Hayworth stars as Gilda, the kept wife of an evil casino-owning cartel leader (George Macready) in Argentina who takes a degenerate gambler (Glenn Ford) under his wing. Unbeknownst to Macready, but knownst to us, Ford and Hayworth had a previous relationship that didn't end well. Ford is charged with not only watching over Macready's casino, but also watching over Hayworth, and the sparks start to fly. One of the central conceits of this flick is that there's a thin line between love and hate. This is typical of noir but a little more complex than your average Hollywood romance, especially when it's done as well as it is here, with Ford and Hayworth positively on fire with chemistry and animosity.
There's a few twists and turns along the way, as you might expect from noir, and most of the major characters shuffle their roles around a little. Ford starts as the put-upon anti-hero and grows into a villain. Hayworth starts as a dangerous femme fatale but transforms into a victim. In fact, one of the most admirable aspects of this film, is that it starts Hayworth off firmly in cliche land, as the evil woman who's going to ruin you if you don't stay away from her, and then totally flips the script and shows you exactly why she does what she does, and you understand and sympathize with her fully. After all, it's hard to survive abuse.
This movie has it all: romance, intrigue, adventure, action, suspense, sex and musical interludes! It doesn't get much more entertaining than this.
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