Try selling a movie today with the tagline “with guts and a gun and a babe for bait,” I dare you. Yes, there was a time where the male gaze was all over the place in movies, and bosomy women were always depicted with little clothing in the poster art. That’s not to say the movies were bad to watch; just male-centric to a point that wouldn’t be acceptable today. And for good reason. Typecasting beauty could be stifling when the variety of roles was limited. But Anita Ekberg was indeed an eye-full and Dana Andrews, even through his alcoholism, was good to watch, with that raspy, pillowy, voice and his hardboiled edge. From Laura to Night of the Demon, he delivered the goods.
The Cobra, an Italian and Spanish production, imported by AIP, was pure 1960s movie fodder with its drugs, espionage, and spy drama. Anita Ekberg plays a strung out junkie in the film. Given little to do except look pretty (which kind of worked against being strung out), critics still took notice of her acting chops. She is forever remembered for THAT scene in La Dolci Vita where she waded into Rome’s Trevi Fountain. She also appeared in Abbott and Costello Go to Mars and Screaming Mimi.
