MovieChat Forums > Gilda (1946) Discussion > Sexual tension!

Sexual tension!

posted 17 years ago by DarinSinatra
28 replies | jump to latest

Is it just me, or can you really cut the sexual tension with a knife between Johnny and Gilda, as played by Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth? They played their roles to the hilt and I have to admit, I could feel the 'heat' just watching their interplay. While Rita Hayworth was - without argument - a breathtakingly gorgeous woman (esp. in this film), I have never found Glenn Ford to be extremely attractive until watching this. Both are them are incredibly sexy. A wonderful film noir and a terrific pairing. I don't think I have seen such sexual pull between two movie characters in a long time. Truly somewhat groundbreaking for the time it was filmed. Anyone else agreed? Thoughts?

[–] bg_a07 17 years ago

Absolutely agree. Rita and Glenn were one of the best looking couples that I have seen on the screen and there was no need to take off there clothes the sexual tension was very apparent.

[–] TheHardcase 17 years ago

Actually I thought the sexual tension was greater between Johnny and Balin. I thought they were both queers for all the interplay between them.

[–] Oliver_Alla 17 years ago

Totally agree with you!

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[–] kwestmo (4114) 3 years ago

Agreed, but I would say Johnny was bi and Balin was in the closet and got married as a cover.

[–] Rolltide (964) 2 years ago

Johnny was gay.

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[–] Tessie2004 17 years ago

I love the scene during Carnival when Gilda asks Johnny to push her hat off. Gawd, Glenn Ford was so sexy.

"Tessie" is the Royal Rooters rally cry.
"Tessie" is the tune they always sung.

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[–] jg67 17 years ago

" This movie has more fireworks between the leads than the "Lady From Shanghai"..and Hayworth was married to Welles at the time.
I always find it quite strange."

Actually it's not strange at all. The marraige was all but over when they made Lady From Shanghai.

"...I'm the biggest female star he's got! Ever had! And he's burying me alive."

[–] mizswheat 16 years ago

Sexual tension that today's moviemakers only dream about creating. 60 years later, Rita Hayworth's and Glenn Ford's body language and sexually nuanced dialogue are still steaming up tiny screens everywhere. Hayworth's transcendental beauty is perfectly juxtapositioned against Ford's boyish good looks - and they leave no doubt that at sometime in the not to distant past they've known one another in every sense of that word. The imagination goes wild just thinking about them together - and no sex scene ever filmed compares with one's imagination gone wild.

[–] shylibra 16 years ago

I couldn't agree more. Rita and Glenn set the screen on fire!

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[–] LadyLottimort 16 years ago

Definitely - they were so good at building sexual tension in Old Hollywood films, they didn't have to rely on cheap, randomly-placed sex scenes.

www.bebo.com/theREALladylottimort

[–] kga58 16 years ago

The tension was heightened even more by the dialogue. Like the "I hate you, too, Johnny" line. Gilda is saying the words I hate you, but so obviously means anything but that. Hitchcock was good at doing that. In REAR WINDOW for example Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly were talking about mundane things as they were going in for their big kiss. Movies today aren't that clever.

"God love you for a liar! Daylight never exposed so total a ruin!"

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[–] rkeyster-1 16 years ago

I agree with everything everyone has just mentioned -- the sexual tension is HOT, and far more effective than anything you see nowadays.

I actually think there was tension between all 3 of them -- Mundson as the sophisticated homosexual, Gilda as the hot but frustrated trapped woman, and Glenn Ford as the I-could-almost-swing-either-way young American stud. Hot!!!

[–] olivehigginsprouty 16 years ago

I'm crazy about "Gilda" and agree with your observations, DarinSinatra. But, good lord, there's nothing groundbreaking about the sexual pull between them. Take a look at Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in their films of the '20s. Watch Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in "Red Dust" or Bogart and Bacall in "The Big Sleep" and "To Have or Have Not." Try Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in "Notorious." The list goes on and on and all before or roughly around the same time as the great, great "Gilda." There's nothing to equal that in movies today. Sadly, though, Hayworth and Ford were paired in movies after "Gilda," but never in anything half so good.

[–] stanbee 15 years ago

But this is a foursome: 2men, a woman and a killer phallus -oops- cane. Begins as a threesome with all the homoerotic under and over currents. Continues to a 4 some. The Freudian analysis of love /hate seems groundbreaking iirc.
Daring?

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[–] Regina_Giddens 14 years ago

Obviously i'm in a very small minority. I didn't think they had much chemistry at all.

But you are, Blanche. You are in that chair!

[–] Flight_of_Fantasy 12 years ago

Before Gilda made her famous appearance, I didn't think the chemistry and sexual tension between Johnny and Gilda could possibly be more intense than that between Johnny and Ballin. Boy, was I wrong. I think my TV started putting off steam, they were so hot.

Glenn and Rita definitely had some of the best on-screen chemistry I've ever seen. Ever.

"He's already attracted to her. Time and monotony will do the rest."

[–] Errington_92 8 years ago

The sexual tension between the pair was deeply enthralling. I would expect nothing less from a film noir.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.