>The funny thing about that ending is that it was totally
>unplanned. The original ending (which always had Ilsa leaving
>with Lazslo, because the Hays Code prohibited showing a woman
>leaving her husband for her lover) had Rick arrested as
>the plane flew away overhead, but no one liked it.
> Because the original script had been such a mess
>(for example, the writers never fixed the mistake in the
>script that had the letters of transit signed by Free
>French Gen. DeGaulle instead of by Vichy Gen. Weygand), the
>film was shot in sequence to permit re-writes at the
>end. And the rehabilitation of Renault was possible only
>because of that.

One of my favourite things about Casablanca is that only part of the screenplay was written when filming started and the writers worked feverishly to try and stay ahead of production, and there were times when the actors showed up and waited for the day's script to be given to them. Considering all that, it's remarkable how good Casablanca turned out.

Still my favourite movie of all time.