Must See Movie...

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A damned movie in which all the characters are only concerned to be "worry about what comes next." The actors follow a script but the characters do not. A vague story overexposed by the burning light of the Great Basin that does not fit the dogma of the dramatic structure: round in circles, just like its protagonists. There is no setup, there is no development. The outcome could be any. The characters do not really have anywhere to go. It is not a story in which beauty is concentrated; is the opposite of that. The film tells us precisely about that which only beauty could repair but there is no hope of beauty in its fable. A mantra is repeated throughout the film: "dying is as natural as living". Much more symbolic than narrated, at the beginning we are presented the characters: A pilot, a cowboy, a bullfighter, a dancer, a strange spinster who brags about having witnessed seventy-seven divorces in Reno, all of them having hit at rock bottom. Is not any of them the paradigm of individual freedom? Of total uprooting? When the story is already fading, dying, coming to an end, it continues, in a sense, with the presentation of the characters; One of the many faces of them, each one as misfit as the previous one. Too sure of their limitations: "Do not think you can change anything," clinging desperately to the latest manifestations of beauty. Trying to catch with mature but festive resignation and with lukewarm chaotic enthusiasm the few specks of grace they can generate for themselves. Decadence and tender pathos, "dying at every moment". What's coming next? Is that really the end or is it just a new beginning?

Version I saw: UK Bluray releaseActors: 7/10Plot/script: 8/10Photography/visual style: 7/10Music/score: 6/10Overall: 8/10Screen icons Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable made a film together. By the time it was released, Gable was dead, and Monroe died before completing her next film. If nothing else, that makes The Misfits a curiosity worth investigating.The screenplay is by famed playwright Arthur Miller, so it is unsurprisingly somewhat theatrical, and I can imagine much of the action taking place on a theatre stage. Famed director John Huston adds the cinematic touches, though, to make this very much a visual film.Miller was also married to Monroe, divorcing during the making of the film, and this is where the uncomfortable parallels begin, because Monroe's character Roslyn is herself a divorcée. However, as odd as it is, this must also be considered quite ahead of its time: divorce was much less common in those days, and fault still considered a key pillar in proceedings.Roslyn is shown to be divorced for a reason though. The Misfits revolves around three damaged personalities, in what is an unremittingly bleak work. Montgomery Clift (who also died young) is a thrill-seeking rodeo rider who is so tragically doomed that the repeated foreshadowing of his demise is almost funny. Gable is an old-fashioned cowboy, ill-at-ease with a world which is changing around him and rendering him obsolete. Again, fiction mirrors life here, for Gable's heyday was 20 years previously. However, whereas his character Gay (it stops being funny before too long) refuses to adapt, it seemed to me that Gable was making too much effort to retain his physique into his late 50s, probably contributing to the massive heart attack which ended his life not long after filming.The film itself shows some signs of its age. Attitudes towards drink and women are uncomfortably dated, and some of the treatment of animals required to film the climactic horse wrangling scenes would never be allowed today. On the other hand, some of the shots of Monroe, clearly intended to be very risqué, seem ridiculously tame to the modern eye.The main theme is one of disillusionment, an unwillingness to adapt to a changing world. It's uneasy watching, especially as it asks whether we are the same. Miller's deft handling of the pace and rising sense of doom is a testament to his genius as a playwright, as are the numerous great lines that pepper the dialogue. Monroe has an odd approach to the acting, but this contributes to a performance as strong as anyone's in a cast of very strong performances. Her manic breakdown at the very end, filmed in a long shot against the backdrop of barren desert, is grimly fascinating viewing.Despite the presence of two screen icons and a directing legend though, the one person who comes out of this excellent production with the most credit is Miller.

The last film of both Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable, this near-masterpiece offers a brilliant take on rebels who resist conformity. Written by Arthur Miller (whose marriage to Monroe was by then crumbling) the script is small in scope but large in insinuation. Monroe puts forth her most finely tuned acting performance, as does a closeted Montgomery Clift as the third wheel. Gable, too, helps hold the drama together with his arcing and resonant stylized portrayal of a leading man being pressured into submission. In the backdrop gallop a few dwindling relics of wild mustang, as metaphor of those who struggle to fight the cold mechanics of the establishment.

Great location shot, OK that's about where I end my praise for this film... Sure you have MM who had such a trembling upper lip that looked drug induced, could not tell whether she was up or down or both... Gable and Clift acted so very unnatural, forced, with atypical low confidence... extremely surprised after e3tensive years of experience. Contemptible when she kept teasing the poor pooch with the food treats at the restaurant table, very mean Miller! Found those ass shots and boob fest incessant peeks were just over the top, what a pervert Huston! Think this was a perfect fit of miserable folks except Thelma, of course, who was dropped off after the 3 on 1 deal came to fruition... Knew Arthur was a world renowned author and playwright, but this mess, cmon babe this is utter carp... So disheartening to view this as final film effort for most of the cast and why I see this disaster a "perfits" ensemble piece... RIP