Rita Hayworth Movies

This video documentary looks at the history of Hispanic or Latino stars and pictures in Hollywood, focusing on the last half of the 20th century. Stars such as Jimmy Smits, Antonio Banderas, Sonia Braga, and others discuss their experiences as Hispanic actors. They reflect on prejudices and attitudes, "Latin lovers" such as Valentino, and on how their positions in Hollywood differ compared to previous Hispanic actors. Highlights include excerpts from various movies with Latino actors, stories or themes, including the Academy Award-winning West Side Story (1961), Neptune's Daughter (1949), The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982), Stand and Deliver (1987), and others. ~ Steve Blackburn, Rovi

This misunderstood film is a satirical western, written, directed, and produced by Ralph Nelson, which he adapted from the book by James Graham (a pseudonym for Jack Higgins) In a restless Central American nation in the 1920s, Van Horne (Robert Mitchum), a defrocked American priest, hides a gun in his Bible and a knife in his crucifix. He rescues Emmet Keogh (Ken Hutchinson), who is being held by a group of rapacious bandits who are angry that Keogh has taken a mute native girl, Chela (Paula Pritchett), away from them. Keogh, an Irishman, and his friend Jennings (Victor Buono), a British rum-runner, are captured along with Van Horne by Colonel Santilla (John Colicos), a revolutionary leader. The colonel offers to set the three men free and send them safely to the U.S. -- if they agree to kill Tomas De La Plata (Frank Langella), the crazed local strongman. De La Plata was driven mad by Santilla's followers, who murdered his father, raped his mother, and tormented his sister into suicide. Van Horne dons his priestly garb and reopens the church in De La Plata's village, thereby setting up the trap to lure in the madman. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Mara (Rita Hayworth) is the lonely owner of a gas station on a remote road leading to Salina, Mexico in this psychodrama. A young hippie (Robert Walker Jr.) is mistaken for her son who had left four years earlier. He is encouraged to stay and develops an amorous relationship with his supposed sister Billie (Mimsey Farmer). He looks into the family history and discovers Billie may have killed her own brother and Mara could very well be covering up the crime. Warren (Ed Begley) and Mara dance the frug in this feature, the last for Begley who died in April, 1970 and the second to last film for legendary screen siren Hayworth. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Based on a story by Joseph Conrad, this 18th-century set drama is set shortly after the French Revolution and chronicles the exploits of a former counterrevolutionary pirate who befriends a mentally ill, naive young woman. Eventually his feelings of friendship turn to love and this in turn leads to tragedy when she falls in love with a French naval officer. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this well-regarded film noir thriller, Joe Barron (Glenn Ford) is a police detective whose wife Lisa (Elke Sommer) has inherited a stock portfolio from her father. Joe and Lisa go on a spending spree, but when their new holdings fail to pay dividends, Joe finds himself deep in debt. Dr. Horace Van Tilden (Joseph Cotten), a rich doctor who caters to high-society clientele, shoots an intruder in his home, and Joe is assigned to investigate; Joe discovers that Van Tilden has a lucrative sideline selling drugs, and that the shooting victim was actually an addict looking for dope. When Joe learns that Van Tilden keeps his drug money in a safe at home, he sees a way to finally pay off his debts, but his partner, Pete Delanos (Ricardo Montalban), gets wind of Joe's scheme and demands a cut of the action. Matters become more complicated for Joe when he learns that the man Van Tilden shot was married to Rosalie (Rita Hayworth), whom he loved many years ago. The Money Trap was directed by Burt Kennedy, who was best known for his witty and unconventional westerns. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Filmed in Cinerama and Technicolor, Circus World may have drawn the crowds for various reasons -- not the least, perhaps, for the big names. John Wayne stars as circus owner Matt Masters, who takes his show to Europe hoping to save it from financial ruin. Accompanying Matt, is young Toni (Claudia Cardinale), whom Matt had raised since her aerialist mother Lili (Rita Hayworth) left them years before. Just before he departs from New York, Matt is reminded that Lili may be somewhere in Germany. Upon their arrival in Europe, much of the equipment is lost when their ship sinks in a Spanish port. Matt doesn't let that get the best of them, and he is soon up and running with the show, becoming a hit throughout Europe. Against Matt's wishes, Toni trains to become an aerialist like her mother. A quiet figure in the shadows proudly watches Toni rehearse her daring routines. The writing team of Ben Hecht, James Edward Grant and Julian Halevy adapted their screenplay from a story by Philip Yordan and Nicholas Ray. Though this was not a gunslinger role for Wayne, Matt Masters was not a far stretch. This could have been due to the fact that Wayne had previously worked on several projects with director Henry Hathaway and writers Hecht and Grant -- and the part was altered to suit him. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

Gary Cooper stars in one of his final roles in They Came To Cordura, Robert Rossen's moody study of the thin dividing line between heroism and cowardice. Cooper plays Major Thomas Thorn, a U.S. Army officer in the expedition into Mexico against Pancho Villa. Because he hesitated during a moment of decision in a battle, he has been labeled a coward. His commanding officer, Colonel Rogers (Robert Keith), orders Thorn to recommend five men for nomination for the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery in the battle against Villa. Angered that Thorn did not nominate him for the Medal of Honor, Rogers charges Thorn with transporting the men through a broiling and dangerous desert to the rear area of Cordura. They begin the trek accompanied by Adelaide Geary (Rita Hayworth), the daughter of a dishonored U.S. Senator, who is accused of treason since she owned the hacienda where Villa's men stayed. As they travel across the desert expanse, Thorn ponders why these men are considered heroes while he is labeled a coward. As their journey continues, the heroes turn into a mutinous rabble, with Thorn reduced to holding the group at bay with a loaded gun. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Based on Terence Rattigan's play, Separate Tables is about a number of characters and their adventures at a British seaside hotel. Among the guests are an alleged war hero (David Niven), a timid spinster (Deborah Kerr) and her domineering mother (Gladys Cooper), and a divorced couple (Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth) trying to re-ignite their romance despite the presence of his mistress (Wendy Hiller). All of the characters' lives become intertwined in the course of the film as the story examines love affairs and secrets. Separate Tables is a fine, textured drama, filled with terrific performances and was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Deborah Kerr), Best Actor (David Niven), Best Supporting Actress (Wendy Hiller), Best Screenplay From Another Medium, Best Cinematography and Best Music. Niven and Hiller won Oscars for the film. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

The John O'Hara/Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Broadway musical Pal Joey created quite a stir during its original theatrical run in 1940. Here we had a heel of a hero who sleeps with a wealthy older woman in order to realize his dream of owning his own nightclub, and who breaks the heart of the girl who truly loves him when she impedes his plans to get ahead. Blossom Time it wasn't. Due to the seamy nature of the plot and the double- and single-entendre song lyrics (especially the original words for "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", which you aren't likely to hear on most mainstream recordings of this tune), Pal Joey could not be faithfully filmed back in the 1940s. Even this 1957 version, made at a time when movie censorship was beginning to relax, was extensively sanitized for public consumption. Ambitious singer/dancer Joey (Frank Sinatra) is still something of a louse, but a redeemable one. The relationship between Joey and his older benefactress Vera Simpson (Rita Hayworth, who was actually a few years younger than Sinatra) is one of implication rather than overt statement. And Joey's true love, chorine Linda English (Kim Novak), is as pure as the driven snow, who vehemently expresses distaste at having to perform a striptease. The Rodgers and Hart songs ("I Could Write a Book" the aforementioned "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered") which seemed so cynical and ironic back in 1940, are given the typically lush, luxurious Hollywood treatment (many of the tunes, notably "There's a Small Hotel", were borrowed from other Rodgers and Hart shows, a not uncommon practice of the time). Pal Joey is nice to look at and consummately performed, but don't expect the bite of the original play, or the John O'Hara short stories which preceded them. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

"Her Salome Will Steal Your Breath Away" was the classic advertising slogan attached to this opulent Rita Hayworth epic -- a slogan which became laughable whenever a radio announcer would mispronounce Salome as "salami." Using the very sketchy Biblical story of the death of John the Baptist as its springboard, Salome depicts its title character, the stepdaughter of King Herod, as a victim of circumstance rather than a wanton temptress. Banished from Rome because of an unfortunate romance with the nephew of Caesar, Salome (Rita Hayworth) declares that all men are her enemies, but her resolve weakens when she falls in love with Claudius (Stewart Granger), the military commander of Galilee. Meanwhile, Salome's wicked mother, Herodias (Judith Anderson), plots the demise of John the Baptist (Alan Badel), who currently enjoys the protection of the superstitious Herod (Charles Laughton). At this point, the story departs radically from Scripture. Salome is no longer coerced by Herodias to demand the head of John the Baptist; instead, Herodias, on her own, promises Herod that Salome will perform the "Dance of the Seven Veils" for him -- but only if he beheads John first (Salome has been misinformed that the dance will save John from the headsman's sword). Somehow, scriptwriter Jesse Lasky Jr. even manages to concoct a happy ending for poor Salome, which is a lot more than Oscar Wilde or Richard Strauss were able to do. Considered an artistic flop in 1953, Salome seems somewhat better today, if only because of that powerhouse cast. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Lady From Shanghai, a complex, involving puzzle-within-a-puzzle mystery story, is a showcase for Orson Welles, showing his singular talents and sensibilities as few other films have. The story is superficially simple: a seaman Michael O'Hara (Welles) is hired as a crew member on the yacht of the wealthy Banister (Everett Sloane). His beautiful but mysterious wife Elsa (Rita Hayworth) has met O'Hara earlier, when he saved her from a mugging. What ensues is a complicated and bizarre pattern of deception, fraud and murder, with O'Hara finding himself implicated in a murder, despite his innocence. The film is best remembered for its final sequence when the plot comes to a literally smashing climax in the famous "hall of mirrors" sequence, with Elsa and Banister shooting it out amidst shards of shattering glass. Orson Welles, who produced, directed, wrote and starred in the film, is sometimes self-indulgent in his use of visual tricks and techniques, which at times sacrifice plot for visual brilliance, but he pulls it together in the end to produce a stunning, difficult film. Rita Hayworth gives one of her best performances as the deceptive, seductive temptress, hard-edged and cynical. The film confounds, unsettles and disorients the viewer, very much as Welles intended to do. While not an easy film, it is well worth the attention required to follow it, and Welles offers no easy solutions or any false happy endings to his tour-de-force mystery. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

A semi-sequel to Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Columbia's Down to Earth is a camp- and kitsch-lover's delight. More beautiful than ever, Rita Hayworth stars as Terpsichore, the Goddess of Dance. From her perch Up Above, Terpsichore discovers that Broadway producer Danny Miller (Larry Parks) intends to put together a musical satire, lampooning herself and her fellow Greek Gods. Eliciting the aid of Heavenly emissary Mr. Jordan (Roland Culver, taking over from the earlier film's Claude Rains), Terpsichore descends to Earth in human form, landing a role in Miller's play. Through her bewitching influence, Miller agrees to abandon his plans for a satire, transforming his production into a portentiously serious "work of art"-which lays a large and noxious egg with the opening-night crowd. Somehow, our ethereal heroine manages to set things right, but there's still one nagging problem: Will she, a goddess, ever be permitted to fall in love with a mere mortal like Miller? Repeating their Here Comes Mr. Jordan roles, James Gleason and Edward Everett Horton appear respectively as the eternally flustered Max Corkle (formerly a fight promoter, now a theatrical agent) and the pompous, rule-bound Heavenly messenger #7013. Silly but immensely entertaining, Down to Earth was remade as the sillier but decidedly less entertaining Xanadu in 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi