This film is the first of eight films that Keaton would make with Woody Allen. She and Allen worked on the Broadway stage when she co-starred with him in his play Play It Again, Sam. She was cast in the film version that was released in 1972 with Allen reprising his role and Herbert Ross taking on directing duties. Unlike Keaton’s previous two films, Lovers and Other Strangers and The Godfather, Play It Again, Sam is the first film that really engages with the actress as an artist. She still has not developed a comedic persona, though some of her innate timing and idiosyncratic style is visible. The script doesn’t give Keaton the kind of role that she would have in Allen’s other films – but this is the first film in Keaton’s oeuvre in which she actually fills out the role with some of her own charm and charisma and actually builds a character, fleshing it out and adding details and quirks. It’s also the first film in which she is a prominent character.
Like many of Allen’s films, Play It Again, Sam is a valentine to cinema. As can be guessed by the title, the film has a link to the Michael Curtiz 1942 classic Casablanca. Easily one of the most romantic – if not the most romantic – films in American cinema history, Casablanca has a looming and overwhelming influence. It made Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman into cinematic icons and its score and quotes have become cultural mainstays. The line, “Play it again, Sam” takes place in the film – well, it sorta takes place in the film. It’s one of those misquoted, misremembered bits of cultural ephemera that sort-of takes hold. It’s a bit like Sally Field’s supposed “You like me! You like me!” Oscar speech. The myth is repeated so many times it becomes fact.
So, “Play it again, Sam” isn’t actually uttered in the film, however, something kinda like it is delivered by Bergman’s Ilsa, when she enters the Café Américain, and requests the pianist to play “As Time Goes By.” But “Play It Again, Sam” has become shorthand, not only for Casablanca but for Golden Age of Hollywood catchphrases. And there’s a lot of cinema love in the film. This love becomes personified by a ghost-like Humphrey Bogart (impersonated by Jerry Lacy).
Woody Allen plays Allen, a film critic, who sees his marriage to the zesty Nancy (Susan Anspach) end. He’s devastated and turns to his best friends, Dick (frequent Allen collaborator, Tony Roberts) and Linda (Keaton). Dick and Linda are seemingly in a perfect marriage, though Dick’s a workaholic real estate guy who is so caught up in his work that he calls his answering service with an itinerary of locations with phone numbers so he’s always reachable. The film is done before cellphones, so it’s still possible to be uncontactable; Dick does his best not to be. Though Linda seems tolerant of her husband’s devotion to work, she does also have an edge to her kidding with him, when she hears him rattling off all the different numbers he’s contactable on, she quips whether he wants to remember the payphone outside.
Like so many of his heroes, Allen’s alter-ego is a man who is defined by his neuroses. He cannot seem to get it together and goes through a series of women, unable to settle down. Linda is hoping to fix him up, empathetic to his plight while feeling slightly neglected at home. Their closeness eventually spills into something more romantic – especially after Tony leaves for a business trip, leaving the two of them on their own.
Diane Keaton was romantically linked with Woody Allen while working on the Broadway version of Play It Again, Sam and though their romance cooled, it was replaced by a friendship, which also overlapped with a Svengali/muse dynamic. Keaton would become one of his most frequent and sympathetic collaborators and was featured in some of his greatest work, most notably the classic Annie Hall, which was based, in part, on the breakdown of their relationship.
In Play It Again, Sam, Keaton exudes a dewy loveliness. She is wonderful at portraying her concern and love for her friend. Linda is a very endearing character one who doesn’t have too many flaws and she is somewhat idealized. Because Keaton’s comedic persona hasn’t been fully formed yet – she doesn’t really get her own comic moment – she’s still quite the straight man to her co-star (an interesting dynamic given how Woody Allen would eventually write himself as the straight man to Keaton’s comic foil).
One thing that must be mentioned is costuming because so much of Keaton’s comic persona is also defined by her clothing – her eclectic, thrift shop aesthetic that favors baggy men’s clothing. (Obviously, Annie Hall was the apex of this sartorial take on her persona.) In Play It Again, Sam we see glimpses of Keaton’s unique fashion point of view – nothing is as distinct as her looks later in her career, but there are moments when Keaton stands out because of her sharp looks.
Costumer Anna Hill Johnstone (who did the costumes for Godfather) looks to Keaton’s affinity for androgyny by introducing her to the audiences wearing a severely cut men’s style suit. She’s wearing a double-breasted suit and tie – a sharp contrast to Woody Allen’s crumbled, comfortable look. Though set in San Francisco, both characters seem as two points of New York City fashion. Her tailored look belies her beguiling nature. (The first thing she does upon entering Allen’s flat is pick up his dirty dishes.) She is styled like a businesswoman but her personality is a neat juxtaposition of her look. There’s also a great call back to the shoulder-padded broads of yesteryear of whom Allen thinks so highly – she doesn’t look like a Hollywood glamour girl, but she does echo some of the traits.
Because it’s the 1970s and it’s swinging San Francisco, there are some trendy moments for Keaton, but there’s also a truly remarkable outfit that she wears when sharing a scene with Allen – it’s an odd, long black sweater sheath with knitted details including a fake collar and large red bow – all knitted onto the form-fitting dress that accentuates her willowy figure (there’s something of a sexy Olive Oyl about her look). Keaton also wears a knit cap – almost like a cloche. It’s a preposterous outfit but one that would predict the kind of look that Keaton would develop as a personality on her own.
Because Play It Again, Sam is an homage to Hollywood, Keaton does have some sweet and amusing moments peppered throughout the film when she cast in the film parodies – for example, she channels a doe-eyed Ingrid Bergman, recreating the heartbreaking scene in Casablanca when Rick (Humphrey Bogart) urges Ilsa to get on the plane and leave for America with her husband Laszlo (Paul Henreid) to escape the Nazis. There’s a neat parallel in Play It Again, Sam with Linda and Allen opening their hearts to each other at an airport, he urging her to get on the plane and return to her husband, despite their growing affection for each other.
By their next collaboration, 1973’s Sleeper, Keaton would come into her own as a prime comedienne, channelling the wacky screwball comedic actresses of the Golden Age like Judy Holliday or Carole Lombard (two comediennes who Allen often compared to Keaton). Sleeper would also be the first time he would direct his muse on the silver screen. Watching the progression of the two comedic performers’ chemistry and work from Play It Again, Sam in 1972 to their (to date), final collaboration in 1993’s Manhattan Murder Mystery charts an incredibly fruitful partnership. Play It Again, Sam is a great, careful first step in Keaton’s star building.
A Seat in the Aisle 
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