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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 7695
Released: June 19, 2001 |
| Our Price: $3.20 |
| Used Price: $3.09 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Expertly directed by John Huston (The Maltese Falcon) from a screenplay by Pulitzer Prize winner Arthur Miller, The Misfits is a probing, exciting drama (The Film Daily) of honesty, intensity and sheer poetic brilliance. Divorced and disillusioned, Roslyn Tabor (Marilyn Monroe) befriends a group of misfits, including an aging cowboy (Clark Gable), a heartbroken mechanic (Eli Wallach) and a worn-out rodeo rider (Montgomery Clift). Through their live-for-the-moment lifestyle, Roslyn experiences her first taste of freedom, exhilaration and passion. But when her innocent idealism clashes with their hard-edged practicality, Roslyn must risk losing their friendship...and the only true love she's ever known.
Description of The Misfits:
It was the last roundup for Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, who gave their final performances in this melancholy modern Western. Arthur Miller wrote the script (some say overwrote) as a contemplation of his then-wife, Monroe, and set the piece in the half-world of Reno, Nevada. The dangers of this kind of meta-fictional approach are not entirely avoided, but the clean, clear-eyed direction of John Huston keeps the film grounded. And then there are the people: Gable a warrior past his time, Monroe overwhelmed by the world and its attentions, Montgomery Clift visibly broken in pieces, Eli Wallach a postwar neurotic. If the encroaching mortality of Gable, Monroe, and Clift weren't enough, the stark photography and Alex North's score confirm this as a film about loss. It may have its problems, but seen at a distance of many years, The Misfits scatters its tender mercies with an aching beauty. --Robert Horton
The Misfits Reviews:
Misfit title 
2008-06-02 - I have never seen Monroe's movie before. After reading "Blonde" by Joyce Carol Oates, I decided to buy this and several other Monroe DVD's. This was the first one I saw. Wow, what a beautiful actress! She makes today's actresses pale in comparison. You can tell Authur Miller wrote this screenplay with a lot of love to his beautiful wife. It was well casted; however, I disagree with the title. I don't think any of them were misfits. They just don't know what they want out of life - confused maybe, but not misfits. The chase scene with the horses was amazing. Director John Houston was a genius! I think Gable played a memorable role here, more so than in "Gone with the Wind", but that's just my opinion. The reason why I gave the movie a 4 star rather than a 5 star is 1) the title (which I didn't think fit the movie) and 2) the ending (which I thought was corny.) Overall, a great classic movie. It's a shame this was the last movie for both Monroe and Gable.
Just this very afternoon, I saw on the news that an extra on this movie had taken a home video on the set. His family is now auctioning off this footage.
One Of The Great Movies 
2008-04-06 - Marilyn Monroe and Gable at their best in a screenplay by Arthur Miller and direction by John Huston. Montgomery Clift, Thelma Ritter, and Eli Wallach at the height of their craft. Some epic Miller lines like Wallach saying he was blind bombardier in the war, killing people he never saw, and Monroe saying that if she was going to be alone, she would be by herself. A movie worth watching every year or two.
James and Peggy Barton are great in this!
2008-03-02 - James Barton and Peggy Barton are just fabulous in this film. I'm not sure if they're brother and sister, or brother and transvestite, but they're just wonderful. I'm not even quite sure who they are in the film, but they sure are terrific. Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable are in the film too, it was the last film either of them made. And Thelma Ritter offers great support, and Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach are excellent too. But I can see why Amazon stresses the contributions of the Bartons. Here's to them!
The end of the west and a new kind of western
2008-02-24 - The Misfits was touted as the next great American movie when it was being made. And why not? It was written by Pulitzer prize play write Arthur Miller for his soon to be ex-wife Marilyn Monroe. It was directed by the already legendary John Huston and stared Icon Hollywood actors Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, and Monroe. For Monroe and Gable it would be there final Film. While received well by the critics at the time it was a box office failure. The average person was not ready for a modern day western that showed the myth of the west was over and those remaining trying to live by its code were just Misfits. Thankfully, over the years the movie has gained a cult classic status that it deserves. The Misfits is a must see for fans of Monroe, Gable, Clift, and/or Huston and for fans of movies and movie history, this movie did herald 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.
Monroe and Gable go out like stars
2008-02-16 - Although there were some things that I really didn't like about this movie.. (especially the rather obvious symbolism in the Miller script..) I found the delivery of these movie giants to be so amazingly good that this will stand in my mind as one of the great movies... Monroe is perhaps at her best here as a really innocent and childish and, indeed, lost woman.. who takes the seemingly sagely advice of a cowboy to get away from it all and spend some time in the country... But what results from this is actually the realization of her former marriage and divorce in rather symbollic terms.. Along the way she meets some interesting characters.. played by Montgomery Clift and Elli Wallach, of course..
The real treat of the film is the acting and the direction... The final scenes of the movie are so beautiful.. some of the greatest images you will ever witness in a john huston film... or any film for that matter...
and as Gable and monroe drive off at the end.. one can only think what a fitting finale for these two great stars of the screen...
