What's with Johnny?

In the past few movies that I've seen (Scarlet Street, The Killing and now Gilda) there has been a male character, often the protagonist, who is named Johnny. What is it with the name Johnny? I've been thinking about it and I can pick out a few traits that run through all of the three Johnny's:

- mid 30s white male
- down on his luck
- money problems
- wants to make it big, but always in over his head
- involved with a femme fatale
- garners the viewer's sympathy despite character flaws
- a bit nervous, unsure of himself

I've never met a real person named Johnny, it's always a film character, maybe because its a bit of a dated name. Maybe it's also because of the movies that I to associate Johnny with a grown man who has childish / chump qualities, the guy who always tries hard, but hardly gets it right. Above all, I suppose I just find it odd at the past three movies I've chosen all had similar characters.

Tonight's movie was "Gilda", directed by Charles Vidor. I saw the first 5-10 minutes of the film in one of my classes last year - I think it was for American Film History. Forgot about it until the first few minutes into the movie. The film is obviously about a woman named Gilda, but also about a man name Johnny, and in some ways I feel that it is his movie more than it is hers. The title then, might be meant to highlight that in Johnny's mind, it is all about Gilda. The movie begins with Johnny down on his luck, and literally, down on his knees, trying to make some money playing dice. He meets a man who ends up hiring him as his right hand man at the casino he owns. Never mix gambling and women they both agree - that is until the casino owner reveals he has a wife. As it turns out, the wife, Gilda, was Johnny's former lover. The two try to play it cool, but as Johnny is commanded to watch over Gilda, it becomes evident that his chaperoning of her is much more than him carrying out his duties. In fact, it is just plain difficult for him to bear watching her fall over other men when she gets bored. The overbearing feeling of tension throughout the film can definitely be attributed to the close-ups on Rita Hayworth's face, as well as her wild nature and sexuality in contrast to the casino owner's rigid personality and Johnny's child-tryin'a-be-a-man character.

The film holds up to a lot of the trends in the noir canon, but I can't really say that it hit the spot for me as other noirs do. I'd like to see Hayworth in Orson Welles' "The Lady From Shanghai" though, so perhaps that will come next. Soon, at least!