The Misfits

On August 5th 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in bed. She died of an overdose, which is often viewed as suspicious. That was 50 years ago, and her complexity as a woman, and her image endures without any abate. It is the fact that she was such a complex and damaged person that her screen icon status still adorns the walls of many people, and her perplexed beauty still has the power to beguile en-masse. The Misfits was her last completed film, - she never completed the filming of George Cukor's remake of My Favourite Wife (1940), Something's Got to Give, which has been subsequently released as a short - and I feel that it captures much of what made Norma Jean Mortensen, Marilyn Monroe.

She plays Roslyn, a newly divorced woman, who meets up with a couple of older men, Guido (Eli Wallach) and Gay (Clark Gable - this was also his last film), and escapes with them to a country house. The men are besotted with this naive, sexy blonde who seem's to have a certain verve for life. They meet with Montgomery Clift's rodeo rider, Perce, as they venture out to the desert first for rodeo, then to catch some Mustang's (horses, not the car). When Roslyn discovers that the men plan to sell the horses for dog meat, her attitude towards the men, and their dying practises changes.

Set in Nevada, the film engenders the idea that the cowboy, the working man, is something of the past. Modernity is taking over the landscapes of America, and this ethereal blonde figure enters the three men's lives to emasculate them from the barbaric ways of the past. But she is not there only for the purpose of altering the outlook of these gruff men, or to push modernity into the plains. Like the real Marilyn, Roslyn craves the attention of men, - Norma Jean never knew who her real father was, and her mother was less than interested in her - and especially is needy for a father figure; a man she can fully trust and rely on.

This collusion of Marilyn's real-life and the character in The Misfits is no accident of course. The screenplay was written specifically for her by her then husband, playwright Arthur Miller, and he clearly knew her need for that elusive father figure, and her need to soak up attention, and wear her body (and image) as a mask to her internal pain, and tragic sense of abandonment.

Whilst certainly not her best film (director John Huston had stated that she was difficult, and the decision to shoot in black and white was due to her bloodshot eyes - caused by alcohol and prescription drugs), that surely would go to Some Like it Hot (1959), but this is absolutely her greatest, and most revealing role. The Misfits also tells of the damaging effects of modernisation, and the nostalgia of the past.

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Marilyn Monroe's breathy voice and little girl sweetness have a depth and reason in this film that most of her other roles lacked.

The Misfits, written by Monroe's ex-husband Arthur Miller, is as harsh and dark as his relationship with the actress apparently was. While over-written and plodding, the dialog has an earthy reality that seeps out from time to time, aided in no small way by John Huston's excellent direction and stunning cinematography.

Marilyn's equally iconic co-stars –– Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, Thelma Ritter –– realize their parts with finesse and feeling. But Monroe stands out in this modern day, psychological western – not for her beauty or glamor –– but for a contemplative strength and tragic emotion the actress seldom revealed on screen.

She seemed to be emerging from her sex-pot shell in her impersonation of a drifting divorcée drawn to a trio of struggling, yet oddly aimless, Nevada ranch hands. Her expressions and mannerisms are natural, at times weighted with a sadness, a tiredness that may not have been acting at all. Whether intentional or not, these facial shots of grief and pain are exquisitely disturbing, as much for their fleshing out Marilyn's personal travail at the time the movie was made as for the mixed-up character she was playing.

Her sensitivity to the plight of the wild horses the ranchers are capturing and killing for illegal profit, is brilliantly well-paced, her anguished dialog in defense of their freedom evocative of larger social issues coming to the fore in the 1960s. The poignant scenes of her outrage at the men's treatment of the horses are in fact seething in their intensity, giving the viewer a tantalizing glimpse of the caliber of talent Marilyn held in reserve, and would likely have expressed to greater acclaim had she lived longer. As it turned out, The Misfits, with all its pathos and desolation, underscored by sweeping desert backdrops, was Monroe's last film. Perhaps unavoidably, it's regarded by many as a metaphor for Marilyn's own professional and private turmoil.

And it may be. But it's also a splendid tribute to the range of her abilities. More than any other movie in which she appeared, the hauntingly heroic, if flawed, tale of The Misfits is the finest, most compellingly honest work Marilyn Monroe ever achieved.

To view "The Misfits" in 2006 turns out to be quite a chilling experience. Prophetically in its "doomness" - personal doomness that is. Arthur Miller writes, unwittingly, his wife's swan song and she sings it with a combination of uppers and downers. Pay attention to Eli Wallach describing Marilyn to Clark Gable. Was that Miller himself being particularly misogynistic or what hell was it? She talks about herself, they all talk about her. She is a hurricane right in the middle of a human storm. Montgomery Clift seems to be talking about himself too. The whole bloody thing is really close to the knuckle. Arid, depressing, slow and yet, riveting, funny, mesmerizing. "The Misfits" should be seen for a variety of reasons but to see Gable and Monroe sharing a black and white screen a short time before their deaths is an experience on itself.

THE MISFITS is a delicate gem of a film, poetic and harsh and as cold as those western stars on the horizon that Gable and Monroe drive toward at film's end. The title refers to the wild mustangs they hunt, but it also describes the 4 main characters, each lost in a world they hardly recognize. At one point Monroe points to a mountain vista and says "it's like a dream." Each of the characters is wounded and lost in some way. Marilyn Monroe plays a divorcée trying to figure out what to do next. Clark Gable plays a cowboy in a vanishing west. Montgomery Clift plays a rancher cheated out of his legacy when his mother remarries. Eli Wallach plays a guy whose life has come to a standstill after the death of his wife. The characters circle each other, trying to make connections, but their timing is always off. Gable and Monroe seem to find something until they go on the mustang hunt.

Gable is magnificent as the aging cowboy who fears "working for wages" as the final sign of giving in to the commonplace and losing the old west. But the old west is, of course, already lost. Most of the action takes place in and around Reno, the perfect symbol for what the west has become. His drunk scene (after he has seen his kids) is astonishing in its pain and ugliness. It's a great performance.

Monroe is stunning and gives a quiet and simple performance that shows what she could have done (had she lived). Leaving her "dumb blonde" persona in the dust, what we get here is Monroe the actress, and she's just plain terrific. Aside from the scene (done in a long shot) where she rages at the men after they have captured the horses, Monroe plays this character very quietly and with lots of small reactions (watch her eyes). It's a great performance.

Clift and Wallach do wonders with their characters and provide a lot of the tension since all three men pursue Monroe. Thelma Ritter is solid as Isabelle. Estelle Winwood has an odd role as the old lady collecting money. James Barton and Kevin McCarthy have small roles.

I think THE MISFITS is a must see for any serious film buff. The film collapsed under the weight of its publicity in 1961 and there was a huge backlash when Gable died within 2 weeks of finishing the film. Yet the film is gorgeous, a shimmering Arthur Miller poem to the worlds and people we've lost.

I still remember when it was reported Clark Gable had had a heart attack shortly after completing The Misfits. It happened just before Election Day because there was a news item and it's mentioned in at least one Gable biography that he voted by absentee ballot in 1960. Shortly after that he died and the world was waiting the birth of his son and his last posthumous film.

No doubt about it Gable does look all of his 59 years in the Misfits. But he's still exudes that gruff animal magnetism that leaves you no doubt as to why Marilyn Monroe was finding him so sexy. It's an interesting and challenging role for Gable, his Gay Langland is a bitter multi-layered character, whose family has deserted him and his way of life is vanishing. All three of the men, Gable, Monty Clift, and Eli Wallach have a deathly fear of working for wages expressed often during The Misfits.

For Monty Clift it's more than fear. He's also bitter about being cheated out of his father's ranch by a stepfather who offers him wages. So he's taken to the rodeo circuit, but he's also past his prime in that dangerous sport.

Eli Wallach starts out as what we think is a deep sensitive portrayal, but as we go along we find there's less than meets the eye. He wants Marilyn Monroe real bad (who wouldn't) and it's clear he's just using some of his best lines in his quest for her.

Marilyn as eastern divorcée to be serves as the group's conscience when they start going after mustangs for dog food manufacturers. Quite illegally of course, but that's part of the challenge for this group. Lots of shots of Marilyn's bulges both front and rear are another good reason to see this film.

Towards the end the wild mustangs on the Nevada desert take over the film from the human actors. They are a kind of doppleganger for this group, they are also misfits with no place in the modern world for them except as canned dog food.

Those roping stunts and Clark Gable being dragged by a horse probably put a strain on his cardiovascular system. It's been written that Marilyn was the cause of his demise. Pure and utter nonsense. I can't believe John Huston the director let him do those scenes. Why wasn't a stunt double used? Marilyn Monroe was one royal pain to work with, what with all of her issues, but that surely had nothing to do with what happened to Gable.

The Misfits still holds up well after over 40 years. All of the cast can be proud of their work in that film.