rita hayworth Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Like most people on the internet, we at Cinematical love lists. I love them so much that I wish I could write about everyone I read, but unfortunately there are too many geeks out there making up too many lists, and not enough love to go round (can't you see this is the land of confusion .... ). But since another thing we love around here is Star Wars -- not just the movies but also the fans, the debates, the complaints, etc. -- I figured that these four lists were worth sharing. Because they all mention something related to George Lucas' popular universe. Three of the lists also reference a lot of Star Trek, but with J.J. Abrams rebooting the franchise and all, I think Trekkies have enough love right now. Meanwhile, the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars occurred this year, and we still had to read about things like the Harry Potter franchise out-grossing the Star Wars series and Serenity beating out Star Wars as a best sci-fi film poll. So, thanks to the people at Fark.com, who love lists even more than we do, here are four movie-related lists that give some appropriate props:

• First we have the Times' countdown of the 40 most memorable aliens. Unfortunately, the only Star Wars aliens listed are at #32 and #26, and they're the Ewoks and Max Rebo, respectively. Considering most of the characters in the series can be considered aliens, this is harsh, but since I'm one of the few Ewok fans out there, I appreciate the gesture. Even if ALF is higher up on the list than they are. At least they're still better than the Coneheads. Anyway the top ten here is full of other significant movie aliens, including the arachnids of Starship Troopers, E.T., the Transformers, Superman, The Blob, The Thing and, at the top spot, God.
  
• Next there's Kunochan.com's countdown of the top twenty starship captains. Once again, Star Wars doesn't get the #1, but it's understandable that Star Trek's most famous captains get the first two slots. At #3, though, is Han Solo. However, the list's author does point out that he had to put a Star Wars character in the top five to avoid having his house firebombed. I don't mind the disingenuous comment; Solo deserves to be higher up than Captain Janeway and the dude from Firefly/Serenity. Down the line at #11 we've also got Grand Moff Tarkin.

When actor/screenwriter/director Vincent Sherman died last weekend, Hollywood lost one of its last personal connections to the classic studio era. After brief forays into law school, acting (for both stage and screen) and screenwriting, he made his move to directing with 1939's The Return of Doctor X, a thriller starring Humphrey Bogart. During the illustrious career that followed, Sherman went on to direct (and have affairs with -- though, don't worry, he didn't sleep with everyone in the following list) some of Hollywood's biggest stars, from Joan Crawford (The Damned Don't Cry, Harriet Craig, Goodbye, My Fancy) to Bette Davis (Mr Skeffington, Old Acquaintance); from Errol Flynn (The Adventures of Don Juan) to Rita Hayworth (Affair in Trinidad).

Sherman was "greylisted" after Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations into communism in Hollywood, and he spend some time working in Europe as a result. Later, during the 1960s and 1970s, the director did copious TV work on shows like 77 Sunset Strip, Matlock, The Waltons and Trapper John M.D.

Sherman died of natural causes; he was 99.

Had he not passed away in 1985 -- shortly after appearing on-screen in an episode of Moonlighting, if I'm not mistaken-- Orson Welles would have turned 91 today. Though films like Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Amerbersons are obvious classics -- and despite my bizarre, old woman-style love for Joseph Cotten -- I tend to prefer Welles' less perfect efforts, particularly The Lady from Shanghai, Chimes at Midnight, and Touch of Evil.

In my first college film class, part of our final was watching and analyzing a 10-minutes sequence from the gorgeous, bizarre, studio-mangled The Lady From Shanghai. In preparation for the task, we watched the clip several times in class, prior to the three viewings we were given during the final. For some reason, though, instead of driving me away from the film, those repeated viewings made me its slave forever.

Though studio meddling means that we'll never know exactly what Welles had in mind for the film, it nevertheless remains a hypnotic example of his talent and creativity, albeit a wildly uneven one. Despite Welles' own distractingly horrible accent, the movie is enthralling, both visually and thematically, complete with blackmail, sexual manipulation, a double-crossing dame (the movie is no Gilda, but Rita Hayworth is still sexier in it than most mortals ever dream of being), and some of the most audacious images Welles would ever create. It's also an incredibly rich film, from the story to the screenplay (O'Hara's narration is particularly interesting) -- one of those that is truly enhanced with each viewing -- and I can think of no better way to celebrate the man's birth than to sit down and watch it again. And if you haven't seen the movie, do yourself a favor and stick it in your Netflix queue.

I was so caught up in The Loved One yesterday that I didn't notice it was Glenn Ford's 90th birthday. The actor has been leading a very private life since his last films in 1991. He was supposed to appear at a retrospective of his films Monday night, but his poor health may have prevented a public appearance.

The above photo is a publicity still for the 1946 film Gilda, one of five movies from 1940 to 1965 that starred both Ford and Rita Hayworth. This film noir is the best-known and probably the best of their films together. Ford is working in a casino when his boss walks in one night newly married to Hayworth, and it turns out that Ford and Hayworth have ... A Past. The film is currently available on DVD. If you're my age and the first movie in which you ever saw Glenn Ford was Superman (as Jonathan Kent), you might want to rent Gilda and watch Ford as a young, handsome leading man. If you want to know more about Ford, Classic Hollywood Bios has posted a good interview from 1990 along with a number of photos.