THE MISFITS: When a Star Dies, the Sky Weeps

I wrote a review for THE MISFITS (1961) about ten years ago. The film still resonates with me fifty years after its release. There was a sweetness, yet a sadness about the whole movie, and death hovered very near all who were in it. Gable, Monroe, and Clift were soon to depart. Eli Wallach was the only one who lived to old age. John Huston was already on oxygen when he directed it. Gable used to kid him that he needed to take better care of himself, then Huston outlived him by more than a decade. Death has its own agenda. There are those who claimed that Gable's heart attack was stress related, from doing too many of his own difficult stunts on the film, and waiting too long and too often in the hot Nevada sun for the always late Marilyn Monroe, and the moody Montgomery Clift.



THE MISFITS (1961)

Director: John Huston

Writer: Arthur Miller

Cinematographer: Russell Metty.
Music: Alex North
Cast:
Clark Gable: Gay Langford

Marilyn Monroe: Roslyn Taber

Montgomery Clift: Perce Howland

Eli Wallach: Guido
Thelma Ritter: Isabelle Steers
Kevin McCarthy: Raymond Taber
Estelle Winwood: Church Lady
James Barton: Drunken Grandfather



WHEN A STAR DIES, THE SKY WEEPS

THE MISFITS (1961)


1.
Director John Huston had the vision,
and his images were taunt, stark,
choked in white dust, and bathed
in high desert darkness.
Arthur Miller wrote the screenplay,
possibly as a birthday present
for his wife, Marilyn Monroe;
a panegyric valentine to salve the pain
of her recent miscarriage. Regardless,
Miller wrote a powerful tale,
something trancendent.
He was out to slay the myth
of the macho western;
creating three male characters named
Gay, Guido, and Percy; men that bonded,
and held their fears at arm's length.
These men feared commitment,
and they cherished their freedom
at the sacrifice of everything
and everyone in their wake.

2.
Nevada's high desert landscape
was treated like another character,
and filmed like one. We are haunted
by images of the horse hunt.
A creaky biplane herding them down
out of the canyons, and pushing them
out onto the salt flats,
where the men and ropes waited.

3.
Short stocky spirited mustangs,
desert horses, galloping hard,
breathing their last few gasps
of freedom before the men
captured them,
tied them down to old truck tires;
preparing them for their final journey
to the slaughter house,
ending up as food for poodles
and bull dogs.

4.
The metaphors and symbols intertwine,
men and mustangs, freedom, isolation,
loneliness, and desperation.
But the sadness permeating the characters
within the story, was beautifully balanced
out with the gentle stirrings of love.
That slim chance that Gay and Roselyn
will have a healthy relationship.
We want it to happen.
We hope it will happen,
even though we fear
that these character might backslide
and pull apart.

5.
The fade out is very upbeat;
a warm breath expelled
with heads tilted up,
still searching for truth
amongst the stars
in a clear desert night sky.

Glenn Buttkus