"Are you decent?" Hair flips, a sparking smile, and a sultry response if "Me?" Yes indeed, it's obvious from the very start that this is lust at first sight, and according to the powerful but scarred husband George Macready, this means that sultry Rita Hayworth doesn't like his new right hand man Glenn Ford very much, if at all. She does everything to throw in Ford's face every expensive gift that Macready gives her, even giving him "the look" while dancing with a Latin gigolo type. So is Gilda bad, just drawn that way, or hiding a decent demeanor through the facade of a vixen? That's just part of the mystery, but one thing that is obvious is that there is no spark between Gilda and her husband, and when they make love, she's miles away. Hints of a past connection make Macready explode from the inside after imploding from the outside.
Even without saying a word, Hayworth made quite a vision just entering a room, causing a different style of beautiful woman, Vivien Leigh, to once declare, "How do you compete with that?" Hayworth may have been Gilda to millions, even today, but it's obvious in subtleties she gives to her that there's something shy and scared inside what is perceived as a femme fatale. Macready comes across Ford's johnny at the most fortunate of times, saving him from being robbed and possibly killed. Chances of fate brings them together again, and Johnny becomes Macready's right hand man, with part of his assignment keeping an eye on Hayworth. That doesn't sit well with Gilda, but it's not for the obvious reasons.
This is a very complex film noir, where the vixen is not a vamp, and true villainy has an urbane look. Every character, major and minor, seems to have "an angle", and there are a ton of twists you never see coming. If, to quote Madonna, Rita Hayworth gave good face, that visual is inspired by this film. Hayworth was a much better actress than she got credit, because a lot of what is in her acting, are tricks she pulls that you never see. Ford, too, gives more than what you see, because he's both reacting and pushing the plot forward. There's two variations of the now classic tune "Put the Blame on Mame", no relation to Patrick Dennis's crazy aunt. Beautifully written, photographed and directed (by Charles Vidor), this is simply superb.
Even without saying a word, Hayworth made quite a vision just entering a room, causing a different style of beautiful woman, Vivien Leigh, to once declare, "How do you compete with that?" Hayworth may have been Gilda to millions, even today, but it's obvious in subtleties she gives to her that there's something shy and scared inside what is perceived as a femme fatale. Macready comes across Ford's johnny at the most fortunate of times, saving him from being robbed and possibly killed. Chances of fate brings them together again, and Johnny becomes Macready's right hand man, with part of his assignment keeping an eye on Hayworth. That doesn't sit well with Gilda, but it's not for the obvious reasons.
This is a very complex film noir, where the vixen is not a vamp, and true villainy has an urbane look. Every character, major and minor, seems to have "an angle", and there are a ton of twists you never see coming. If, to quote Madonna, Rita Hayworth gave good face, that visual is inspired by this film. Hayworth was a much better actress than she got credit, because a lot of what is in her acting, are tricks she pulls that you never see. Ford, too, gives more than what you see, because he's both reacting and pushing the plot forward. There's two variations of the now classic tune "Put the Blame on Mame", no relation to Patrick Dennis's crazy aunt. Beautifully written, photographed and directed (by Charles Vidor), this is simply superb.