Something on HuffPost caught my eye the other day. Amid Oscar talk, someone had blogged semi seriously that he would like to see an Oscar for “best line.” Examples were the iconic likes of “Quite frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” and “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
It got me thinking beyond Lincoln and Argo, which were both wonderfully scripted. I conjured up my co-all-time favorite movie (along with The Graduate) Casablanca. It’s a veritable trove of Oscaresque lines. But my favorite is not among the standards.
Remember the scene where Claude Rains (as Vichy Captain Louis Renault) is asking Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine character how he ever wound up in Morocco? The cryptic, cynical ex-pat says he “came for the waters.” Cpt. Renault seems dumbfounded. He responds that this is the desert; there are no waters.
“I guess I was misinformed,” deadpans the not-as-neutral-as-he-appears Rick, as only Bogart can deliver it. It’s still my favorite line. Although “Plastics” remains in the running.