Alternate ending?

When Ballin goes into the water with a life raft and a man waiting in a boat, it was pretty clear to me that he would be back, and that there would be trouble. And that with Johnny married to his ex-wife, what that sort of trouble would amount to.

I disagree that the ending was "horrible." It was the last half of the movie that was "horrible."

The writers of this movie created first class characters and a fascinating situation for them to strut their stuff within. And then couldn't figure out what to do with them.

Put the blame on Mame.... as Rita said....

I suspect that makers of movies do not really know what to do with steamy women.

The writers of the (much lesser) recent film, Virtuosity, have the evil genius create two perfect characters.... a porno centerfold of a woman and a serial killer. Guess which character is thrown into the trash.

Mickey

Don't know about an alternate ending, but the end did feel weird. I was laughing when Johnny came back at the end and made up with Gilda. It was ridiculous and completely unbelievable. The rest of the movie was enjoyable though (I loved Rita Hayworth and all of her amazing costumes).

I think the film begins to unravel after "Put The Blame on Mame". It seems to be going somewhere after Gilda making a spectacle of herself by debasing herself and then it just stops. Having Johnny and Gilda walk into the sunset together at the end is wrong, in my opinion. This is Film Noir and one of the darkest of that form that Hollywood produced. Characters in Film Noir are mostly doomed from the very beginning.

The ending should have been weird...mysterious...unsettling... maybe the Production Code wouldn't have allowed that kind of treatment at that time.

The weird ending is the one reason I can't give this film a 10 out of 10. My sister and I wondered if maybe it had originally had a different ending, but the studio made them tack on a happy one, 'cause its utterly strange and ill-fitting. All of Gilda's pronouncements throughout the film that she feels she's approaching her doom are completely ignored. It's so anti-climactic and disappointing and just plain weird. Here I was thinking Gilda or Johnny or both were going to be killed, and instead they walked off into the sunset. The last few minutes are the one spot on an otherwise flawless film.

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

For a long time I thought that the movie should have ended with Gilda's death. So much of her dialogue has her foreshadowing tragedy. She believes she's going to pay in some way. BUT since we know that Gilda is really not a bad girl, her death might feel undeserved (not that that isn't one way to end a movie)...so now I'm convinced that Johnny should die at the end. Thus, the tragedy Gilda foresees is the death of the love of her life. My only issue with Johnny dying is that he is also narrating the story in the past tense. That would require some restructuring.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Sex Bomb.

What's wrong with a little self insight in a troubled film noir male?

"You couldn't be much further from the truth" - several

I was hoping it was based on a book, maybe - for a little more info to fill in some of the holes - but nope, just a "story by" and "scripting" credits.

From the sparse clues in the movie. Johnny was definitely "small time" (and lower class).

Gilda was WAY out of his league from the getgo (even if she was "only" a singer-dancer.)

So, they were a couple but Johnny was always jealous from his social status insecurities - and something happened one night (dialogue later on in the film: Gilda saying "Johnny, let me explain what happened that night..." but her explanation was never made.)

Of course Gilda always had guys pursuing her - and maybe she just didn't come home one night for some innocent reason (to her) - but Johnny thought the worst and had already just left town. It easier to see Glenn Ford as "young and naive" and really hung-up on Gilda. A little harder to see Rita Hayworth as just SO hung-up on Johnny, though. But it's possible - "the heart wants what it wants" and isn't always just "logical."

They are both older and wiser now - and Johnny (maybe) has some inherited wealth he can claim as his own, now - to help his insecurities - but I never thought they were STILL going to just "live happily ever after", based on their past and basic personalities. Like Gilda is going to suddenly stop going out/entertaining/flirting? And Johnny WON'T get jealous any more? I think the "happy ending" was meant as merely irony for every adult watching the movie - even in 1946. (BTW - WW2 blew up a LOT of marriages in the real world. The divorce/marriage ratio reached 42% divorces that year - an all time high for the USA. Basically for every 100 marriages - there were 42 divorces. The moral of this ending for those times was merely "don't jump to conclusions too quickly - and give your marriages a chance...")