Butler's Cinema Scene

“RITA MORENO: JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT”  My rating: B (In theaters)

90 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13

As she approaches her 90th year actress Rita Moreno can look back on a life packed with triumph (she’s an EGOT — the winner of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony), tragedy (a botched abortion, sexual assault) and a checkered career that has included both laughable ethnic stereotypes and her current status as a Latina icon.

The new doc “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It” is a warts-and-all look at a woman who despite her advanced years exhibits more energy, exuberance and insight than someone half her age.  She’s a born raconteur…and, boy, does she have a story to tell.

Mariem Perez Riera’s film (Norman Lear and Lin-Manuel Miranda are among the producers) opens with Moreno bustling around her home, preparing for her birthday celebration.  Then it settles down to a conversation — punctuated with old photos and film clips —  of her life, career and loves.

She was born in Puerto Rico and as a child came to US with her mother (she never again saw her father or brother…a story that could use some explanation), became enamored of the movies at an early age, dropped out of school at 15  and when still a teen dressed up like Elizabeth Taylor for an appointment with Louie B. Mayer, walking away with a Hollywood contract.

For years she was plastered with “makeup the color of mud” to portray Native American princesses, Latina spitfires, island girls, even the slave/concubine Tuptim in “The King and I.”  Her roles, she says, were limited to “sex objects and arm candy.”  

But she lacked the clout to do anything but follow orders.  Moreover, Moreno says she grew up “feeling without value,” a psychological handicap that dogged her until well into her adult life.

She describes the hair-raising sexism she encountered in Hollywood, including being raped by her agent (she had such low self-esteem that she kept working with him even after the incident) and her intense years-long affair with a domineering and manipulative Marlon Brando, who forced her to get a back-ally abortion from which she nearly died. (Today Moreno remains a fierce advocate of female reproductive rights.)

She became so depressed by her relationship with Brando that she attempted suicide.

(There’s no mention here of her well-known affair with Elvis Presley…what’s up with that?)

Her first non-ethnic performance was as a silent film actress in “Singing’ in the Rain”; ironically her most famous role was as the fiery Puerto Rican Anita in “West Side Story,” for which she won an Oscar. In the wake of that success she vowed never again to play a stereotypical Latina…with the result that she didn’t make another film for seven years.

She did lots of regional theater, then  found a home on television, starring with Morgan Freeman in the child-friendly “The Electric Company” on PBS, winning an Emmy for an episode of “The Muppet Show.” 

Moreno did find lasting love, of a sort, with cardiologist Leonard Gordon. The marriage lasted 45, yet Moreno said it was one-sided; that Gordon, while loving her intensive, was a control freak.  She says stayed in the marriage out of convenience.

Now, she says, “Living alone is really neat…especially when you like who you’re living with.”

Though she can put on an impressive display of glamor, Moreno also shows up her sans makeup and wig. We see her watching on TV the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and keeping up her own editorial commentary: “Oh, bullshit! Jesus.  Unbelievable!”

The film features numerous talking heads discussing Moreno’s career and contributions (Morgan Freeman, Whoopi Goldberg, Eva Longoria, Hector Elizondo, Chira Rivera, Gloria Estefan) and there are countless clips from her movie performances, both ignoble and iconic.

It’s been a hell of a life…and given what she’s accomplished so far, I imagine we’re still awaiting Rita Moreno’s last act.

| Robert W. Butler