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Does anyone else love the film "The Misfits", starring Gable and Marilyn Monroe? It was released in 1961 and it is both of their last films--Gable worked himself to death on the film, doing his own, intense stunts at age 59 after years of abusing his body--and Monroe died in 1962 before she could star in another film.
Monroe, as some might know, ADORED Gable while she was growing up. She went so far as to wish that he was actually her father, or that she'd someday marry him. She tried to seduce him during the filming; some say she was successful, others claim she wasn't. She did say she tried harder to seduce him than she did ANY other man. She was his number one fan girl when she was growing up.
It's a dark film, thematically, and cinematography speaking, shot in black in white well into the era of color, but ultimately I think it's Gable's best film--and he thought so too upon viewing a screening of it, at least he felt his acting was his best--and Monroe is at her best here. She always wanted to be taken seriously as an actress, as a performer and professional, and this was her real big first step in that direction. She was tired of just being seen as ditzy, sexy, pretty girl Marilyn. She wanted more, and this film was a promising start at it.
In a lot of ways, it's a film which really bridges the Golden Era with the new era of the 1960s, as Gable was arguably THE cinematic icon of the 1930s and thus the heart of the Golden Era, just as Monroe was arguably THE icon of the (pre-Beatles) 1960s. It's two very different generations and cultures colliding together in one film. This is Gable in 1960; The post War age; the Cold War era; the era of the poetic, irreverent, risque deep, Beatniks, leather wearing and knife wielding Greasers and Rock N' Roll, of moral panics over juvenile deliquency and the beginnings of fears of moral decline in America. Across the pond they call the Atlantic, four British youths were forming a band they named the Beatles and honing their craft. Doo Wop, Soul and R&B dominated the airwaves, replacing the swing of the Big Bands whose music gave sound and spirit to the images and memories of the Golden Era.
The raw, hip thrusting sexuality of Elvis simultaneously enraptured and outraged Americans. The age of stars such as Brando, Dean, Heston and the like had just begun; The seeds of the later, chaotic, dark and divisive 1960s were being laid here in the last year of Ike. The sense of innocence, of decency, and the generally unified national spirit which colored the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s was rapidly fading away, giving way to something utterly different.
Clarke Gable when this film was made was something of a cultural anachronism, an iconic star nearing 60, still donning his famous pencil mustache, playing a worn out, weary and lonely Cowboy; starring alongside a beautiful, sexy, troubled young woman who named Marilyn Monroe. Monroe played a character who was much like herself--at the end of her marriage, restless but lost in spirit. Filming the movie was horrid; Gable got bored during long waits and decided in his boredom to chain smoke and perform his own stunts, which resulted in what would be a fatal heart attack just two days after filming ended; Monroe's marriage collapsed and she had to spend time in rehab centers, stalling filming; She often arrived late to set, upset. Yet out of that turmoil came a beautiful picture.
In the public perception's, Marilyn Monroe represented as much to the late '50s and early 1960s as Clark Gable did to the 1930s and 1940s. She represented what seemed like the future--The space age, a new sensual openness, the glitter and glamor of the Kennedy years, the age of "Camelot"--The gleaming, just beyond the horizon vision of perhaps a new Golden Era. A new age of women; A new era of womanhood. A new era for America--a new vision, just like the 1930s had been.
That vision or dream of a bright, America can do anything future was symbolically shattered by an assassination's bullet in 1963 and by four British youths with long hair landing on America's shores in 1964--Two events which neither Gable nor Monroe, icons of two very different yet in spirit similar eras, lived to see. 1960 was very much removed culturally from 1969; Yet 1960 was not so much removed from 1939.
In a lot of ways, The Misfits is a film which represents the last gasp of the Golden Era cinematically; An icon of the New Deal era and an icon of the short lived dream of the New Frontier coming together for a brief moment. When Gable and Monroe died, so did a large part of the Golden Era and any chance of a new one beginning. And with the death of the Golden Era, a modern, less tasteful, less intellectual, less respectful culture emerged...And we were plunged into the darkness of the Hippie era, a shadow from which we've yet to truly escape.
I recommend this film to any fans of Clark Gable; to any fans of Norma Jeane; to any fans of Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach, who also co-star in it; to any classic movie fans; and anyone who enjoys great cinema in general. I don't think you'll regret watching it.
Monroe, as some might know, ADORED Gable while she was growing up. She went so far as to wish that he was actually her father, or that she'd someday marry him. She tried to seduce him during the filming; some say she was successful, others claim she wasn't. She did say she tried harder to seduce him than she did ANY other man. She was his number one fan girl when she was growing up.
It's a dark film, thematically, and cinematography speaking, shot in black in white well into the era of color, but ultimately I think it's Gable's best film--and he thought so too upon viewing a screening of it, at least he felt his acting was his best--and Monroe is at her best here. She always wanted to be taken seriously as an actress, as a performer and professional, and this was her real big first step in that direction. She was tired of just being seen as ditzy, sexy, pretty girl Marilyn. She wanted more, and this film was a promising start at it.
In a lot of ways, it's a film which really bridges the Golden Era with the new era of the 1960s, as Gable was arguably THE cinematic icon of the 1930s and thus the heart of the Golden Era, just as Monroe was arguably THE icon of the (pre-Beatles) 1960s. It's two very different generations and cultures colliding together in one film. This is Gable in 1960; The post War age; the Cold War era; the era of the poetic, irreverent, risque deep, Beatniks, leather wearing and knife wielding Greasers and Rock N' Roll, of moral panics over juvenile deliquency and the beginnings of fears of moral decline in America. Across the pond they call the Atlantic, four British youths were forming a band they named the Beatles and honing their craft. Doo Wop, Soul and R&B dominated the airwaves, replacing the swing of the Big Bands whose music gave sound and spirit to the images and memories of the Golden Era.
The raw, hip thrusting sexuality of Elvis simultaneously enraptured and outraged Americans. The age of stars such as Brando, Dean, Heston and the like had just begun; The seeds of the later, chaotic, dark and divisive 1960s were being laid here in the last year of Ike. The sense of innocence, of decency, and the generally unified national spirit which colored the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s was rapidly fading away, giving way to something utterly different.
Clarke Gable when this film was made was something of a cultural anachronism, an iconic star nearing 60, still donning his famous pencil mustache, playing a worn out, weary and lonely Cowboy; starring alongside a beautiful, sexy, troubled young woman who named Marilyn Monroe. Monroe played a character who was much like herself--at the end of her marriage, restless but lost in spirit. Filming the movie was horrid; Gable got bored during long waits and decided in his boredom to chain smoke and perform his own stunts, which resulted in what would be a fatal heart attack just two days after filming ended; Monroe's marriage collapsed and she had to spend time in rehab centers, stalling filming; She often arrived late to set, upset. Yet out of that turmoil came a beautiful picture.
In the public perception's, Marilyn Monroe represented as much to the late '50s and early 1960s as Clark Gable did to the 1930s and 1940s. She represented what seemed like the future--The space age, a new sensual openness, the glitter and glamor of the Kennedy years, the age of "Camelot"--The gleaming, just beyond the horizon vision of perhaps a new Golden Era. A new age of women; A new era of womanhood. A new era for America--a new vision, just like the 1930s had been.
That vision or dream of a bright, America can do anything future was symbolically shattered by an assassination's bullet in 1963 and by four British youths with long hair landing on America's shores in 1964--Two events which neither Gable nor Monroe, icons of two very different yet in spirit similar eras, lived to see. 1960 was very much removed culturally from 1969; Yet 1960 was not so much removed from 1939.
In a lot of ways, The Misfits is a film which represents the last gasp of the Golden Era cinematically; An icon of the New Deal era and an icon of the short lived dream of the New Frontier coming together for a brief moment. When Gable and Monroe died, so did a large part of the Golden Era and any chance of a new one beginning. And with the death of the Golden Era, a modern, less tasteful, less intellectual, less respectful culture emerged...And we were plunged into the darkness of the Hippie era, a shadow from which we've yet to truly escape.
I recommend this film to any fans of Clark Gable; to any fans of Norma Jeane; to any fans of Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach, who also co-star in it; to any classic movie fans; and anyone who enjoys great cinema in general. I don't think you'll regret watching it.
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AND to see the Last Hurrah of a few legends.
