As a result of “The Misfits” options Marilyn Monroe’s last work as a display screen performer, it carries a sure tragic weight, not helped by the actress’ well being points and barbiturate dependancy. And, as written by husband Arthur Miller, the film makes her acquainted character sort much more fragile by shoving it right into a hard-edged world of robust and bitter males. Whereas a film like Howard Hawks’ star-making “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” would lean into the comedian nature of her persona, “The Misfits” insists on heavy drama.
In keeping with Sarah Churchwell’s “The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe,” Miller primarily based the screenplay on an unique story entitled “Please Do not Kill Something,” a mirrored image of his spouse’s emotions in direction of violence. As if to mirror that, Roslyn (Monroe) is a divorcee in her mid-30s, one with an nearly childlike adoration of the pure world and the boys she meets.
She’s naive too, gleefully dancing within the sundown whereas down-on-their-luck cowboy Gaylord (Clark Gable) and trucker Guido (Eli Wallach) leer. Many occasions all through the film, males hungrily watch her, and John Huston’s digital camera does the identical. The plot issues those self same males wrangling stunning wild mustangs with the intention of promoting them to be made into pet food.
Miller’s insistence on writing the function of Roslyn for Monroe suggests a sure condescension in direction of her, taking part in into and deconstructing the baby-voice sexuality that had develop into so iconic. As he wrote in his memoir “Timebends: A Life,” he felt he was setting up a “present for her.” Whereas she starred in Billy Wilder’s “Some Like It Hot,” Huston fashioned an distinctive solid round her, together with Gable, Wallach, and Montgomery Clift.
