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Nutshell Review: The Misfits (’61)
Director: John Huston Starring: Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, Thelma Ritter Studio: United Artists My IBDB Rating: 8 Viewing: Fox/MGM/UA Blu-Ray |
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Plot: Roslyn Tabor (Monroe) is waiting in Reno, Nevada for a quickie divorce when she meets cowboy Gay Langford (Gable) and his friend Guido (Wallack) in a casino bar. Along with her rooming house landlady Issabelle (Ritter), they decide to spend an afternoon in Guido’s half constructed house in the desert. While Guido clearly wants to have sex with Roslyn, he is rebuffed after a high spirited dance to the sounds of the car radio. Clearly drunk, Gay volunteers to drive her back to town, smitten by her, but not willing to make his move. Roslyn is clearly sad and confused, admitting to not knowing what she will do now that she is divorced. When Gay does attempt to kiss her, after telling her “you just shine in my eyes”, she rebuffs him by saying “I don’t feel that way about you, Gay”, but he responds “well, don’t get discouraged girl, you might.” And so begins their relationship. The 2 of them decide to stay at Guido’s, planting a garden, redecorating and making improvements. When Guido and Issabelle visit a couple of months later, Guido puts the idea in Gay’s head that they should go “mustangin” (capturing wild horses to sell them for dog food) up in the mountains. Since they need a third man to help, the four head to a local rodeo and hook up with bronco rider Perce Howland (Clift), who’s down on his luck and estranged from his family. Rosyln helps win him entry fee money by playing a paddle game, shaking her hips to the delight of all the men in the bar, for which she is seemingly oblivious. When Perce is seriously hurt while bronco riding, Roslyn is too upset to watch and must be consoled by Gay. She cannot bear to see animals or Perce hurt and comforts Perce as he suffers from a concussion. Having lost the prize money Perce agrees to go mustangin’ the following day, but not before Gay drunkenly tries to introduce Roslyn to his adult children, who disappear first. Gay & Guido are sloppy drunk & Perce is unconscious, but Guido is able to drive the group back to the house, propositioning Roslyn yet again.
When the group attempt to capture the horses, the barbarism of the task is apparent to Roslyn and she becomes inconsolable, offering to pay for the animals’ release. Angry and embarrassed, Gay single handedly captures and attempts to break a wild stallion, a feat that almost kills him. Once roped, he cuts and frees the animal, realizing that his cowboy way of life is over and returns to Roslyn, just asking to live life.
Thoughts: The Misfits may be the saddest movie I’ve ever seen. It is wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but overwhelmingly sad; sad in that it’s Gable & Monroe’s last film & sad in that the characters radiate helplessness, delusion and/or regret throughout. If the ending is hopeful it is only because Gay & Roslyn have come to realize that there is no more to ask for than simply existing. The fact that they have chosen to exist together, each having compromised on what life for them means, is in itself very sad. Gay and Rosylyn’s final exchange, for instance, is not only poignant for them, but for the actors playing them.
Roslyn: “How do you find your way back in the dark?”
Gay: “Just head for that big star straight on. The highway’s under it. It’ll take us right home.”
It’s as if Miller foretold the end for both Gable and Monroe and their longing for peace, Gable towards death and reuniting with the love of his life, Carole Lombard & Monroe simply the peace in death she was never afforded in life, wrapped in the arms of the father figure she always longed for.
Before the fade out, however, both actors are at their best. Gay’s grizzled and weather-beaten skin reflects a lifetime of hard living, his dimples and smile still holding the mischievousness of a misspent youth. He is world wary to be sure, but still holds a flicker of hope, but just a flicker. Roslyn, seems to be a bundle of nerves, unsure of how to feel, how to act and what to do. Monroe’s doe like eyes playing this insecurity perfectly, not necessarily reflecting the adoration men cast her way, but more melting because if it. The fact that 2 screen icons, near the ends of both their lives, could pull these performances together under what has been reported as a very trying shoot is nothing short of amazing.
Much is made, and rightly so, of the end of Gable & Monroe’s careers after this movie, but it would have been a mile marker in their careers regardless. Miller’s screenplay is wonderfully coupled with John Huston’s stark images and simple direction, but there is also an underlying meanness towards the actors. Miller has Roslyn/Marilyn fumble trying to memorize her lines for her divorce hearing, mirroring Monroe’s own struggles with line readings. He also has Clift explain to his mother on the phone that his face is alright and looks good as new, an obvious reference to Clift’s own reconstructed face. The obvious reflection is to point to Miller’s dissolving marriage to Monroe for the bitter touches, but it also speaks to larger issues with the characters themselves as he has constructed them. Clift’s Perce, along with Gay & Guido are moths drawn to Roslyn’s light, exposing their own foibles & failures, whether cruelly depicted, as in the phone conversation with Perce, or as personal longing in Guido’s case & as a failed parent for Gay. They each want to cast their redemption onto Roslyn’s purity and simplicity, but each fails in a different way.
The Misfits is not an easy film to watch, but it is highly rewarding, both as a testament to the skill of both Monroe & Gable, but as a study of people longing for love and flailing about to find it. The black & white images are beautiful, but it’s the actors that make is so rewarding. Without even saying anything their faces tell the story; a sad, but beautiful story.
Category: Drama
See Also: Bus Stop, Mutiny on the Bounty, Mogambo, Judgment at Nuremberg
Random Notes & Quotes:
*a Screen Actors Guild strike led to delays in shooting Monroe’s Let’s Make Love, which in turn led to a delay in the start of production of The Misfits. Shooting began on July 17th in the desert, contributing to the harsh conditions that are often attributed to Gables death.
*As a young woman Monroe kept a picture of Gable, telling people he was her father, whom she never knew.
*Gable, a noted homophobe, was said to have taken Clift under his wing during shooting, protecting him from the often volatile outburst of director Huston.
*After watching most of The Misfits with Huston, Gable was reported to have said that he now had 2 movies to be proud of Gone with the Wind &The Misfits.
*on November 4th, Gable finished retakes. 3 days later he was admitted to the hospital having suffered a series of heart attacks. He died on November 16th, 1960.
When the group attempt to capture the horses, the barbarism of the task is apparent to Roslyn and she becomes inconsolable, offering to pay for the animals’ release. Angry and embarrassed, Gay single handedly captures and attempts to break a wild stallion, a feat that almost kills him. Once roped, he cuts and frees the animal, realizing that his cowboy way of life is over and returns to Roslyn, just asking to live life.
Thoughts: The Misfits may be the saddest movie I’ve ever seen. It is wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but overwhelmingly sad; sad in that it’s Gable & Monroe’s last film & sad in that the characters radiate helplessness, delusion and/or regret throughout. If the ending is hopeful it is only because Gay & Roslyn have come to realize that there is no more to ask for than simply existing. The fact that they have chosen to exist together, each having compromised on what life for them means, is in itself very sad. Gay and Rosylyn’s final exchange, for instance, is not only poignant for them, but for the actors playing them.
Roslyn: “How do you find your way back in the dark?”
Gay: “Just head for that big star straight on. The highway’s under it. It’ll take us right home.”
It’s as if Miller foretold the end for both Gable and Monroe and their longing for peace, Gable towards death and reuniting with the love of his life, Carole Lombard & Monroe simply the peace in death she was never afforded in life, wrapped in the arms of the father figure she always longed for.
Before the fade out, however, both actors are at their best. Gay’s grizzled and weather-beaten skin reflects a lifetime of hard living, his dimples and smile still holding the mischievousness of a misspent youth. He is world wary to be sure, but still holds a flicker of hope, but just a flicker. Roslyn, seems to be a bundle of nerves, unsure of how to feel, how to act and what to do. Monroe’s doe like eyes playing this insecurity perfectly, not necessarily reflecting the adoration men cast her way, but more melting because if it. The fact that 2 screen icons, near the ends of both their lives, could pull these performances together under what has been reported as a very trying shoot is nothing short of amazing.
Much is made, and rightly so, of the end of Gable & Monroe’s careers after this movie, but it would have been a mile marker in their careers regardless. Miller’s screenplay is wonderfully coupled with John Huston’s stark images and simple direction, but there is also an underlying meanness towards the actors. Miller has Roslyn/Marilyn fumble trying to memorize her lines for her divorce hearing, mirroring Monroe’s own struggles with line readings. He also has Clift explain to his mother on the phone that his face is alright and looks good as new, an obvious reference to Clift’s own reconstructed face. The obvious reflection is to point to Miller’s dissolving marriage to Monroe for the bitter touches, but it also speaks to larger issues with the characters themselves as he has constructed them. Clift’s Perce, along with Gay & Guido are moths drawn to Roslyn’s light, exposing their own foibles & failures, whether cruelly depicted, as in the phone conversation with Perce, or as personal longing in Guido’s case & as a failed parent for Gay. They each want to cast their redemption onto Roslyn’s purity and simplicity, but each fails in a different way.
The Misfits is not an easy film to watch, but it is highly rewarding, both as a testament to the skill of both Monroe & Gable, but as a study of people longing for love and flailing about to find it. The black & white images are beautiful, but it’s the actors that make is so rewarding. Without even saying anything their faces tell the story; a sad, but beautiful story.
Category: Drama
See Also: Bus Stop, Mutiny on the Bounty, Mogambo, Judgment at Nuremberg
Random Notes & Quotes:
*a Screen Actors Guild strike led to delays in shooting Monroe’s Let’s Make Love, which in turn led to a delay in the start of production of The Misfits. Shooting began on July 17th in the desert, contributing to the harsh conditions that are often attributed to Gables death.
*As a young woman Monroe kept a picture of Gable, telling people he was her father, whom she never knew.
*Gable, a noted homophobe, was said to have taken Clift under his wing during shooting, protecting him from the often volatile outburst of director Huston.
*After watching most of The Misfits with Huston, Gable was reported to have said that he now had 2 movies to be proud of Gone with the Wind &The Misfits.
*on November 4th, Gable finished retakes. 3 days later he was admitted to the hospital having suffered a series of heart attacks. He died on November 16th, 1960.
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