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It would explain both why Rick can't return to the States, and why Sam is running halfway around the world with him. Back in America, a white person (or group of people) tried to kill Sam, for whatever reason (a robbery, or a lynching, for example). Rick somehow got involved, and in the process of defending Sam, killed the attacker(s). Even though it was an act of defense, blame wound up on Rick and Sam, because it was the 1940s and the cops were racists. So Rick and Sam decided to escape to Europe, and later Casablanca. This theory would fit with what other characters say about Rick. More than once he's said to be someone who often winds up helping the "underdog." Louis speculates that Rick can't return to the States because he killed a man, and Rick confirms this; true, that conversation was sarcastic, but it may also have had some sincerity behind it.
** It's noted in-movie by Louis, where he muses openly about why Rick won't return to America when he can easily afford to:
{{quote| '''Louis''': I've often speculated why you don't return to America. Did you abscond with the church funds? Run off with a senator's wife? I like to think you killed a man. It's the Romantic in me.<br />
'''Rick''': It was a combination of all three. }}
 
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* Louis is Vichy France: also no elaboration necessary.
* Ugarte, Annina and her husband are the tiny European countries that never stood a chance against Nazi invasion.
** I had that exact idea when I realized what "Casablanca" translates to in English. [[hottip:*:<ref> [[Don't Explain the Joke|"White House", if you're wondering.]]</ref>
 
== This film takes place in the same universe as [[The Maltese Falcon (Film)|The Maltese Falcon]]. ==
Joel Cairo? Casper Gutman? Do these sound like names a person would likely be born with, or more like meaninglful aliases that criminals might pick for themselves? Even Sam Spade sounds a bit too cool to be real; it may well have just been the detective's professional name (like a pen name or a stage name). At the end of [[The Maltese Falcon (Film)|The Maltese Falcon]], Cairo and Gutman were supposedly arrested, but we didn't see it. That's because they escaped, and a few years later wound up in Casablanca, pretending to be Italians with the new names of Ugarte and Ferarri. (They didn't bother disguising their Hungarian and British accents, since no one asks questions in Casablanca). Sam wound up having to leave America for his own reasons, and once in Europe, started to go by Rick Blaine (possibly his real name all along). Rick has dealt with Ferrari and Ugarte in the past. The events of [[The Maltese Falcon (Film)|The Maltese Falcon]] job are that backstory.
* Ugarte's comment to Rick, "I hope you are more impressed with me now," makes sense when you consider how pathetic of a criminal he was as Joel Cairo; this time, he actually managed to kill someone and steal something, for once! As Ugarte he shows no obvious signs of homosexuality like he did as Cairo, but we never see Ugarte show any interest in women either.
* Ferrari knows Rick is secretly a sentimental guy, because he knows about Rick/Sam's past with Brigid.
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== Ugarte was involved with the Italian Mafia. ==
Ugarte is an Italian name, and many sources say the character is meant to be Italian (Peter Lorre's Hungarian accent notwithstanding). The Mafia absolutely hated the Nazis, which would explain why Ugarte had no moral problems at all with killing the two Nazi couriers. His confusion when Rick is disgusted with his murders, rather than impressed by them, makes sense if Ugarte was born and raised in a world of organized crime, where killing someone might be considered a triumph.
 
== Victor Lazlo was in a Dueling Fraternity ==
 
* The scar on the face looks just like the kind that would come from a Mensur and it is hard to imagine how it would have been gotten otherwise. If he got it under torture it would not look quite so neat.
 
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[[Category:Casablanca]]
[[Category:WMG]]
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