I would be very pleased if someone would summarize the movie, spoilers and all - I'm currently writing a paper on David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. and as one of the characters suffers from amnesia and therefore takes her name after Rita Hayworth, as she spots her name on a Gilda poster, I'm kinda anxious to find out how this movie might fit in. After all, in Lynchville nothing is random ...
shareTwo possibilities irrespective of the movie's plot: first, it came out in 1946 and has been highly regarded for the flash of Rita Hayworth's individual performance ever since; and second, take a look at how the character of Gilda is referenced in The Shawshank Redemption (1994).
The plot. Rich expatriate American who owns an illegal (overlooked by corrupt officials) casino in post-WW2 Buenos Aires picks up young American drifter late at night on the waterfront. One-night stand turns into sort of friendship in which younger man gradually takes over management of casino. Older man goes on trip and comes back with gorgeous floozy as his "wife" (?) and younger man recognizes same as old acquaintance with whom he has some sort of ax to grind.
Tension between the three builds over time. Older guy is into some kind of international mob scene involving ex-Nazis, and he fakes his own death after which he temporarily disappears but then reappears only to see Gilda and the young guy apparently locking lips (wrong!), whereupon he leaves the scene for good. Young guy assumes ownership of casino only to run afoul of the law and the mob. Gilda runs off to Uruguay but young guy lures her back and cuts a deal with the cops, after which there is a rather weird concluding scene where he and Gilda apparently link up for good.
My take: very confused but subliminal sexual ambiguity of all these characters may point to Lynch's story, but, as I didn't much care for that later work, I offer no firm opinion.
Thanks, that was very useful indees!
Judging from your retelling of the movie, I'm inclined to agree that sexual ambiguity might be the most relevant similarity, if any, between the two. I've read somewhere that the tension between the two men is rather homoerotic, and that there might be some confussion on the sort of relationship that these two men share. Anyway, thanks a whole lot, this really is one of those movies that are frequently quoted by academics, both in terms of it's noir-ness and the ambiguity of the relationship between characters, but unfortunately it's not so simple to come across a synopsis.