Captain Louis Renault is a supporting-antagonist-later-protagonist of the 1942 Warner Bros. film Casablanca.
He was portrayed by Claude Rains.
Why He Rocks[]
- As usual, Claude Rains is at the top of his game with his portrayal of Renault.
- Even though he often works with Major Strasser, he's not very evil when he's not around.
- He's had a character development arc similar to Rick's in which decides whether he should stay with Strasser or join the rebellion.
- While Rick, Ilsa and Laszlo are definitely not poorly-written characters, they're all going to do what their archetypes want them to. Renault on the other hand is an absolute wild card and completely unpredictable, he's constantly switching sides between the Nazis and the freedom fighters, and as a result manages to be just as interesting and complex as the leads.
- He gets loads of snarky one-liners during his parts of the film such as the following:
- "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here."
- "The waters? What waters? We're in the desert."
- He was very protective of Rick and the refugees, showing to secretly be trying to sabotage Strasser's plan showing himself to not be completely evil, even before he completely redeems himself.
- The famous scene towards the end where he sees Rick's noble sacrifice and gets inspired to turn over a new leaf as well.