"Honey, a kind man can kill."
"No, he can't."
There's something larger than life about the cast in The Misfits, and quite moving in its themes. It's a film I had put off seeing for a long time because Westerns are not really my thing, but I'm so happy I finally got around to it. Maybe all Westerns should star Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, and Thelma Ritter, be written by Arthur Miller, and directed by John Huston. This one is emotionally devastating, and left me tingling for a long time afterwards.
The backstory is of course fascinating, and a part of the film's immense power. Twenty-four years after Gable starred in Jean Harlow's last film, Saratoga, the one she was making when she died (and about horse racing), he appeared with the Blonde Bombshell's successor in Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, in a film featuring wild horses. This time it would be both Gable and Monroe's last film; for Gable, he died just twelve days after production wrapped, and Marilyn would die less than two years later. On top of that, Clift would only make three more films, and die five years later. Stories of the turbulent times making the film are endless, from the clash between old school acting and those following the Method, Miller and Monroe's marriage falling apart, and Monroe's alcohol and drug use. Despite all that, the performances are wonderful.
Seeing Gable and Monroe together give the film an almost mythical quality, amplified by the themes Arthur Miller developed in the script: loneliness, authenticity, how love doesn't usually last, and biggest of all, being compassionate to other living things despite (or perhaps because of) the trials and tribulations in one's own life. Gable and Monroe are larger than life figures but were at vulnerable times in their personal lives, something that seems eerily mirrored in the film.
The setup has three men (Gable, Wallach, and Clift) out in the country with a recently divorced woman (Monroe) and her friend (Ritter). All of these characters are damaged: one of the men has scars from being a bomber in the war and now a widow, another found his wife in the arms of another man, and the third was treated poorly by his family after his father died. The two women are also divorced because of infidelity, though stoic and philosophical about it. They all seem to want to run away from the world, to go to a place where they can be free, without realizing that their problems come along with them even in wide open spaces. They drink and banter, talking a good game, but seem like lost souls straight out of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks.
The men are all drawn to Monroe's character which kinda leaves Ritter's with less to do so she disappears halfway through, which is a shame because she's as marvelous as always. And I have to say, when the men all get drunk and Monroe has to mediate between them it got a little tiring, but there is such sweetness in how she responds, and she is what makes this film great.
Monroe plays the part of a woman who's warm, caring, innocent, and yet also wise to the ways of the world, which seemed to be a reflection of her own self. She has some fantastic scenes early on, dancing with Gable and Wallach and then by herself out in the yard, another where she whacks the hell out of a paddle ball, and yet another where she wakes up naked in bed to Gable's kiss. We see her through a decidedly male gaze at times, e.g. Her butt bouncing up and down while riding a horse, but she also has depth as a person, and her face is wonderfully expressive here. She's gorgeous at 35 and it's heartbreaking to think she was struggling with depression.
One of the charms of the film is that in addition to the light and playful moments we see from Monroe, she also has weighty conversations with the other characters, and looks out for animals. She prevents Gable's character from shooting a bunny invading the lettuce patch, expresses horror at what they do to make bucking broncos so angry at a rodeo, and shows revulsion at the idea that horses are killed to make dog food. This is all a build-up to scenes out on a stark, desert landscape where the men go out to capture wild mustangs. Wallach's character first terrorizes the horses with a biplane, swooping down just a few feet over them as they gallop in fear, leading to the three men pulling down several horses who are fighting for their lives, scenes which were frankly very difficult to watch.
However, Marilyn is the film's conscience, and she's brilliant in showing her sadness and eventual anger, as she lets the men have it in some of my favorite all-time moments of hers. The first is when she tells Wallach's character this when he makes her a quid pro quo offer to free the horses: "You have to get something to be human? You never felt anything for anybody in your life. All you know is the sad words. You could blow up the world and all you would feel is sorry for yourself!"
The second is when she condemns all three of them: "Horse killers! Killers! Murderers! You're liars! All of you, liars! You're only happy when you can see something die! Why don't you kill yourself to be happy? You and your God's country! Freedom! I pity you! You're three dear, sweet, dead men!"
The barren landscape, these broken characters, the shame of what they're doing, those horses running free, and knowing the fate of the actors ... it's all incredibly powerful. The ending, that final moment with Monroe and Gable in the truck looking up at the North Star, is beautifully done too, and immortal. I like to think that the reason Huston didn't put any credits or even "The End" up on the screen was in honor of Gable, as if to say that this was not really the end for him.
There's something larger than life about the cast in The Misfits, and quite moving in its themes. It's a film I had put off seeing for a long time because Westerns are not really my thing, but I'm so happy I finally got around to it. Maybe all Westerns should star Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, and Thelma Ritter, be written by Arthur Miller, and directed by John Huston. This one is emotionally devastating, and left me tingling for a long time afterwards.
The backstory is of course fascinating, and a part of the film's immense power. Twenty-four years after Gable starred in Jean Harlow's last film, Saratoga, the one she was making when she died (and about horse racing), he appeared with the Blonde Bombshell's successor in Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, in a film featuring wild horses. This time it would be both Gable and Monroe's last film; for Gable, he died just twelve days after production wrapped, and Marilyn would die less than two years later. On top of that, Clift would only make three more films, and die five years later. Stories of the turbulent times making the film are endless, from the clash between old school acting and those following the Method, Miller and Monroe's marriage falling apart, and Monroe's alcohol and drug use. Despite all that, the performances are wonderful.
Seeing Gable and Monroe together give the film an almost mythical quality, amplified by the themes Arthur Miller developed in the script: loneliness, authenticity, how love doesn't usually last, and biggest of all, being compassionate to other living things despite (or perhaps because of) the trials and tribulations in one's own life. Gable and Monroe are larger than life figures but were at vulnerable times in their personal lives, something that seems eerily mirrored in the film.
The setup has three men (Gable, Wallach, and Clift) out in the country with a recently divorced woman (Monroe) and her friend (Ritter). All of these characters are damaged: one of the men has scars from being a bomber in the war and now a widow, another found his wife in the arms of another man, and the third was treated poorly by his family after his father died. The two women are also divorced because of infidelity, though stoic and philosophical about it. They all seem to want to run away from the world, to go to a place where they can be free, without realizing that their problems come along with them even in wide open spaces. They drink and banter, talking a good game, but seem like lost souls straight out of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks.
The men are all drawn to Monroe's character which kinda leaves Ritter's with less to do so she disappears halfway through, which is a shame because she's as marvelous as always. And I have to say, when the men all get drunk and Monroe has to mediate between them it got a little tiring, but there is such sweetness in how she responds, and she is what makes this film great.
Monroe plays the part of a woman who's warm, caring, innocent, and yet also wise to the ways of the world, which seemed to be a reflection of her own self. She has some fantastic scenes early on, dancing with Gable and Wallach and then by herself out in the yard, another where she whacks the hell out of a paddle ball, and yet another where she wakes up naked in bed to Gable's kiss. We see her through a decidedly male gaze at times, e.g. Her butt bouncing up and down while riding a horse, but she also has depth as a person, and her face is wonderfully expressive here. She's gorgeous at 35 and it's heartbreaking to think she was struggling with depression.
One of the charms of the film is that in addition to the light and playful moments we see from Monroe, she also has weighty conversations with the other characters, and looks out for animals. She prevents Gable's character from shooting a bunny invading the lettuce patch, expresses horror at what they do to make bucking broncos so angry at a rodeo, and shows revulsion at the idea that horses are killed to make dog food. This is all a build-up to scenes out on a stark, desert landscape where the men go out to capture wild mustangs. Wallach's character first terrorizes the horses with a biplane, swooping down just a few feet over them as they gallop in fear, leading to the three men pulling down several horses who are fighting for their lives, scenes which were frankly very difficult to watch.
However, Marilyn is the film's conscience, and she's brilliant in showing her sadness and eventual anger, as she lets the men have it in some of my favorite all-time moments of hers. The first is when she tells Wallach's character this when he makes her a quid pro quo offer to free the horses: "You have to get something to be human? You never felt anything for anybody in your life. All you know is the sad words. You could blow up the world and all you would feel is sorry for yourself!"
The second is when she condemns all three of them: "Horse killers! Killers! Murderers! You're liars! All of you, liars! You're only happy when you can see something die! Why don't you kill yourself to be happy? You and your God's country! Freedom! I pity you! You're three dear, sweet, dead men!"
The barren landscape, these broken characters, the shame of what they're doing, those horses running free, and knowing the fate of the actors ... it's all incredibly powerful. The ending, that final moment with Monroe and Gable in the truck looking up at the North Star, is beautifully done too, and immortal. I like to think that the reason Huston didn't put any credits or even "The End" up on the screen was in honor of Gable, as if to say that this was not really the end for him.