MovieChat Forums > Casablanca (1943) Discussion > What vague reason?

What vague reason?

posted 8 years ago by CindyH
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"Richard Blaine, American. Age, thirty-seven. Cannot return to his country. The reason is a little vague."
-- Major Strasser

I'm trying to imagine what reason Rick could possibly have that he cannot return to America. As far as I know, we don't exile citizens. Either they go to prison or they remain citizens.

Were there really exiles in that time period? What could have been the reason? His gun smuggling into Ethiopia?

Random Thoughts: http://goo.gl/eXk3O

[–] pontevedro 8 years ago

I think you're reading too much into this. I read the quoted dialogue to mean that he is wanted for a crime in the US and would most likely be arrested on his return. Not that he has been formally exiled - which we don't do.

Elsewhere Louis says this:

I've often speculated why you don't return to America. Did you abscond with the church funds? Run off with a senator's wife? I like to think you killed a man. It's the Romantic in me.
Rick: It was a combination of all three.