This year marks the 70th anniversary of the beloved movie, “Casablanca.” In celebration of this milestone, various movie theaters around the country will be showing the movie this Thursday for the final anniversary showing.

If you haven’t had the chance to see this amazing movie, I highly encourage you to go as they are showing it in our very own Ames theater. If you have seen it, I would still consider going to see it on the big screen to get the full experience of what this film has to offer.

Set in World War II era French Morocco, “Casablanca” follows the journey of Rick, the American bar owner, and Ilsa, his former lover and wife of Victor Lazlo, a resistance leader.

Viewers are swept away in the passionate love Rick has for Ilsa, her devotion to Lazlo’s cause and the ever-present theme of duty.

For a refreshing difference from the sickening, everyday movies we see now, “Casablanca” shows us that love does not conquer all. That, in fact, sometimes duty does come before love. That love is not the all powerful, romanticized concept that is continually shoved down our throats today.

So, what makes this movie able to stay popular for so many years? I, in fact, knew one-liners from it long before I ever saw the film. Lines such as “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Or “We’ll always have Paris.”

It is still romantic. It is an attainable feeling where we can sympathize with Rick’s agony over his lost love and his duty to let her go. It invokes a sense of patriotism and heroism in us.

In a 1982 endeavor called “The Great Script Tease,” Chuck Ross actually changed the title to “Everybody Comes to Rick’s,” the original title of the film, and sent the script to various film agencies.

Of 217 agencies, 33 even recognized the script. Some were returned for other various reasons such as company policies. However, 38 agencies actually rejected the film saying:

“I just think you need to rework it. … You have excessive dialogue at times.”

“I think the dialogue could have been sharper, and I think the plot had a tendency to ramble. It could’ve been tighter and there could have been a cleaner line to it.”

“Story line is thin. Too much dialogue for amount of action. Not enough highs and lows in the script.”

Yes. The film that won Best Picture in 1943 was actually rejected by the people producing the movies we watch today.

This experiment was conducted 30 years ago. However, I think we can still get an idea of how the priorities of the movie industry and its customers have shifted.

We demand constant entertainment. We want endless drama and action to amuse us instead of being able to sit back and let a real story develop.

We are no longer able to have the attention span required to listen to what is being said, we need to see it all instead.

“Casablanca” is my favorite movie. I love Humphrey Bogart, the glistening eyes of Ingrid Bergman, the song “As Time Goes By” that is sung in the raspy voice of Dooley Wilson, the romanticism of love lost, and the patriotism and sense of duty in it all.

In celebration of 70 years of this film, we have the chance to remember and relive it all once again. Because really, how can you pass up Bogie looking into his lovers’ eyes and raising a glass, “Here’s looking at you kid.”