SYNOPSIS

Roslyn, a newly-divorced showgirl living in Reno, becomes romantically involved with Gay, a ruggedly independent cowboy. Together they move into Gay's isolated ranch house in the desert but their relationship is soon complicated by Gay's business venture with two partners, Guido, a part-time auto mechanic, and Perce, a down-on-his-luck rodeo performer. The three men plan to round up and capture a group of wild mustangs to sell to a dog food manufacturer. Roslyn's opposition to their plan, however, creates a tension within the group that has an unpredictable effect.

Director: John Huston
Producer: Frank E. Taylor
Screenplay: Arthur Miller
Cinematography: Russell Metty
Editing: George Tomasini
Art Direction: Stephen Grimes, William Newberry
Music: Alex North
Cast: Clark Gable (Gay Langland), Marilyn Monroe (Roslyn Taber), Montgomery Clift (Perce Howland), Thelma Ritter (Isabelle Steers), Eli Wallach (Guido), Estelle Winwood (Church Lady), Kevin McCarthy (Raymond Taber), Marietta Tree (Susan)
BW-124m.

Why THE MISFITS is Essential

Although it was a financial failure on its initial release, The Misfits has acquired a special glamour as the last film completed by its two stars, Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. Gable died within weeks of completing the picture, while Monroe died only a year and a half after its release. In addition, Montgomery Clift died five years later. As a result, it is frequently shown in retrospectives and excerpted in documentaries focusing on its stars and has become a television perennial.

The Misfits was a pioneering work in the development of the American Western. It was a more contemporary take on the genre and reflected a bleaker outlook than the simple moral world of the traditional Western. As Miller would write, "Westerns and the West have always been built on a morally balanced world where evil has a recognizable tab -- the black hats -- and evil always loses out in the end. This is that same world, but it's been dragged out of the nineteenth century into today, when the good guy is also part of the problem."

The film's depiction of idealistic losers fits in with director John Huston's key themes, making it an important work in his development as an auteur. In particular it parallels his earlier Western The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and the crime film The Asphalt Jungle (1950), which helped make Monroe a star.

The Misfits was one of the first features packaged by a Hollywood agency. Agent George Chasin represented writer Arthur Miller, Monroe, Gable and producer Frank Taylor.

The Misfits was the first film Huston had shot in the U.S. in over a decade (the previous one was The Red Badge of Courage in 1951), reflecting a deepening in his vision of American life.

by Frank Miller