“Have you tried ‘22’ tonight?”

With that line starts one of the best scenes in one of the best movies of all time. The question is asked by Richard Blaine, “Rick,” (played by Humphrey Bogart) owner of Rick’s Café American in the movie “Casablanca.” He asks the question of a young Hungarian man, who -- fleeing with his wife from Nazi-occupied Europe -- is desperately trying to win enough at the roulette wheel in Rick’s back-room casino to pay for exit visas so the couple can escape to America.

And he is losing. Rick already has been talking to the man’s wife and knows that Captain Renault (played by Claude Rains), the prefect of police, will give the couple passage out of the north African way station – but for a high price, a “romantic” liaison between her and the prefect. She has been asking Rick if Captain Renault will keep his word.

Classic Roulette Scene

Not withstanding any James Bond movie, what follows may be the most famous roulette scene ever put on film. Rick goes back to the casino to see how the young man is faring. The man is about to leave when Rick leans over his shoulder and advices “play 22.” With his last chip, the man places a bet on the number ’22,’ a long-shot bet with a one in 38 chance of winning. Rick shoots a quick glance at his croupier who spins the wheel. Of course, 22 wins. “Let it ride,” Rick tells him. Once again, 22 comes up a winner. “Cash in your winnings and never come back,” Rick tells the young man and walks away.

It is an emotional moment for the people who know Rick and it also is a turning point in the film. Rick is a man jilted by his lover Ilsa Lund (played by Ingrid Bergman), a lover who recently has shown up in Casablanca with her husband, a resistance leader trying to escape the Nazis. Earlier in the movie, in a colder moment, Rick announces, “I stick my neck out for nobody.” He does not drink with customers in his restaurant and he does not, ever, give anything away on the house.

Cliques Abound

When most people think of roulette and casinos, that image from Casablanca is almost sure to come to mind. It is full of the classic cliches – a smoky backroom gambling house, a slick French croupier in an evening jacket spinning the wheel, the usual assortment of exotic players crowded around the table. And the table, of course, is rigged.

We do not mind that Rick is running a fixed game in the back. He is the good guy, or, at least he once was before Ilsa broke his heart. He denies entry to the casino to a big shot from Germany’s Deutsche Bank, and, when the time comes to show his true heart, he lets desperate young people win enough to escape a growing nightmare.

As a cinematic device, the scene with the roulette wheel lets us know that when the time comes Rick again will be the good guy and help Ilsa and her husband elude the Nazis. But not yet. Afterward Rick is still playing it cool. He goes over to the croupier and asks, “How we doing tonight?” The croupier shrugs his shoulders, “A couple thousand less than I thought there would be.”

They don’t make movies like that very often.