Rick Blaine & Louis Renault: The movie after Casablanca
Okay, so everyone remembers the ending of Casablanca, right?
Let’s zero in on Rick and Renault. They have an interesting relationship: Rick the Protagonist, and Renault the Trickster (“I’m shocked! Shocked to find that gambling’s going on in here!”). Consider their last lines of dialogue:
Rick and Louis slowly walk away from the hangar toward the
runway.
RENAULT
It might be a good idea for you to
disappear from Casablanca for a while.
There's a Free French garrison over
at Brazzaville. I could be induced
to arrange a passage.
RICK
My letter of transit? I could use a
trip. But it doesn't make any
difference about our bet. You still
owe me ten thousand francs.
RENAULT
And that ten thousand francs should
pay our expenses.
RICK
Our expenses?
RENAULT
Uh huh.
RICK
Louis, I think this is the beginning
of a beautiful friendship.
The two walk off together into the night.
FADE OUT:
THE END
“Louis, I think this is the beginning.”
Stop right there. The beginning. What if we picked up the Rick and Renault story after Casablanca? That’s what my students started kicking around in my current online screenwriting course.
Elisa came up with the idea:
Don’t forget that at the very end, Rick walks off with Renault saying, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” He gave away the girl, found a true friend and re-connected with who he’d been before he was hurt by Ilse’s jilting of him.
I think there should have been a sequel. Maybe set in Italy, supporting the Resistance while toppling dons, then in Spain, smuggling food and supplies to resistance fighters in the mountains…then…
Gabriel picked up on the possibility:
I think one of the great things about this movie is all the exciting things that are about to happen to the characters after the FADE OUT. Obviously the US getting into the war, and the allies winning and all that, but I am talking on a smaller level. I mean, these guys aren’t riding off into the sunset, they are walking into a foggy night, and then they will stuff their pockets with 10,000 francs and head to Brazzaville to pick up sorority girls. I mean, these guys are going to have the greatest spring break of all time.
And when they get back to ‘Blanca they are going to kill some Nazis.
This only applies to modern audiences, but as Rick and Renault are walking off I can hear the brass in Marsellaise turn into the John Williams’s March from Raiders of the Lost Arc. These guys are going to have the funnest life ever.
Or something like that.
Actually there was talk of doing a sequel to Casablanca. From Wikipedia:
Almost from the moment Casablanca became a hit, talk began of producing a sequel. One titled Brazzaville (in the final scene, Renault recommends fleeing to that Free French-held city) was planned, but never produced. Since then, no studio has seriously considered filming a sequel or outright remake. François Truffaut refused an invitation to remake the film in 1974, citing its cult status among American students as his reason.
Brazzaville. Okay, that’s our title. What plot would we come up with for Brazzaville, the continuing adventures of Rick Blaine and Louis Renault?
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