A Brilliant Conflict

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Spoilers. Observations. Opinions.Smashing. Totally wonderful. Human tragedy. Black and white wonder.Marilyn is an animal lover, whose philosophies predate the later great emphasis on animal rights. She doesn't want the wild mustangs hunted down, and Gable, Wallach and Clift are determined to do so. Forward to the final confrontation with these beautiful animals. I was thinking that the big stallion would kill all three men. No such luck.Misfits. People who don't fit in anywhere, but put together by life's coincidental circumstances. All devoid of spouses. Thelma Ritter and husband had split up for vague, to me, reasons. Marilyn, same, opposite the few seconds scene of Kevin McCarthy. Gable no spouse. Wallach widower whose wife had passed away because his car broke down and he couldn't get to the doctor, way out in the sticks of Nevada. What an idiot. Clift a mama's boy who didn't get his widdle inheritance. Boo-hoo, and never had a wife.Reno is stereotypically known as that famous mecca where unsuccessful marriages end. Ritter's house looks to be a hotel for visiting divorce candidates. Looks like there are bars and other businesses catering to the needs, and pocketbooks, of these traveling unfortunates.Did any of the men have an education? They had no professions. Their lives had become desperate searches for wild animals to be turned into pet food, and they spent their wasted days in this pursuit. They didn't want to work "for wages". They didn't want to be factory workers, or even Mr. Everyday American 9-to-5 clock-punchers.Marilyn had taught dancing before her marriage. Dancing in a cooch palace. Clift: "I was in a night club once." Marilyn's character was no Ginger Rogers or Isadora Duncan. Drunken Marilyn dances right into a huge tree, hugging it instead of the husband she dumped.The mustangs were over-hunted and almost extinct. Were their highly-numbered ancestors the mounts of the fabled Native American tribes who formerly occupied those mountains? One population was quickly dwindling, and the other seemed to have totally disappeared.Monroe was ill during shooting. She looked lovely, however. Gable was between illnesses, and had just spent some time crash dieting. His heart was soon to give out permanently, however. He was the real thing being pulled by the mustang over the desert, via rope. I feel that that was way too much punishment for his heart. I am a recent emergency heart surgery patient, and believe me I know the risks for further coronary damage.Witness the three "The Method" acting representations: Monroe, Wallach, Clift. They all studied, and were students in, classes providing this style of dramatic acting. I, too, as an actress, have studied The Method, and we have coursework in exercises in expressions of several emotions such as fear, happiness, hot, cold, memories, sick, drunk, etc. I feel that these three famous thespians all essayed their roles well. Monroe described her lonely life (real life). Wallach saw his late wife in his mind's eye. Clift on the phone: you could really see Mama on the other end of his whiny conversation.Gable wasn't a Method actor, but in his berserk scene in front of the bar you could see the next heart attack coming. He went crazy in his emoting, and should have collapsed on the set then and there. He had a wife and unborn child to support, so he had to collect that paycheck. I wonder why any doctor ever let him on the set. It was way too dangerous. The outside temperature was way over 100 degrees, and disastrous for someone with his medical history. He was 59, but looked 75. Frankly, my dear, use your brains. Retire before "the business" gets YOU. Obviously, that didn't happen. After a first heart attack and severe abuse to his body, he made this film.You've got to credit Gable with working literally to the end of his life. He wasn't like some current day retired actors who haven't made a picture in forty years. He has a ton of film credits to his name.An essay on Gable: Gable was from our state, in a rural area. He didn't come from an educated family. They were laborers. It is a blue collar area. I have visited his birth home, and taken its tour. Clark got out of the area when he had the wanderlust enough; Appalachia, anyone? He found a way older wife, and she paid for his entrée into theatre and Hollywood. She became his manager, and propelled him into what became the big time. Not bad for a big-eared kid from the sticks.I am a film critic and theatrical historian. I have studied Method acting, film censorship, singing, dance, mime and theatrical/cinematic history.

This movie is about freedom of humans and animals. The 3 men(Gay, Guido, and Perce) who hook up with recently-divorced Roslyn(Marilyn Monroe) are cowboys and mustang runners in this scrub country. This story emphasizes the latter role. They've been hunting mustangs for years, but their numbers have greatly diminished in recent years.(It's estimated there are currently only about 1% of the numbers in the early 20th century.)To Roslyn's mind, mustangs are symbolic of wild animals in general. Thus, we have a group of men who consider themselves free, with minimal property and family, not bound by a wage job, free to decide how much they want to work to earn money, making their living largely by hunting feral mustangs. They think nothing of the primary use of these dead horses as dog food. This lifestyle clashes mightily with Roslyn's philosophy that any rough treatment of animals or humans is immoral. She recommends that rodeos be abolished because of the stress it causes the animals and frequent injuries to the participants, including Perce. The cowboys look upon this philosophy as a silly unreal attitude toward life's necessities. "Nothing can live unless something else dies" says Gabe. "I do this because I want to be a free man. That's why you like me, isn't it, Honey? A kind man can still kill." "Honey, we all gotta die sometime. A man who's afraid to do is afraid to live"The men proceed to roundup a small herd of mustangs, chasing them down with a truck, lassoing them, with a tire on the end to tire them into submission. Then, they are bound up, to wait for the buyer to come and kill them. Roslyn goes berserk, screaming that they are cold-blooded killers. Perce asks her if she wants him to set them free? She says that would only start a fight. But, eventually, Perce does just that. Gay, at great risk to his body, recaptures one after a long struggle. Then, incredulously, frees it, he saying he just didn't want others making up his mind for him. In effect, he's saying: it's time to give up this life. That's what Roslyn wants and if I hope to keep her, I have to give up killing animals, and hopefully find some other line of work where I can be my own boss. Roslyn doesn't complain about all the domestic animals that have died to provide meat for her table, unless she is a strict vegetarian. She doesn't think about overpopulation of wild animals as being a problem for the animals as well as humans, since men have killed off most or all of the natural predators. She doesn't think about what people are going to eat, if they live where only grasses and shrubs can grow.Clark Gable played Gabe, Montgomery Clift played Perce, and Eli Wallach played Guido, who was primarily the mechanic, pilot and driver of the group. All did an excellent job of acting.The movies Monte Walsh(1970 and 2003)are about the symbolic last cowboy of the open range, stubbornly refusing to give up his way of life as a wandering cowboy for hire.

When I see old Hollywood films that are supposed to be "the best," I tend to agree they are better than the usual Hollywood fare. But to say The Misfits is a great film would be misleading. It seems like an American attempt to be French, except the French can pull it off and Americans can't somehow, or at least couldn't in this case. Arthur Miller's preachy dialog and monologues are just hitting you over the head. The allegories, parallels, metaphors, symbols... are all too obvious, to the point of being annoying and making you roll your eyes. Monroe's acting is mediocre, though she is fascinating to watch. Wallach and Clift do a good job in general. Thelma Ritter, I would be brave enough to say, is the best actor in the film! Gable is just a caricature of a cowboy (and himself). Clift's and Monroe's ongoing substance abuse issues show through, which probably "helps" their acting, since they are supposed to be drunk throughout most of the film. The drastic character changes, especially for Gable's character, seem extremely forced. And of course, this being Hollywood and not a good French film, there is a happy ending! What?!?! No way should this film have a happy ending! But it does, go figure...Perhaps the most captivating scenes are when the men and Monroe go out mustanging (catching wild horses). These scenes with the horses, the struggle between man and nature, the struggle to make a living vs. being kind at the face of losing manliness and income... They are impressive and memorable. The film in the second half seems like an advertisement for PETA, Monroe being extremely upset at the men who are capturing the wild horses.I'd say watch it, if you must cover the "important" oldies or if you are a die hard fan of Monroe, Clift, Gable et al. But otherwise, those are 2 hours of your life you'll never get back...

A wonderful film, featuring three actors at their peak, two who would be dead within a year and the other loosing his sight. To be honest the performances must be as much down to John Huston as to the individuals for he seems to have every second of this film under his control and we spend the whole of the first half smiling and the second half wincing. Monroe is a joy throughout and the guys understandably in awe but the carelessness and happiness of the first half gives way to a much more realistic and harder edged drama when we get out into the hills. Huston is as happy and successful filming tightly in the early interior scenes and a delightful legs only dance close-up, as he is with the wider landscapes later on. Magnificent!