Who knew a movie this old could have so much gay subtext?
- This video [1]
sums it all up. - Many viewers and critics are unsure about Captain Renault's sexuality. The movie even drops a few hints that he's into men. Is he pretending to obsess over women because he's a closeted homosexual? Is he simply a bisexual who's only open about what he does with women because it's the 1940s? Or is he just French?
- Louis is often interpreted as Ambiguously Gay, despite his habit of pulling the Scarpia Ultimatum on women. Even Roger Ebert called him "subtly homosexual" in his review of the film - apparently he has never heard of bisexuals. Ebert would later amend his view slightly, stating in his 2007 review of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford that he thinks Renault "plays for both teams".
- After Ugarte has been arrested, and Ilsa has returned, Rick remarks to Sam:Rick: First they grab Ugarte, then she walks in. Well, that's the way it goes. One in, one out...
- Rick's comment when Renault brings his latest victim and her husband, suggest that his sights are wider than originally anticipated—and Rick knows it.
- When they first meet, Ilse asks Louis about Rick and he says,Renault: Rick is the kind of man that... well, if I were a woman, and I were not around, I should be in love with Rick.
- Shortly after, Rick himself arrives on the scene, and Louis says, "I can't get over you two. She was asking about you earlier, Rick, in a way that made me extremely jealous." Jealous of him, or jealous of her?
- The end of the movie has some interesting parallels between Rick and Ilsa, and Louis and Rick.
- Rick is a cynical man who "sticks his neck out for no one", and refuses to take sides between the allies and the nazis. Louis is a corrupt police chief who is on the side of the Nazis because he "blow[s] with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy."
- At the end of the movie, Rick convinces Ilsa—and the audience— that the two of them are going to run away together. Then at the last minute, he reveals that he is sending her away with Lazlo. As the plane is leaving, Louis and Rick have this conversation:Louis: Well, I was right. You are a sentimentalist.Rick: Stay where you are. I don't know what you're talking about.Louis: What you did for Lazlo, and that fairy tale you invented to Ilsa away with him...Rick: Anyway, thanks for helping me out.Louis: I suppose you know this isn't going to be pleasant for either of us... I'll have to arrest you of course.Rick: As soon as the plane goes, Louis.
- Rick ends up shooting Major Strasser. When the police come, Rick—and the audience—are convinced that Louis is about to turn him in. But Louis covers for him by sending the officers to "round up the usual suspects." Then he continues:Louis: Well Rick, you're not only a sentimentalist, you've become a patriot.Rick: Maybe, but it seemed like a good time to start.Louis: Perhaps you're right.
- If Rick is a sentimentalist, Louis is just as bad; and it is Rick's love for Ilsa that makes him break his rule and stick his neck out for someone. What do you suppose makes Louis decide to blow against the prevailing wind?
- The way Rick looks at Louis when he lies to the police for him.
- As Renault and Rick walk off into the fog together:Louis: It might be a good idea for you to to disappear from Casablanca for a while. There's a Free French Garrison over in Brazzaville, I could be induced to arrange your passage.Rick: My letter of transit?Louis: *nodding*Rick: I could use a trip. It doesn't make a difference about our bet, you still owe me 10,000 francs.Louis: And that 10,000 francs should pay our expenses.Rick: Our expenses?Louis: Mm hm.
