{ "id": "ep1ygey9w0", "slug": "play-it-again-sam-ep1ygey9w0", "title": "Play It Again, Sam", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976", "label": "Released 1970 to 1976", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Play It Again, Sam (1972) is a Herbert Ross romantic comedy written by and starring Woody Allen, adapted from his 1969 Broadway play, with Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts; Allan Felix gets dating advice from a hallucinated Humphrey Bogart in a Casablanca parody.", "snippet": "Play It Again, Sam (1972) is a Herbert Ross romantic comedy written by and starring Woody Allen, adapted from his 1969 Broadway play, with Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts; Allan Felix gets dating advice from a hallucinated Humphrey Bogart in a Casablanca parody.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976", "markdown": "# Play It Again, Sam\n\n**Play It Again, Sam** is a 1972 American romantic comedy directed by [Herbert Ross](https://www.edgepedia.org/herbert-ross), written by and starring [Woody Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/woody-allen), and based on his 1969 Broadway play of the same name. Allen plays Allan Felix, a film critic whose wife has left him and who receives romantic advice from a hallucinated [Humphrey Bogart](https://www.edgepedia.org/humphrey-bogart), played by Jerry Lacy; Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts co-star as the married couple Linda and Dick Christie.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/90473/play-it-again-sam) The film opens with the final scene of *Casablanca* (1942) and ends with a parody of that ending, complete with plane propellers, fog, and trenchcoats.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) • [3](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/play-it-again-sam)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | 28 April 1972 per the AFI Catalog; Rotten Tomatoes and Moviefone list May 4, 1972[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/play_it_again_sam) |\n| Director / writer | Herbert Ross; screenplay by Woody Allen from his play[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) |\n| Cast | Woody Allen (Allan Felix), Diane Keaton (Linda), Tony Roberts (Dick), Jerry Lacy (Humphrey Bogart), Susan Anspach (Nancy)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) • [3](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/play-it-again-sam) |\n| Source play | Produced on Broadway by David Merrick, opening 12 February 1969; 453 performances at the Broadhurst Theatre[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) • [5](https://www.wallpaper.com/art/diane-keaton-auction-highlights) |\n| Production | Shot 4 October to late November 1971 in San Francisco; Technicolor; Paramount copyright registered 17 March 1972[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) |\n| Runtime / rating | 85 to 87 minutes; rated PG[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) • [6](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/play-it-again-sam) |\n| Reception | 97% Tomatometer from 37 reviews and 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/play_it_again_sam) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and premise\n\nAllan Felix is an overanxious film critic who sinks into depression after his wife Nancy ([Susan Anspach](https://www.edgepedia.org/susan-anspach)) leaves him.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/play_it_again_sam) His married friends Dick and Linda fix him up with a series of women, but his weak self-confidence makes him fail with all of them.[3](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/play-it-again-sam) Throughout the film he imagines conversations with Humphrey Bogart, modeled on Bogart's Rick Blaine from *Casablanca*, who offers tips on how to succeed with women.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) • [3](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/play-it-again-sam) Eventually Allan realizes the one woman he can be himself with is Linda, his best friend's wife, and the film closes with a takeoff on *Casablanca*'s classic airport ending.[3](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/play-it-again-sam)\n\n## The title and the misquote\n\nThe title comes from a line widely attributed to [Ingrid Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingrid-bergman) in *Casablanca*, but Humphrey Bogart never actually said \"Play it again, Sam\", neither in *Casablanca* nor in any other Bogart film the movie references.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/90473/play-it-again-sam) The AFI Catalog notes the phrase became a cultural phenomenon even though it was never spoken in those exact words in the original film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) One audience reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes makes the same point: Bogart simply says \"play it\" near the end of his farewell speech.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/play_it_again_sam)\n\n## From stage to screen\n\nAllen wrote the play for the Broadway stage and starred in the original production, which was a popular success; his inspiration was *Casablanca*, which won the 1943 [Academy Award for Best Picture](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-picture).[7](https://americanfilm.afi.com/issue/2013/9/archives) When Paramount bought the play for the movies, Allen was signed to write the screen adaptation and to play the lead as he had on Broadway.[7](https://americanfilm.afi.com/issue/2013/9/archives) Although he had already directed three features, *What's Up, Tiger Lily?* (1966), *[Take the Money and Run](https://www.edgepedia.org/take-the-money-and-run)* (1969), and *Bananas* (1971), he did not direct this film. \"I would never want to direct a play into a movie,\" he told *Cinema* in March 1972, adding that he adapted the play in about 10 days (\"It was so easy to do\") and hoped Ross would deliver \"a nice, solid, funny commercial picture\" that would entice a broader audience than his own films.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/90473/play-it-again-sam)\n\nHerbert Ross began as a dancer and choreographer with the American Ballet Theater in his twenties and moved into choreographing Hollywood films from the mid-1950s, including *[Carmen Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/carmen-jones-film)* (1954), *Doctor Dolittle* (1967), and *Funny Girl* (1968).[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/90473/play-it-again-sam) The film was produced by Arthur P. Jacobs and Charles H. Joffe through Apjac Productions and Rollins-Joffe Productions.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/90473/play-it-again-sam)\n\n## Keaton, Roberts, and the Allen ensemble\n\nIt was during auditions for the stage production that [Diane Keaton](https://www.edgepedia.org/diane-keaton) first met Allen, and their professional collaboration developed into a romantic relationship.[5](https://www.wallpaper.com/art/diane-keaton-auction-highlights) Keaton starred as Linda Christie in the original 1969 Broadway production, which earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play, and she reprised the role in the film.[5](https://www.wallpaper.com/art/diane-keaton-auction-highlights) Allen worked with Keaton for the first time on *Play It Again, Sam*; over 1971 to 1993 the two would make eight movies together, among them *Annie Hall*, *Sleeper*, and *Manhattan*.[5](https://www.wallpaper.com/art/diane-keaton-auction-highlights) Tony Roberts also appeared in the Broadway play and made the film, and went on to appear in *Annie Hall* (1977), *Stardust Memories* (1980), *A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy* (1982), *Hannah and Her Sisters* (1986), and *Radio Days* (1987).[8](https://apnews.com/article/e4aef9f7fa10479ba73b5528816bc6da)\n\n## Music and craft\n\nBilly Goldenberg composed the original music, and the Oscar Peterson Trio performed \"Blues for Alan Felix,\" written for the film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) The soundtrack also uses [Max Steiner](https://www.edgepedia.org/max-steiner)'s incidental music from *Casablanca* and Herman Hupfeld's \"As Time Goes By,\" sung by [Dooley Wilson](https://www.edgepedia.org/dooley-wilson), who is listed in the onscreen credits as the singer.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384) Owen Roizman was the cinematographer, Marion Rothman the editor, and Ed Wittstein the production designer.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384)\n\n## Reception and significance\n\n*Saturday Review* found Allen \"never so droll or so touching under his own direction,\" and critical praise for Keaton boosted her career after her appearance in *The Godfather* (1972).[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/90473/play-it-again-sam) The film made Allen a star with mass-audience appeal for the first time and was financially successful: his 10 percent of the gross brought him more than $1 million in profits.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/90473/play-it-again-sam) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 97% Tomatometer from 37 reviews and an 89% audience score.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/play_it_again_sam) A *Time Out* review called the working out of the parallels with *Casablanca* \"masterly,\" with plenty of good sight gags and one-liners.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/play_it_again_sam)\n\nScholarship has treated the film as a key case in intertextual allusion. Noel Carroll's account of allusion in postclassical American filmmaking distinguishes films that cite earlier texts to critique old Hollywood from those that cite them nostalgically, and Elizabeth Marquis of McMaster University's Center for Leadership in Learning has analyzed *Play It Again, Sam* to show that intertextual allusion can be at once deconstructive and nostalgic.[9](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01956051.2011.602760) Peter J. Bailey, author of *The Reluctant Film Art of Woody Allen*, presents the film as the introduction to Allen's cinema in its use of self-conscious dramatic and cinematic tropes to convey the contrast between Allan Felix's lack of self-esteem and his imagined Bogart's swaggering confidence, and notes that it introduces themes Allen's work would return to, including the centrality of films and filmmaking in his movies.[10](https://doi.org/10.5810/kentucky/9780813167190.003.0002)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Play It Again, Sam (1972), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/54384)\n2. [Play It Again, Sam, Turner Classic Movies, review by Rob Nixon (2005)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/90473/play-it-again-sam)\n3. [Play It Again, Sam, Paramount Pictures](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/play-it-again-sam)\n4. [Play It Again, Sam, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/play_it_again_sam)\n5. [Eight special items from the Diane Keaton auction series, Wallpaper](https://www.wallpaper.com/art/diane-keaton-auction-highlights)\n6. [Play It Again, Sam streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/play-it-again-sam)\n7. [Woody Allen and His Tweed Jacket, by Steve Siporin, American Film (2013)](https://americanfilm.afi.com/issue/2013/9/archives)\n8. [Stage and film actor Tony Roberts dies at 85, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/e4aef9f7fa10479ba73b5528816bc6da)\n9. [We'll Always Have Bogart: Allusion, Nostalgia, and Critique in Play It Again, Sam, Journal of Popular Film and Television 39(4), 2011](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01956051.2011.602760)\n10. [Strictly the Movies: Play It Again, Sam, in Peter J. Bailey, The Reluctant Film Art of Woody Allen, 2nd edn, 2016](https://doi.org/10.5810/kentucky/9780813167190.003.0002)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1970s › Released 1970 to 1976*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/play-it-again-sam-ep1ygey9w0", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/play-it-again-sam-ep1ygey9w0.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Play It Again, Sam\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/play-it-again-sam-ep1ygey9w0. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Play It Again, Sam](https://www.edgepedia.org/play-it-again-sam-ep1ygey9w0)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/play-it-again-sam-ep1ygey9w0](https://www.edgepedia.org/play-it-again-sam-ep1ygey9w0). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Play It Again, Sam\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/play-it-again-sam-ep1ygey9w0. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Play It Again, Sam is a Herbert Ross romantic comedy written by and starring Woody Allen, adapted from his 1969 Broadway play, with Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts; Allan Felix gets dating advice from a hallucinated Humphrey Bogart in a Casablanca parody." }