GILDA: “You do hate me, don’t you, Johnny?”
Rita Hayworth as “Gilda” and Glenn Ford as “Johnny” in Gilda (1946)
JOHNNY: “I don’t think you have any idea of how much.”
GILDA: “Hate is a very exciting emotion. Haven’t you noticed? Very exciting. I hate you too, Johnny. I hate you so much I think I’m going to die from it. Darling…”
[GILDA and JOHNNY kiss passionately]
GILDA: “I think I’m going to die from it.”
It is said that there is a fine line between love and hate. The above quote between the two central characters in 1946’s Gilda perfectly illustrates this phrase. At the beginning of the film, our anti-hero Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) is shooting craps in an alley in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He wins handedly using a pair of loaded dice. When his opponents realize they’re being cheated, Johnny’s life (and winnings) is at stake. He is saved by a mysterious stranger, Ballin Mundson (George Macready). Ballin tells Johnny about a nearby illegal high class casino, but warns him against cheating. Johnny doesn’t heed Ballin’s warnings however, and is caught cheating at Blackjack. He’s brought in front of the owner who turns out to be Ballin. Johnny turns on the charm and smooth talk and convinces Ballin to hire him. He soon becomes Ballin’s casino manager.
Time passes and Ballin leaves for a trip. When he returns, he announces to Johnny that he’s married and wants to introduce his new wife, Gilda. Cue one of the most famous film entrances of all time–Rita Hayworth’s “Gilda.” With a flip of the hair and a seductive, “Me?… Sure I’m decent,” Gilda enters the fray. Johnny’s face transforms into a scowl as he spots the new Mrs. Mundson. Gilda also appears simultaneously angry and surprised. It is obvious from Johnny and Gilda’s reactions that these two have a past–an unhappy past, at that. The circumstances of their previous relationship are never made clear; but it would seem that Johnny hurt Gilda deeply. She still loves him, but he harbors some type of resentment towards her. Ballin seems clueless to Johnny and Gilda’s body language and assigns Johnny to watch over her. This ignites a vicious game between Gilda and Johnny where she, out of anger towards Johnny, cavorts with other men at all hours to make him jealous. Johnny, out of loyalty to Ballin, does all he can to break up Gilda’s dates and cover up her supposed affairs.
JOHNNY: “Pardon me, your husband is showing.”
Glenn Ford as “Johnny” in Gilda (1946).
The type of relationship Ballin and Johnny have with one another is up for debate. On the surface, it would appear that Johnny is fiercely loyal to his employer. However, other classic film fans and experts have found homoerotic subtext in the Ballin/Johnny relationship. I am not well-versed in this subject and honestly never considered this angle; however, having seen the film multiple times, I understand this interpretation. Not being an expert, I am not going to analyze the film from this viewpoint. In the spirit of this blogathon’s theme of an “international road trip,” I want to discuss Johnny and Gilda’s relationship and how it unfolds against the Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay setting.
Gilda was originally supposed to be a gangster film set in the United States. It was decided to switch the setting to Argentina. During the 1930s and 1940s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt promoted the “Good Neighbor Policy,” as a means to improve the United States’ relationship with Latin America. Hollywood was encouraged to set films in Latin America and depict the countries and people in a positive light. The Latin America in Gilda is depicted as a tropical, fun, sexy, romantic, wealthy, cosmopolitan city inhabited by people from all walks of life. Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, is often promoted as “the world’s most beautiful city.” This seems the perfect setting for the gorgeous Rita Hayworth, whose luminous face shines in this film and makes it completely believable that all the men in this film are so preoccupied with her.
JOHNNY: “I hated her so I couldn’t get her out of my mind for a minute. She was in the air I breathed–and the food I ate.”
Glenn Ford as “Johnny” in Gilda (1946)
One of the highlights of Gilda is the annual Carnival celebration, which takes place during the summer in the Southern Hemisphere in February. Carnival is an annual celebration that takes place in Roman Catholic countries in the three days leading up to Lent. This celebration allows communities to dress in costumes, play music, eat delicious food and drink, and basically lose their inhibitions and deal with the consequences later. In the film, Gilda is celebrating her first Carnival. She dons a gaucho costume, complete with an eye mask. Johnny is much less festive, as he simply puts on an eye mask with his tuxedo. During Carnival, Gilda allows herself to let go of her contempt for Johnny and embrace her love of him. She becomes nostalgic for their former relationship and reminisces about dancing with him. Gilda dances closely with Johnny, completely losing herself in the moment. He remains standoffish towards her and refuses to get caught up in the spirit of Carnival. Johnny won’t throw caution to the wind and rekindle things with Gilda. He pushes her away when her passion starts getting too intense.
GILDA: “You’re out of practice aren’t you–dancing I mean. I can help you get in practice again, Johnny–dancing I mean.”
Rita Hayworth as “Gilda” in Gilda (1946)
Ballin’s presence and influence looms in the background, both literally and figuratively. The Carnival celebration is both the turning point in the film and in Gilda and Johnny’s relationship. It reignites their formerly red-hot relationship, as well as confirms third-wheel Ballin’s suspicions that there is more to his wife and employee’s relationship than it seems. Ballin’s hunch is confirmed after he walks in on Gilda and Johnny kissing. Too bad he missed their first kiss. His anger over seeing his wife and employee smooching serves as the impetus for Ballin’s actions in the second and third acts of the film.
JOHNNY: “I thought we agreed that women and gambling didn’t mix.”
Glenn Ford as “Johnny” and George Macready as “Ballin” in Gilda (1946)
BALLIN: “My wife does not come under the category of women, Johnny.”
Gilda and Johnny’s intense love-hate relationship continues to heat up as the action shifts to Montevideo, Uruguay. By this point, Ballin is presumed dead after crashing his plane into the ocean. Johnny and Gilda marry. However, Johnny decides to use his marriage to Gilda as a means to punish her for supposedly betraying Ballin. Johnny conveniently seems to forget that he actually betrayed Ballin by hooking up with Gilda. He treats Gilda so cruelly, she escapes to Montevideo. To showcase Rita Hayworth’s dancing ability, Gilda gets a job as a singer and dancer at a nightclub. She performs a sexy song and dance number, wearing a gorgeous two-piece dress while crooning “Amado Mio.”
Later, to escape Johnny, Gilda returns to Buenos Aires and resumes her singing and dancing career. Fed up with Johnny’s treatment of her, Gilda decides to be the tramp he thinks she is. In the famous “Put the Blame on Mame” number, Gilda performs a one-glove striptease. Before she can unzip her strapless black dress, Johnny sends in his goon to stop Gilda and bring her to Johnny. Their love-hate relationship reaches its peak when Johnny slaps Gilda to punish her for her behavior. Gilda is distraught that the man she loves so intensely would hurt her.
GILDA: “Would it interest you to know how much I hate you, Johnny?”
Rita Hayworth as “Gilda” and Glenn Ford as “Johnny” in Gilda (1946)
JOHNNY: “Very much.”
GILDA: “I hate you so much that I would destroy myself to take you down with me.”
Gilda also features a plotline about Ballin being involved in a tungsten cartel with some Germans, but frankly, NOBODY cares about this plot point. Does anyone even remember the tungsten thing? No. Because this movie is all about Gilda and Johnny’s intense love-hate relationship. Are Gilda and Johnny truly in love with each other? I think they love each other, but for some reason, Johnny has some sort of issue with Gilda. Johnny’s dismissive attitude towards her causes Gilda intense hurt, leading her to torment him any way she can.
Despite being included on many “Best Film Noir Femme Fatale” lists, I don’t think Gilda is a femme fatale. In many ways, she’s the victim of this film–tormented by the two men in her life, Johnny and Ballin. Gilda’s intense love and subsequent hurt (caused by Johnny) drives her motivation to make Johnny jealous and unhappy. She wants him to feel what she feels. Johnny seemingly hates her for her actions, but his love for her motivates his jealousy. It’s a vicious cycle, one that Johnny and Gilda seemingly overcome at the somewhat contrived ending.
JOHNNY: “I want to go with you, Gilda. Please take me. I know I did everything wrong.
Glenn Ford as “Johnny” and Rita Hayworth as “Gilda” in Gilda (1946)
GILDA: “Isn’t it wonderful? Nobody has to apologize, because we were both stinkers, weren’t we? Isn’t it wonderful?”
JOHNNY: “Wonderful.”
Do we really think Johnny and Gilda will continue to be happy after the film ends?
10 replies on “The Celluloid Road Trip Blogathon: Int’l Edition–“Gilda” (1946)”
Gilda is one of my favorites, Kayla, and I can’t get enough of seeing the movie or reading about it! I greatly enjoyed your write-up and your insights, and I completely agree with you that Gilda was not a femme fatale. In fact, I made this same argument in my classic movie meetup group recently; she never did anything intentionally bad or harmful — she was just doing what she had to do to get along, and to cope with the pain inflicted by her husband and Johnny. I like to think that she and Johnny stay together and that what they’ve learned from their past mistakes will allow them to know what to do to make it last this time around.
— Karen
Gilda is one of my favorites too. It’s such a unique film. I can’t think of another film off the top of my head that deals with a love-hate relationship quite like Gilda does. I’m glad others don’t see Gilda as a femme fatale. I always got the sense that Ballin was using her as arm candy, or as a trophy–thus why he needs Johnny to “watch” her. Gilda was just a possession to him–something pretty for him to look at. I wish we knew more about Johnny and Gilda’s previous relationship. I would love to know why Johnny seems to have such animosity towards her. I hope that Johnny and Gilda’s relationship is successful after the film.
Great piece, Kayla. You’re right that Gilda isn’t a Femme Fatale. She has the image of Femme Fatale projected onto her by Johnny because of his insecurities and anger. Because we see her through Johnny’s gaze, we see what he does at first, but unlike him we quickly see that first image isn’t the reality. Maddy
Interesting. I didn’t consider Johnny projecting his issues on Gilda. That would make sense. I get the sense that Gilda was deeply in love with Johnny and he is the cause of their relationship ending. Both escaped the hurt by leaving the US, only to end up at the same place, just in a different country. Since no details of Gilda and Johnny’s previous relationship are explicitly shared in the film, it would make sense that perhaps Johnny has some major hang-ups that led to him blindsiding Gilda with the demise of their relationship. Maybe he feels insecure because Gilda is so gorgeous that he feels inadequate in her presence.
This is where the reading of Johnny and Ballin being gay comes in. I’ve always read it that Johnny is conflicted because he isn’t sure what his sexuality is.He definitely loves Gilda emotionally but directs his inner frustration and rage at her because he can’t make himself turn their relationship sexual. The more you watch the more elements like this stand out more.
I can definitely see it–especially with Ballin and his cane. It’s definitely an interesting slant on the film. I need to rewatch the film again from this perspective. It’s amazing how this story fit in so many layers and varying perspectives. Taking into account the idea that Johnny is conflicted with his sexuality, that further plays into the love/hate angle, as Johnny is experiencing this same conflict within himself.
Do you think we can consider Johnny an homme fatale? Or perhaps it is Ballin who is the homme fatale?
Exactly! There’s far too many moments that don’t make sense unless this is the reason. I’m certain the writers put all this in deliberately. It’s subtle enough to go over the censors heads, but present enough for viewers to pick up on something between the three characters; even if they can’t fully express what they think it might be.
I loved that you chose GILDA for the blogathon, Kayla. It’s an outstanding film and with such interesting locales.
The relationship between Gilda and Johnny is mesmerizing and to this day I do not fully understand their reactions at times. It’s interesting that you consider Johnny’s marrying Gilda a betrayal to Ballin. I never thought of it in those terms since he was seemingly repulsed by Gilda. In fact, I never get the impression that the marriage has been consummated. I feel like he wanted to punish her for whatever happened between them before Ballin was ever in the picture. As for their happily ever after, that is indeed food for thought!
I figured that Johnny is the only man who Gilda actually kissed–the other men she was just teasing Johnny with, but she didn’t do anything. Johnny is the one who despite hating Gilda for whatever reason, he’s the one who jumped at he chance to marry Gilda as soon as Ballin was (seemingly) out of the picture. This is definitely a complicated film for sure!
Great review! I always wondered the same thing about Gilda and Johnny, and I have to kind of doubt it because they both have so much baggage. Maybe with lots of therapy they would have had a shot?