‘Casablanca’ celebrates 80th anniversary with special screening

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

In honor of its 80th anniversary, Casablanca returns to select cinemas nationwide on Sunday, Jan. 23 and Wednesday, Jan. 27, courtesy of Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies and Warner Brothers. 

Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) owns a nightclub in Vichy-controlled Casablanca, frequented by refugees desperate to escape German domination. Despite the ever-present human misery, Rick manages to remain uninvolved in World War II now raging across Europe and Northern Africa. But all that changes when his lost love Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) walks through the front door of Rick’s club. Rick must now choose between a life with the woman he loves and becoming the hero that both she and the world need.

The film won an Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Curtiz) and Best Screenplay (Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch) and received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Humphrey Bogart); Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Claude Rains); Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; Best Film Editing; and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

This special event includes exclusive insights from Ben Mankiewicz, host of Turner Classic Movies.

Locally the film will be screened at the AMC Stony Brook 17 on Jan. 23 at  7:30 p.m. and on Jan. 26 at 7 p.m.; Island 16 Cinema De Lux in Holtsville on Jan. 23 at 4:30 p.m. and on Jan. 26 at 4 p.m. and 7 pm.; and Farmingdale Multiplex on Jan. 23 at 4:30 p.m. and Jan 26 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. To order tickets in advance, visit www.fathomevents.com.