Casablanca Ending Explained: The Conclusion Of A Dizzying Romance, And The Beginning Of A Beautiful Friendship

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." It's the perfect line to end the perfect movie. If I'm ever pressed to name my favorite film of all time, out of all the hundreds I absolutely adore, "Casablanca" is the title I usually throw out there. It's a timeless classic built around the silver screen auras of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman at their most worldly and cinematic, and it epitomizes the term "movie magic."

Some killjoys might dismiss it as wartime propaganda, released at a time when the U.S. had just entered World War II. However, thanks to the richly detailed screenplay and unforgettable performances all the way down the cast list, it's far more than that. It's a film about letting the past go, doing the right thing, making sacrifices, and getting older and wiser. It's a film full of grown-ups making adult decisions. Even the corniest lines sound right and true coming from the mouths of these people, and the older I get, the more the film resonates with me.

I love the way "Casablanca" looks, with its exotic locale and the noir-ish backdrop of Rick's Café Américain. I love the characters, the setting, the music, the dialogue, and the way these wonderful actors all play off one another. It's a film I enjoy showing to friends for the first time, especially those who think old black and white movies are boring. They are always surprised by how funny and entertaining it is.

"Casablanca" breezes by so enjoyably that a lot of the background information and plot details can sometimes feel like they get a little lost in the mix, especially as we get into its classic final scene. Let's dig into the ending in a bit more detail.

Going into the final scene, Rick has it all set up so Captain Renault thinks he's going to betray Laszlo and use the letters to take Ilsa away to America. He has also told Ilsa that when Laszlo gets on the plane to Lisbon, she will stay in Casablanca with him. But Rick has other ideas on both counts. When Renault shows up at the cafe to arrest Laszlo, Rick pulls a gun and forces him to accompany them to the airport. Once there, he instructs Renault to fill in the letters of transit with the names Mr. & Mrs. Viktor Laszlo.

Ilsa is distraught, but Rick persuades her to get on the plane with talk of hills of beans and the threat they would both face if they stayed in Casablanca. He then explains the situation to Laszlo, who welcomes him "back to the fight." This line seems directed at the American audience of the time, many of whom had opposed joining the war just a few years earlier (via U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum). Like America, Rick was determinedly neutral at the beginning of the film, but this group of European characters awaken his conscience until he is finally ready to "stick his neck out" and join the fight against Nazi Germany by helping Laszlo get away.

Another point of interest is whether Rick would return to America if he had chosen to double-cross Laszlo. Throughout the film it is hinted that Rick is exiled from the States, although the screenwriters never explicitly state why. The biggest clue comes during Renault's summary of Rick's previous activities:

"In 1935, you ran guns to Ethiopia. In 1936, you fought in Spain on the loyalist side."

Running guns in Ethiopia would have violated America's Neutrality Act, passed in 1935, which forbade the "export of arms, ammunition, and implements of war to belligerent nations." Violators faced fines of up to $10,000 and/or five years in jail. As for Rick's time in Spain, it is most likely that he worked for a volunteer group like the Lincoln Battalion, who fought against General Franco's Nazi-backed forces. This would have also violated the neutrality law, although in practice the U.S. government chose not to prosecute volunteers because the public were against it. Either way, life was made difficult for American veterans of the Spanish Civil War, some of whom were later blacklisted by the House of Un-American Activities Committee and generally persecuted as communists (via ALBA).

Renault clearly plans to go to Brazzaville with Rick, using the 10,000 francs he owes him from their bet on Laszlo's escape as expenses. It's probably a smart move on Renault's part, because Nazi reprisals for Strasser's killing are likely to be swift and brutal. In Brazaville, around 3,000 miles southeast of Casablanca, a schemer like Renault would no doubt reframe his involvement in the Laszlo-Strasser affair to make himself look like a hero, playing up his assist of Laszlo's escape before getting Strasser's assassin out of the country.

As for Rick, he'd probably have to go along with the story for the time being, and grow eyes in the back of his head. Renault is clearly not a man to be trusted, and Rick would potentially be able to incriminate the police chief for his misdeeds back in Casablanca. Meanwhile, Brazzaville may come as a bit of a culture shock to Rick after running a chic nightspot in relatively upscale Casablanca. As Richard E. Osborne describes the country in "The Casablanca Companion":

French Equatorial Africa was a poor and primitive land with an estimated 3.5 million inhabitants. Roads were made of dirt, or at best, gravel, and the only railroads ran from the seaports to the areas that produced lumber, rubber and gold...Tropical diseases were widespread and in some areas up to 50 percent of the population suffered from trypanosomiasis.

Hey, at least it would be a place for Rick to hunker down until the war ended. Unless, of course, his appetite for fighting the bad guys was truly whetted again and he found other ways to take on the Nazis...