It is exhausting to consider Ronald Reagan as something in addition to the thirty third governor of California and the fortieth President of the US. Earlier than rising as some of the consequential figures in the history of the 20th century, Reagan developed a stable profession as a film star throughout Hollywood’s Golden Age. His infectious allure with an viewers, fast wit, and eloquence as a communicator translated effectively to public workplace, demonstrating that the road between Hollywood superstar and influential politician was far more blurred than we realized. Reagan’s footprint on American historical past and tradition speaks for itself, however think about how prevalent his iconography could be if Warner Bros. advised Humphrey Bogart to hit the street and employed the long run POTUS to star in Casablanca?
‘Casablanca’ Is Basic Hollywood at Its Absolute Greatest
Casablanca, winner of Greatest Image and charting excessive on each record of the best American movies, epitomizes basic film magic. With its wealthy characterization, tense drama, vigorous setting, and urgent topic, the Michael Curtiz film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman delivers all of the wonders and efficiency of narrative filmmaking as a mirrored image of human triumph and romantic heartbreak. The story of Rick Blaine (Bogart), a cynical and disillusioned bar proprietor whose listless life is upended by the sudden arrival of his previous lover, Ilsa Lund (Bergman), and her political resistance chief husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), stays a timeless research of the intersection between private motivations and the widespread good.
What else might be stated about Casablanca in addition to emphasizing its apparent greatness? The one factor left to do is throw a wrench at its canonical standing with one game-changing casting rumor. Earlier than shifting into the Oval Workplace in 1981, Ronald Reagan was a prolific Hollywood star for nearly 30 years, starring in movies such because the Bette Davis tearjerker, Darkish Victory, the small-town melodrama King’s Row, and the social points drama Storm Warning. Later in his profession, he made a shocking flip as a heavy within the crime drama starring Lee Marvin, The Killers. The Don Siegel movie, the place the Gipper shockingly slaps Angie Dickinson‘s character within the face, was Reagan’s remaining movie credit score.
Ronald Reagan’s Casting in ‘Casablanca’ Is a Delusion
Reagan’s dent in American cinema feels nameless in the present day, primarily because of the lack of plain classics and his future in politics dominating his cultural legacy. Nevertheless, with a starring function in Casablanca, his fame might have reached astronomical heights, or the trajectory of his profession would have taken a drastic flip — one that does not see him being sworn in as President of the U.S. In historical past, when the legend turns into the actual fact, the legend is printed, which explains why the general public is led to imagine that Reagan was initially slated to play Rick Blaine. In keeping with fact-checking by Snopes, Reagan’s casting is a fantasy, solely having credence as a piece of bar trivia.
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The legend originated with a press launch by Warner Bros. printed in The Hollywood Reporter in January 1942 stating that Reagan and Ann Sheridan, who starred in King’s Row with the previous, have been receiving top-billing in a brand new studio venture primarily based on an unproduced play by Murray Bennett and Joan Alison. Nevertheless, this assertion holds little validity. Under the classic studio system, actors signed unique contracts with their respective studios, and Reagan was a Warner Bros. worker from the start. Tagging Reagan and Sheridan as the celebrities of their subsequent manufacturing was nothing greater than a ploy to make their in-house expertise buzz-worthy (particularly ones who weren’t on the high of the heap), and it was customary for studios to shift expertise from one image to a different. Moreover, King’s Row was set for launch later that yr, so the Casablanca “announcement” was a manner of increase anticipation for the movie. When the press assertion hit the trades, Reagan was a second lieutenant in the U.S. Calvary Reserve, and the studio wouldn’t greenlight a brand new venture with WWII underway.
The picture of the sullen and emotionally battered Humphrey Bogart lounging in his gin joint is stitched into our recollections. It is unattainable to think about anybody else as Rick, which is how producer Corridor Wallis felt. To him, Bogart was the clear-cut choice. In the long run, the one actual connection between Bogart and Reagan was their shared expertise starring in Darkish Victory, the place Bogie performed an Irish jockey. We need to imagine the legend as a result of it represents a seismic sliding door second. If Reagan have been in a basic like Casablanca, would he even have pursued a profession in politics?
Casablanca is accessible to observe on Max within the U.S.
Casablanca
A cynical expatriate American cafe proprietor struggles to resolve whether or not or to not assist his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.
- Launch Date
- January 23, 1943
- Director
- Michael Curtiz
- Solid
- Humphrey Bogart , Ingrid Bergman , Paul Henreid , Claude Rains , Conrad Veidt , Sydney Greenstreet
- Runtime
- 102 minutes
