Rita / Trouble In Texas (DVD)

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"Most men fell in love with Gilda....and wakened with me"
- Rita Hayworth

Appropriately, "Rita", the new documentary film from Playboy--about sex symbol and screen siren Rita Hayworth--starts off with a scene from "The Shawshank Redemption". This is the scene where the prisoners are watching a movie and Morgan Freeman asks Tim Robbins to keep quiet for a moment as the men in the room excitingly anticipates the famous scene from the 1946 movie "Gilda". This is the scene where Rita Hayworth throws up her head and her gorgeous mane of hair to reveal one of the sexiest images of its day. Rita Hayworth´s role in "Gilda" forever immortalized her on screen as the sexy siren that most men can only dream about. Therefore, this image of her appearing in "Gilda" is both a fitting tribute and a testament to the longevity of one of Hollywood´s most alluring stars.

"Rita" aired on the Turner Classic Movies cable channel in 2003 and is now released as a Collector´s Edition 2-DVD set. It is also Playboy´s latest foray into the documentary arena. Competently narrated by the sultry voice of Kim Basinger, "Rita" recalls the private but turbulent life of one of Hollywood´s most enduring sex symbols and puts various aspects of her career into better perspective. This documentary chronicles Hayworth´s life from her early years as a dancer, through the peak of her film career and until her death in 1987 from the debilitating Alzheimer´s disease. Throughout the documentary, you will see movie footages and photo slideshows and hear Hayworth´s co-stars, friends and family recall various periods of her life in interviews. You will also have the pleasure of hearing Ms. Hayworth herself appear in voiceovers taken from archival interviews.

The name Rita Hayworth may not mean much to the younger generation but in the 1940´s and 1950´s, she was the biggest star at Columbia Pictures after its studio head, Harry Cohn, signed her to a multi-year contract. Born Margarita Carmen Cansino, Hayworth (which is her mother´s maiden name) was originally a dancer in a family enterprise known as the Dancing Cansinos, performing with her father. We are told that her father controlled her early years as a performer and even tried to stop her from dabbling in motion pictures. This pattern of a controlling male figure unfortunately continues for most of her life, starting with her father and through all her five marriages. Hayworth´s first marriage was to Ed Judson, a man who was almost twice her age. Judson was credited with helping to jumpstart her acting career, refining her image by playing down her Spanish heritage and redefining her as the quintessential all-American girl.

Rita Hayworth´s next two marriages made headlines due to the fact that she was then a big movie star and also to the celebrity status of her spouses. Her second marriage was to none other than Orson Welles and the third one to royalty, Prince Aly Khan, a well-known international playboy. With the Prince, Hayworth had a daughter, Princess Yasmin, who appears in this documentary. When Hayworth married Khan, she left Hollywood behind, hoping to start a family and live a quiet life. However, both her marriages to Welles and the prince were unhappy, due to differing expectations. Her last two marriages to singer/actor Dick Haymes and screenwriter James Hill were equally as disastrous.

At the peak of her popularity in the 1940´s, Rita Hayworth was famously dubbed the Love Goddess for her sexy image on screen. The stunning Ms. Hayworth was the star of over fifty motion picture films during her long career. During World War II, Rita Hayworth became the ultimate pin-up girl of every American G.I. serving overseas and she showed her appreciation by appearing in many USO shows, entertaining the troops.

One of the most surprising things about Rita Hayworth revealed by this documentary is the fact that the glamorous star of so many movies is actually a shy and private person; someone who prefers to raise a family and be a mother rather than live the fast-paced life of a movie star. This theme is repeated often when the subject of her marriages come up. After her marriage to Prince Aly Khan failed and ended in divorce, she reluctantly went back to Hollywood. Luckily for Hayworth, the four-year absence from the movie screen did not seem to have dampened the movie-going public´s hunger for her. Throughout her illustrious career, Hayworth starred alongside many of Hollywood´s leading men, like Burt Lancaster, Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Frank Sinatra, Tyrone Power and many more.