The Misfits (1961)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

John Huston

Writer:

Arthur Miller (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 February 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Western

Tagline:

'SMASHING' thru the Excitement Barrier !

Plot:

A sexy divorcée falls for an over-the-hill cowboy who is struggling to maintain his romantically independent lifestyle in early-sixties Nevada.

Plot Keywords:

Cowboy | Horse | Divorce | Wild Horse | Nevada

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Clark Gable	...	Gay Langland
Marilyn Monroe	...	Roslyn Taber
Montgomery Clift	...	Perce Howland
Thelma Ritter	...	Isabelle Steers
Eli Wallach	...	Guido
James Barton	...	Fletcher's grandfather
Kevin McCarthy	...	Raymond Taber
Estelle Winwood	...	Church lady collecting money in bar

Runtime:

124 min | France:120 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Hungary:14 | West Germany:12 (f) (re-rated) | West Germany:16 (f) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U (re-release) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Approved | Ireland:PG

Filming Locations:

Dayton, Nevada, USA

Company:

Seven Arts Productions

Trivia:

Director John Huston originally wanted Robert Mitchum to play "Gay Langland" but Mitchum didn't like the script and turned it down. Huston and writer Arthur Miller rewrote the script, but by the time Mitchum got to see the rewrite he had committed to another film. The role was instead offered to Clark Gable, who took it.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Isabelle (Thelma Ritter) and Guido return to the house after Roslyn and Langland have been alone there for a few days, Langland calls Isabelle "Thelma".

Quotes:

Gay: Honey, we all got to go sometime, reason or no reason. Dyin's as natural as livin'. The man who's too afraid to die is too afraid to live.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Great Performances: Making 'The Misfits' (#31.1)" (2002)

Down and Out in Nevada

Two of the previous comments have it right about Nevada. It is without question the most barren of places in terms of the sustenance of human life, yet it has a rare beauty that transcends the ugliness of its crass cities and radioactive vistas. The fact that it encompasses an entirely landlocked basin in which great rivers roar down to disappear in dry lakebeds speaks to the main point. Pristine alpine meadows form islands in the sky surrounded by millions of acres of desolation.

When I first saw "The Misfits" in 1961, after having read the savage reviews and followed the sensational press coverage of its production, my initial reaction was that most people just missed the point. I still think so, particularly after reading some of the negative comments here that parrot accepted wisdom about filmmaking in general and what is perceived as a misfire by Miller and Huston. But I have news for the naysayers: this film tells it like it is.

So what if it's a stage play set in the desert? So what if the characters devolve and come apart according to some apparently hidden hand of random fate? Those who get the story right are those who see past what seem at first to be surreal clichés existing only as fodder for the cameras and instead grasp the horror and ugliness of what passes as everyday life for the eponymous ensemble. Nothing happens, and yet everything happens.

Gable, Monroe, Clift. Arthur Miller himself. Figures that seem larger than life. This has little to do with horses and everything to do with the tragedy of Everyman.