“Everybody comes to Rick’s.” This line is uttered by Capt. Louis Renault, the corrupt French prefect of police played by the ever-charming Claude Rains, in “Casablanca” (1943).
This film remains one of Warner Bros.’s biggest claims to fame. Renault’s line is a tribute to the popularity of the nightclub run by Humphrey Bogart’s character, mysterious American ex-patriate Richard Blaine. It’s the film’s first reference to Rick’s Café Américain, but it’s more than that. It’s also a clever quote of the original title of the unproduced play that inspired the movie.
