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?
My first inclination would be to seize upon the meaning of that last line and try to turn it a bit. Perhaps Rick is being sly when saying this — knowing it will now be easier to double-cross or use Louis's friendship to his advantage. Or perhaps he is being sarcastic because he knows that Louis's real intentions are to make life difficult for Rick be always keeping an eye on him.
For me, it would have to be about the friendship:
They arrive in Brazzaville, set up an operation together, and then something threatens the friendship. Maybe Louis is forced to betray Rick because his wife and daughter's lives are on the line. Complicating this, Ilsa shows up. The plane was forced down before clearing Morrocan airspace, and her husband was taken back to Casablanca. Now she's returned to find Rick to help her get him back. Rick has to choose. Eventually he finds out the two events are connected. He slips back into Casablanca and becomes a detective of sorts, searching out Ilsa's husband and Louis's family, held in secret while they (the Nazis) wait for Rick and Louis. Why? Because Louis is actually working for the Resistance, and knows the identity of the leader who is so effective against the Nazis. So, Rick and Louis have to rescue Ilsa's husband and save Louis's family. So Rick organizes all the street hustlers and thugs from the Casablanca underworld to get it done, ending in a total defeat of the Nazis just as the Americans hit North Africa for Operation Torch, and the eventual confrontation with Rommel.
Okay, I know it tramples on everyone else's imaginings for Casablanca, but don't you think it has the potential to be a great sequel in its own right? If anyone out there is interested, contact Lee at The Last Reveal: http://thelastreveal.blogspot.com/
Let's not dismiss the homosexual undertones of the relationship. This really is the beginning of something now that Ilsa, the intruding obstacle, has been cast out of the way.
The true sacrifice in Casablanca is the one made by Ilsa, who was well aware of Rick's closet conundrum.
A sequel? Rick and Louis open an underground S&M bar called "Dick's" and become pioneers of Brazzaville's burgeoning LGBT district, which infuriates the ethnic Bantu, and ultimately leads to their fatal lashing.
They talk about a sequel yet a prequel could be an option? Everyone knew the ending of the titanic. Everyone knows the ending with Casablanca…. And, there is back story of Paris in Casablanca.