Play It Again, Sam [1972] Woody Allen

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Play It Again, Sam (1972)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069097/

Play It Again, Sam is a 1972 film written by and starring Woody Allen, originally entitled Aspirins for Three. The film was directed by Herbert Ross, which is unusual, as Allen usually directs all his own written work.

Woody Allen ... Allan
Diane Keaton ... Linda
Tony Roberts ... Dick
Jerry Lacy ... Bogart
Susan Anspach ... Nancy
Jennifer Salt ... Sharon
Joy Bang ... Julie
Viva ... Jennifer
Susanne Zenor ... Discotheque Girl (as Suzanne Zenor)
Diana Davila ... Museum Girl
Mari Fletcher ... Fantasy Sharon
Michael Greene ... Hood #1
Ted Markland ... Hood #2


No, Humphrey Bogart never actually said, "Play it again, Sam" - neither in Casablanca (1942) nor in any of the other Bogart films Woody Allen references in this movie, adapted from his hit Broadway play. But that hardly seems to matter, because while Play It Again, Sam (1972) is one of the most appealing and funny "romantic" comedies of its period (a modern angst-filled version of Casablanca), it's also a witty and charming take on what movies mean to us - the words and images we (sometimes mistakenly) take from them, their impact on our ideas of life and love, and their function as collective cultural dreams. Allan Felix, Allen's character in this movie, is a film writer whose wife has left him because she wants to get out into the world and experience "Life," while he prefers to sit in the dark in front of a flickering screen. His romantic ideals are totally informed by movies, and in his hilariously troubled relationships with women, he turns to a fantasy Bogart for advice and support. If he thinks Bogie really said the line, then aren't the facts rather beside the point?

Set in San Francisco, the story centers around the attempts of a well-meaning married couple, Linda (Diane Keaton) and Dick (Tony Roberts), to find a suitable mate - or at least set up a non-disastrous date - for the dumped and lonely Woody. Every effort, of course, ends up a mess. The only woman he's comfortable with is Linda, and as they are forced together more and more by her workaholic husband's neglect, they begin to fall for each other. Egged on by the ghost of Bogie, they begin an affair, and like the romantic ideal he always imagined in his movie-dream world, Woody makes a great and noble sacrifice for the sake of Linda and Dick's marriage, played out on the tarmac in a near-exact duplicate of the closing scene of Casablanca. Life imitates art in a bittersweet ending for all concerned.

This is the first time audiences got to see Allen and Keaton together on film. It was the beginning of an off-screen relationship that lasted only a few years but resulted in an ideal movie team that would co-star in seven more feature films together, from Sleeper (1973) to Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). In between, of course, there was Keaton's Academy Award-winning performance as the title character of Allen's Annie Hall (1977) - which may not be the totally factual account of their relationship, but did that matter to the audiences who believed that it was? The two initially paired up while working on the stage version of Play It Again, Sam, where they also became good friends with Tony Roberts. Allen directed Roberts in five movies after this, including A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982), the beginning of Allen's long on-and-off-screen relationship with Mia Farrow.

Although this stays in the memory as a Woody Allen film, he did not actually direct it, even though he had already made three movies of his own - What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966), Take the Money and Run (1969), and Bananas (1971). "I would never want to direct a play into a movie," Allen said in an interview with Cinema in March 1972. "I would only be interested in working on original projects for the screen. I was already at work on [Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, 1972], and I didn't want to spend a year doing a project that I had done on Broadway." Instead, he adapted the play in about 10 days ("It was so easy to do") with the help of director Herb Ross, who Allen found ideal for the job. He hoped that with Ross at the helm, he would get "a nice, solid, funny commercial picture, and hopefully entice a broader audience for me than I get with my own films." That's exactly what happened. Saturday Review found the actor "never so droll or so touching under his own direction," and critical praise for Keaton gave her career another boost after her appearance in The Godfather (1972). It made Allen a star with mass-audience appeal for the first time and helped him financially - his 10 percent of the gross brought him more than $1 million in profits.

Director Herbert Ross began his career as a dancer and choreographer, working for the American Ballet Theater while in his 20s, then choreographing Hollywood films beginning in the mid-1950s, with Carmen Jones (1954) and later Dr. Dolittle (1967) and Funny Girl (1968). He directed two of the biggest hits of 1977, The Goodbye Girl and The Turning Point, a ballet movie that earned him Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. The Goodbye Girl, which also got a Best Picture nod, was the second film in his frequent association with writer Neil Simon.

Woody Allen and Diane Keaton first met playing their roles on Broadway. By the time the play opened, they were lovers. When it closed, in 1970, they stopped living together.

Allen was fully aware that Bogart never actually said "Play It Again, Sam" in Casablanca. The title was chosen due to its clichéd familiarity. This is in keeping with the Bogart characterization, which itself is a cliché.

The Bogart character's comment, "You're as nervous as Lizabeth Scott was just before I blew her brains out!" is a reversal of the way it actually happened in Dead Reckoning.

During the scene where Allan puts on a record, it looks like he is putting up an old record of Oscar Peterson, who composed the track, "Blues for Allan Felix", for the film. It can be found on the soundtrack LP of the film, Play it again Sam, Original Dialogue and Music Soundtrack Recording. It is believed that the Oscar Peterson Trio used for this track was Oscar Peterson on piano, Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums, although this lineup ended in 1966.

This movie was spoofed on a third-season episode of SCTV, in a sketch entitled "Play it Again, Bob". In it, Woody Allen (Rick Moranis) is getting advice from the ghost of Bing Crosby (Joe Flaherty) to clinch a business deal with Bob Hope (Dave Thomas).

The Bertie Higgins song "Key Largo" is about the movie of the same name and about Bogart movies in general; one line puts emphasis on the phrase "play it again".

A character by the name of Woody Allen appears in an episode of Quantum Leap named "Play It Again, Seymour". In the episode, Sam leaps into a detective investigating the murder of his partner, and eventually ends in a scene parodying the final scene of Casablanca.

Alternative rock band Manchester Orchestra references the film in the title of their song "Play it Again, Sam! You Don't Have Any Feathers".

The film is referenced extensively in the Family Guy episode "Play It Again, Brian".