector’s Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo) | $34.99 | Buy on Amazon |
That is a concrete, comparable basis for calling Casablanca exceptionally quotable: its dialogue recurs across a curated list of celebrated movie lines, and one of its lines ranks near the top. But the AFI ballot is not a measurement of how often people quote films in daily life. The superlative is best understood as a claim about AFI’s ballot, rather than a universal statistical fact.
Why do different AFI pages give different counts?
AFI’s separate 2020 Movie Club feature on Casablanca says six of the film’s quotes are named among its most iconic. The live ballot page reports seven entries. These are different pages using different descriptions and measures; the six and seven should not be combined or treated as if one page simply corrects the other.
#1 Best Overall
Does anyone say “Play it again, Sam” in the film?
No. AFI explicitly notes that the famous wording “Play it again, Sam!” is never actually spoken in the movie. Its ballot gives a different line: “Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By.’” The British Film Institute likewise calls the familiar phrase a mangled misquotation in its 2017 essay on why Casablanca is still quoted. The mistaken version is itself a vivid example of the film’s cultural afterlife: it is widely associated with Casablanca even though it is not its dialogue.
How the dialogue turns memory into meaning
BFI critic Pamela Hutchinson describes Casablanca as a love story told in the past tense. In her reading, repeated phrases and remembered moments give form to Rick and Ilsa’s heartbreak. Rick says “Here’s looking at you, kid” to Ilsa four times, according to BFI. What begins as a jovial toast gathers a different weight as the story moves toward farewell.
Rank #2
“We’ll always have Paris” similarly points to the couple’s happy past while they accept that they must part. The line does not undo the loss; it gives them a shared memory to carry beyond it. BFI reads this pattern of quotation as central to the film’s emotional force.
Hutchinson also draws attention to the dialogue’s economy: understatement, deadpan comedy and sardonic wit sit alongside a wartime story of sacrifice. That restraint lets a brief line carry more than one feeling, from affection to regret. This is a critical interpretation of the film’s craft, not a proven formula for why audiences remember particular dialogue.
Rank #3
- Casablanca - Anniversary Edition Blu-ray - Remastered
What is the film, and who wrote it?
Casablanca is a 1942 Warner Bros. film directed by Michael Curtiz. Turner Classic Movies describes Rick Blaine as an expatriate bar owner who initially tries to avoid taking sides; that changes when Ilsa and her husband, Victor, arrive seeking visas, drawing Rick into romantic and political conflict. TCM credits Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch with the screenplay, based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison’s unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick’s. See TCM’s film entry.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
- Factory sealed DVD
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