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 | Beautiful Woman | 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:

Many people were shocked by the change in Clark Gable's voice, leading some to question whether he may have had lung cancer at the time of his death.

Goofs:

Continuity: There's an indoor scene in front of a freezer, when a hand appears to make signals to the actors.

Quotes:

Guido: You have the gift for life, Rosylyn. The rest of us, we're just looking for a place to hide and watch it all go by.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Eva Longoria/Korn (#31.6)" (2005)

Everybody's gonna die

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.