Casablanca: Everyone forgot that this masterpiece was made into a TV series twice, yes, yes!

Entering American homes en masse in the 1950s before experiencing a veritable golden age, television – and the soap operas that largely watered the small screen – caused a general panic in the movie studios, which logically saw that this new competition looked too much. bad.

To the point of forcing them to use their treasure trove of imagination to bring back the audience, with a huge boost in technical innovation and XXL length films. An old observation that is still relevant with fierce competition from streaming platforms.

The relationship between cinema and serials is a mix of symbiosis and rivalry. There are a number of movies, often big hits in theaters or pop culture, that have been adapted into TV series: The Karate Kid, the movie MASH, the cult horror movie The Exorcist, Westworld, The Crow, Fargo.

The reverse is also true: many TV series have been made into films: The Addams Family, 21 Jump Street, Charlie and Her Odd Ladies, The Equalizer, The Runaway… just to name a tiny handful.

What’s quite remarkable, with the Oscars soon to be a hundred years old, is that currently only seven works that have won the Oscar for Best Picture have been adapted into TV series. And, among them, works that we really did not imagine that would be transferred to the format of the series. Because no, it won’t be on the Lord of the Rings series! Here are three examples.

Casablanca

Directed by three-time Oscar winner and veteran Michael Curtiz, Casablanca is an absolute classic of American cinema. So much so that it appears in second place AFI (American Film Institute) in the ranking of the greatest American films.

This story of the thwarted love between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman against the background of World War II was a real springboard for the actress, who brought her to international stardom, even if she had already achieved success thanks to her role in 1941. Detective in the fairy tale Maltese Falcon.

Casablanca Thus, it was the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture to be adapted into a TV series. In 1955, it will be opened as part of the program Warner Bros. I present to you. Thus, the ten one-hour episodes were built around the story of Rick Blaine, played by Bogart in the film, continuing his work as a nightclub manager in the 1950s while being involved in a spy intrigue. Another war.

Bogart did not return to the role (he died in 1957), with actor Charles McGraw taking over his role after studio boss Jack Warner refused to hire Anthony Quinn. Actor Clarence Moose, most notably seen with Hitchcock, was hired to play Sam, the famous pianist at Ricky’s nightclub.

27 years after the last episode of this series aired in April 1956, Warner ordered a new Casablanca series! That’s why there were not one, but two series embroidered around the film. Aired on NBC in 1983, it was actually five episodes of a plot that still took place during World War II, but was considered a prequel because it took place a year before the events described in Curtis’ film.

A real curiosity, especially since the casting was pretty amazing. This is David Soule, the unforgettable Hutch in the TV series Starsky & Hutch and who died on January 4, 2024, taking on the role of Rick Blaine. He is supported by Hector Helizondo, Ray Liotta and Scatman Crothers, who plays pianist Sam.

What does it look like ? Here are the credits for this series, to the tune of the famous song from the movie, As time passes…

in the heat of the night

Directed by the late Norman Jewison, who died on January 20 at the age of 97, In the Heat of the Night, released in 1967, is a classic of American cinema. By addressing the issue of racial discrimination at a time when it is still common for a filmmaker to gain recognition from his peers.

This thriller, directed by Sidney Poitier, won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Rod Steiger, who plays the fictional local sheriff who is forced to work to solve Poitier’s murder in a small, racist town. Mississippi.

The success of the film was such that it spawned two sequels, again starring Sidney Poitier as police lieutenant Virgil Tibbs: Call Me Mr. Tibbs! in 1970 and the organization in 1971.

In 1988, NBC ordered a series based on the Norman Jewison film. In this series created by John Ball, Howard E. Rollins Jr., who headlined Miloš Forman’s Ragtime extraordinaire, took on the role of Sidney Poitier. While Carol O’Connor supported Rod Steiger’s take on the cinema. The play, which was also praised by A Emmy Award.

Of the seven works that won the Oscar for Best Picture, adapted into a TV series, In the Heat of the Night ran the longest. A very long time indeed: from 1988 to 1995, over seven seasons, a total of 144 episodes. The first five seasons aired on NBC and the last two on CBS.

Many actors and actresses made guest appearances throughout the episodes, not least Walton Goggins, Mariska Hargitay, Peter Fonda, Tippi Hedren, George C. Scott and even OJ Simpson.

These are the opening credits of the series…

collision

Two car thieves. Mexican locksmith. Two police inspectors. A housewife and her husband, a district attorney. They all live in Los Angeles and don’t know each other. In the next 36 hours, their fates will cross…

It was the basis of the Paul Haggis film “Clash”, which was released here in 2005. Backed by a pretty solid cast (Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, especially Thandiwe Newton), the film won three Oscars: Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, and above all, Best Picture. Not forgetting forty international awards. This is a real achievement for Haggis, who made his first film as a director.

So began a series adapted from the film, under the pen of Glen Mazzara, who wrote the script for several episodes of six seasons of The Shield, and which would lead The Walking Dead a few years later.

Aired in October 2008 on the Starz channel and consisted of 13 episodes, the success of its audience was enough for it. The channel will order a second season in February 2009.

Here are the credits again…

Like the movie, the series is set in Los Angeles and tells a series of intertwining stories around characters whose paths eventually cross. One of the stars of the series was Dennis Hopper, who plays a music producer exhausted by excesses, sometimes succumbing to violent bouts of insanity.