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The Misfits
The Misfits is a minor classic from 1961 that has earned its status as a classic for myriad reasons, but its placed in cinema history is cemented primarily due to the fact that the film was the final completed film for movie legends Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe.
Monroe plays Roslyn Tabor, a neurotic young woman who travels to Reno to divorce her husband and is staying with her Isabelle Steers (Thelma Ritter) until her final decree comes through. During the wait she meets an aging cowboy named Gay Langland (Gable) and his BFF Guido (Eli Wallach), who are both instantly attracted to Roslyn, though she is really only interested in Gay. It looks like a star-crossed romance for Gay and Roslyn until another cowboy (Montgomery Clift) joins them on their adventure to round up horses, which repulses Roslyn, who has no tolerance for cruelty to animals.
Monroe's husband at the time, playwright Arthur Miller, wrote the screenplay for this prickly romantic drama as a valentine to his bride. It's been well-documented over the years that Monroe hated this script and her contempt for the material definitely show in her performance, unfocused and overripe. It's obvious watching Monroe here, and I've never said this about her before, but she really doesn't seem to understand this story or her character.
Fortunately, director John Huston had the smarts to surround Marilyn with some of the best actors in the business, many of them near the end of their careers, but still holding onto their ability to command a movie screen. The beautiful black and white photography and some sharp film editing are big assets as well.
It's odd subject matter for a movie and Marilyn is kind of all over the place, but Gable gives a powerhouse performance and Clift is just heartbreaking. Ritter steals every scene she is in, but if the truth be told, Eli Wallach walks off with this movie as the sensitive and rowdy Guido...from the moment he walks through the house he was building for his wife, we totally fall in love with this guy. I don't think Wallach has ever been better. A mixed bag, but all the history surrounding this film, it's a must see for the serious buff.
The Misfits is a minor classic from 1961 that has earned its status as a classic for myriad reasons, but its placed in cinema history is cemented primarily due to the fact that the film was the final completed film for movie legends Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe.
Monroe plays Roslyn Tabor, a neurotic young woman who travels to Reno to divorce her husband and is staying with her Isabelle Steers (Thelma Ritter) until her final decree comes through. During the wait she meets an aging cowboy named Gay Langland (Gable) and his BFF Guido (Eli Wallach), who are both instantly attracted to Roslyn, though she is really only interested in Gay. It looks like a star-crossed romance for Gay and Roslyn until another cowboy (Montgomery Clift) joins them on their adventure to round up horses, which repulses Roslyn, who has no tolerance for cruelty to animals.
Monroe's husband at the time, playwright Arthur Miller, wrote the screenplay for this prickly romantic drama as a valentine to his bride. It's been well-documented over the years that Monroe hated this script and her contempt for the material definitely show in her performance, unfocused and overripe. It's obvious watching Monroe here, and I've never said this about her before, but she really doesn't seem to understand this story or her character.
Fortunately, director John Huston had the smarts to surround Marilyn with some of the best actors in the business, many of them near the end of their careers, but still holding onto their ability to command a movie screen. The beautiful black and white photography and some sharp film editing are big assets as well.
It's odd subject matter for a movie and Marilyn is kind of all over the place, but Gable gives a powerhouse performance and Clift is just heartbreaking. Ritter steals every scene she is in, but if the truth be told, Eli Wallach walks off with this movie as the sensitive and rowdy Guido...from the moment he walks through the house he was building for his wife, we totally fall in love with this guy. I don't think Wallach has ever been better. A mixed bag, but all the history surrounding this film, it's a must see for the serious buff.