Review of The Misfits (1961) by Brian S — 20 Aug 2011

The last movie of both Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable, but they go out in a blaze of glory. The Misfits is a moody and intellectual drama about love, morality and the lost days of the west.

Written by the the talented but prickish, Arthur Miller, The Misfits stars a batch of Hollywood legends like Monroe, Gable, Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach. It's about a young woman named Roslyn who just divorced her abusive husband and is out to find herself. She runs into the handsome, Gay Langland, and his friend (I can't believe it's Tuco) Guido, and they offer that she lives with them on their ranch for a while, and she accepts. Though Gay is a true blue cowboy, he finds morality and other philosophical discussions with Roslyn as they live in a world that's not the same. What made this movie short of a masterpiece is it's negative writing, frankly. Miller's characters seem to talk and complain to no end like a Tennessee Williams play with very few genuine good movie moments. But what makes this movie GREAT is the performances from the cast. Marilyn plays the lost and suductive role that she can only do perfectly, and Montgomery Clift is especially great. But I love my Clark Gable whos character is torn between being kind and being strong like a true cowboy.

John Huston directs this film just fine. The way he directs the actors and follows their motions is very classy, but unique too. There are surely some great camera angles and positions in this movie. The cinematography on the other hand is only great most of the time. The one part that just throws me off is when they show a shot of the stary sky to show it's night time, but it's obvious they filmed during the day. They could have used a stronger filter for that whole scene. But I love the horse rangling scene. Impressivly filmed, and the climax was paced very well. But most of the movie seemed like it was hard for Huston to direct, being a screenwriter himself, but now being restricted by Arthur Miller's attempt on screenwriting.

It may be really moody and pretentious, but The Misfits is a nice character driven drama that is incredibly performed by the cast, and for some it is a great send-off performance.