Product description

The Misfits [1961]

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Average customer rating: 4.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 5050070005424
Label : MGM Entertainment
Manufacturer : MGM Entertainment
Publisher : MGM Entertainment
Release date : 2001-11-26
Title : The Misfits [1961]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Parental Guidance
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1961-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 120
Studio : MGM Entertainment
Theatrical releaseDate : 1961-02-01
Number of discs : 1

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-10-07 rating:

"Beats wages, don't it?"
As the story opens, Roslyn (Marilyn Monroe) has just arrived in Reno to get a quickie divorce. She meets Guido (Eli Wallach), a sensitive mechanic and his pal Gay (Clark Gable), an aging cowboy. Both men fall in love with the beautiful, child-like blonde, and she ends up living with Gay in Guido's house. The men take Roslyn out the desert to go "mustangin'," but she's horrified when she learns the purpose of their trip.

This story is about four aimless and rather pathetic people who have nothing to do and no place to do it in. They're just drifting through life and for a short time, they drift together. Gable is outstanding as the rugged old cowpoke who still wants a woman's touch. He takes manly command of every scene and is charisma personified. Wallach's role is less flashy but still powerful and touching. Montgomery Clift plays a rodeo cowboy who's been kicked in the head one too many times. He doesn't get to do much but he's still sweet and likeable. Marilyn is, well, Marilyn, still delivering her lines in that breathy, little-girl voice. Only occasionally does she break through and become a real person; mostly she over-emotes and poses prettily.

Filmed in black and white in a mostly barren desert, the movie is grim and depressing and doesn't let up for a minute. (Animal lovers' note: The "mustangin'" scenes of wild horses being roped and hog-tied are extremely cruel and hard to watch.) I'm glad I got to see Gable and Monroe in their last performances; this is a thoughtful character study of four achingly lonely people.

review by: date: 2008-06-25 rating:

The end of an era...
At the time it was being filmed, The Misfits was supposed to be the next great American film. the screen play was written by Pulitzer prize winning Arthur Miller for his wife Marilyn Monroe. It was directed by the legendary John Huston and stared Iconic Hollywood actors Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, and Monroe. For Monroe and Gable it would be there last film. it was received well by critics when it was released but with the public it was a box office failure. America was not ready for a modern western that showed the myth of the cowboy was over and those remaining trying to live by its code were Misfits. Over the years the movie has attained a cult status. A must see for fans of Monroe, Gable, Clift, and Huston and for fans of movie history. The movie heralded a new era in Hollywood. I also have to Recommend Misfits Country for a dramatic look behind the scenes of the making of this movie---a movie within a movie so to speak.

review by: www.stephennewton.com date: 2007-11-12 rating:

True Classic
Those that don't fit in must be destroyed, might be the moral of this tale, be they wild horses hunted to extinction or old cowboys left over from a simpler, certainly brutal, but perhaps more honest time. The great American adventure is over, the land is won and all must give up their freedom to become wage slaves.

review by: brendoclarke date: 2007-09-03 rating:

Dont believe the hype

This is an almost forgotten "classic" directed by John Houston and starring many famous actors. The script is clunky and the plot is a mess.
Oh, how I wanted to love this movie. It was the last movie for both Gable and Monroe, it was set in the beautiful southwest (Reno), and it was to be a movie about free-spirits finding each other.
The movie started out well, with a great opening scene with Thelma Ritter. Unfortunately, that is the last high point of the movie (apart from the horse chase scene). In addition to accepting the unbelievable romance between sixty year old Gable and 35-year-old Marilyn, we were supposed to feel something for these characters. Not an easy thing to ask of the viewer. Wallach, Clift and Gable played dispicable, drunken losers, and Marilyn was a woman bereft of any capability to recognize it. These were all people that I wouldn't even bother with if I met them on the street. Why am I supposed to care about them in this "classic" movie?
So sad that Gable and Monroe (she spends the movie in a daze) went out on this note. The only value in seeing this movie is purely historical.

review by: date: 2007-02-24 rating:

Time for a Reality Check!!!
Why are the other reviews of this film so glowing? Perhaps because The Misfits is a lesser-known film made by a great director, featuring a stellar cast (two of whom died shortly afterwards) and written by Arthur Miller. People who see the film convince themselves it's great so they can pretend that they have discovered a forgotten classic and impress their friends with their superior knowledge of film. In the real world this is a plodding film about a group of disparate misfits (Gable, Monroe, Clift, Wallach) who end up hunting Mustang horses (who, like their human counterparts, are also misfits). Very profound.

As for the individuals involved: Miller's dialogue excels in places but, in terms of plot, the script is a mess. Huston's direction is good, particularly in the scenes where the horses are chased down and captured. Gable and Wallach both give impressive performances. Clift seems to float through the film in a drunken stupor, which actually fits his character. The real problem here is Monroe. Her performance is simply annoying. She is not sensitive or spiritual but spaced out; apart from one or two moments of clarity she spends the movie in a daze.

The Misfits is not a terrible movie but it is an unremarkable one that is forgotten before you switch off the TV. Many other reviewers have awarded it 4 or even 5 stars (the top rating). I wonder if these people have seen [...] Those films may not be obscure but they are deserving of all the plaudits they receive. The Misfits is not.

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