Play It Again, Sam · reception & legacy
1972 · Herbert Ross
How Play It Again, Sam has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
A hit in 1972 and warmly reviewed, it's now read mostly as the Rosetta Stone for Annie Hall — the first on-screen pairing of Woody Allen and Diane Keaton, and the moment the Allen nebbish persona locked into place, even though Allen didn't direct it.
What's debated
The perennial fan debate: does it count as a 'real' Woody Allen film (he wrote and starred, Herbert Ross directed), folded into the larger problematic-fave argument that now shadows everything with Allen's name on it.
Its footprint
The title is the most famous misquote in movie history — 'Play it again, Sam' is never actually said in Casablanca — and this film did more than anything to cement the line in the culture; its ghost-of-Bogart-as-dating-coach conceit has been riffed on ever since.
Where it stands
A cinephile bridge object: essential viewing for Allen–Keaton completists and Casablanca lovers, but often left off Allen rankings on a technicality since it's the one Ross directed.