Gli spostati

This movie is about despair. Despair at the passing of a way of life. Despair at disappointed hopes and dreams. Despair at the loss of a loved one, either through death, divorce or disinterest. Knowing that going in and if you don't mind downbeat films there are some really moving performances from a cast full of legends.

Heavy with gloom there is still much too admire though Miller's prose is at times heavy and tending towards pretension. Marilyn's woozy sexuality coming through a haze of pills and booze at times still suits her character's searching and displaced loneliness.

Clark Gable accepted his part after first choice Robert Mitchum passed. Mitchum would have been great of course and publicly stated he regretted not taking the role since he and Marilyn were longtime friends, before both were famous he had worked with her first husband, and he felt that around him she would have been able to pull herself together as she had on River of No Return. This was the end of the line for Gable and his weathered appearance and weariness actually suits the role better than Mitchum's ruggedness would have at that point. The film contains some of the best acting Clark ever did.

Clift and his sad broken looks make a powerful impact and Wallach scores well too but the great Thelma Ritter is somewhat shortchanged since she disappears about halfway through the picture. Her astringent tartness would have been most welcome later in the film when the real heavy going takes place.

The first hour and a half of this two-hour film is mighty slow going. It's mostly exposition, back-story, some of which could have been edited out. The plot rambles and meanders. There is a lot of glib talk, a lot of filler. The cameraman seems to be asleep. The characters themselves are dispirited, drifting emotionally, buffeted by the storms of life. They whine a lot. Booze helps them cope. The film score is sad, sentimental, and sounds like it was borrowed from a Douglas Sirk melodrama.

Then, as the film enters its final thirty minutes, things change. The pace quickens. The dialogue subsides somewhat. The cameraman wakes up. Drama and tension escalate. The most memorable scenes occur in this final Act, on the bleak, empty salt flats, where the characters confront a herd of wild horses, which in turn forces the characters to confront their own inner wildness. Here at the finale, the B&W visuals transcend human effort. The simple dialogue soars to eloquence. "How do you find your way back in the dark?", asks Marilyn Monroe's character. Comes the response: "Just head for that big star, straight on". Cut to a shot of the vast empty landscape on a clear night, with eyes looking upward, an intuition of eternity.

How ironic these last scenes are. Back in 1960 no one could have known that the film's powerful ending would symbolize such a prescient real-life ending to the careers of two Hollywood legends.

I've always wanted to see this movie because of the legendary actors associated with it and yesterday I finally rented it. I can't say it is an entertaining movie, but it is certainly profound and stays with you.

Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift were all wonderful. There is something extra poignant about the casting of these three actors. It is like "misfits" playing misfits. Knowing that it is Clark Gable's and Marilyn Monroe's last film added to the aura of finality at the end. Marilyn Monroe definitely does not get the credit she deserves as the fine actress she was. Even her character is trying to get beyond the external first impression she makes on men.

It is the first film I've seen of Montgomery Clift's. What a fine actor! He brought enormous depth to his character--much of which was portrayed without speaking.

Once again, if you're looking for an entertaining film, you may be disappointed. If you're looking for an interesting blend of characters who, in many ways, are mirrors of the actors playing them, then rent the Misfits. It is packed with stars but not with glitzy star quality, just no-holds-barred, uninhibited acting.

"The Misfits" is literally about four people who don't fit into society… A divorcée (Monroe) meets cowboy Langland (Gable), who is getting too old for his job… They decide to live together… A former rodeo star (Clift) and an unemployed mechanic (Wallach) join in the drifting…

Huston's masculine images are stripped of their former glory, existing only one rough exterior which fails to conceal what has been lost… Eventually the men agree to round up wild mustangs for a dog food manufacturer…

Scenes of the trio and Monroe speeding across the prairie in a beaten-up truck, raising a hurricane of dust while attempting to rope the stallions, are the strongest evocations of lost souls wandering in time…

Huston's film established Marilyn Monroe as a dramatic sensuous actress, thus liberating her from a decade of steamy cheesecake roles in sexy comedies

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.