Original artwork, not a still
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.
— Casablanca · 1942
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is a complaint wrapped in a joke: the universe has plenty of places Ilsa could have gone and she picked the one he is hiding in. Fate and bitterness are tangled up in one sentence. It has become the standard way to say that of every possible place, the one person you did not want to see turned up in yours.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for CasablancaShow the scene
Rick Blaine runs a nightclub in Vichy-controlled Casablanca and boasts that he is neutral in everything. When Ilsa Lund, the woman who left him in Paris without a word, walks into his café on the arm of her husband, the resistance leader Victor Laszlo, he has not seen her since. Rick, stunned and embittered, says the line about all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world. A flashback to their love affair in Paris, which ended when she left him without explanation, follows.
Sources (2)
- Wikipedia: Casablanca (film)PlotReference checked
- Wikiquote: Casablanca (film)Rick Blaine sectionReference checked
Context reviewed
