The film begins in a little apartment building in Reno, Nevada. We are introduced to Marilyn Monroe, and her landlord (Thelma Ritter). One day, after appearing in court to finalize her divorce, she meets a smooth-talking rugged cowboy in a bar - none other than Clark Gable. He and his associate, another misfit (Eli Wallach) both fall for her, naturally. After all, it's Marilyn. They let her stay at Wallach's country home for a retreat she longs for.
Gable and Monroe have alot of great scenes together. Right from the start, he puts on the charm. They spend several days together doing nothing but relaxing by a lake. Ahh! Then, the turning point in the relationship comes -- one day, Gable discovers a rabbit gnawing at his vegetable garden. He grabs his rifle and starts to chase it, to Monroe's horror.
"I can't stand to see anything killed" she says. She also can't take rodeos, either, and suffers a nervous breakdown when she sees Gable's old friend (Montgomery Clift) thrown off a bull.
Later in the film, director John Huston shows us some magnificent scenes of the wide open canyon, wild horses running freely. But the men plan to capture and sell the horses in exchange for several hundred dollars. Still in love with Gable, Monroe decides to come along with the group during their round up.
Gable, Clift, and Wallach first chase a group of mares, then they go after the stallion. This sequence can be unpleasant to watch: we see how they all get lassoed, then their legs tied to a tire, anchoring them to the canyon floor where they are to stay through night until they're picked up by the dealer in the morning.
A baby colt is left behind, uncaptured, and we see him going up to his mother, all tied up.
All of this is upsetting to Monroe, who becomes even more horrified when she learns that the horses will eventually become butchered into dog food. As the men debate how much money they will make, Monroe can't take it anymore.
"You're all murderers!" she screams at them, and wants to see them all freed.
The last scene in this film is amazing.
The Clift character does what she wants: he cuts the ropes of the horse's legs. Once freed, the stallion unselfishly runs directly back to the mares tied up on the canyon floor. What an image! This horse displayed more human values and compassion than many people out there in the world today. (Mel Gibson could learn a thing or two from this horse) I saw the horses as representing the desire within us to live freely. And the misfits would be those things in our lives that seek to control us, tying us up.
Once Gable captures the stallion again, he takes out a pen knife and he cuts the horse loose. "Why did you do that?" asks a puzzled Wallach. Gable, giving up, says, "I didn't want anyone making up my mind for me."
Marilyn Monroe is the soul of this film. If there's one film she should have got an Oscar nomination for, it's this one. She is in every scene. There's a bit of John Huston in her character; you just have to watch the movie to see what I mean.
It saddens me to think this was her final film. What's even more bittersweet is that in the movie, one of the characters proposes a toast to her, and says,
"Here's to your life...I hope it goes on forever".
---BEHIND THE SCENES---
In his autobiography, John Huston said she was late on the set almost every day. By that time she was taking pills to help her sleep and in the morning. When the doctor on the set refused to give her any more, she found drugs elsewhere. One day she broke down on the set and was hospitalized for two weeks shutting down production. Huston enjoyed working with Monty as well, but also recalled that he took pills during filming as well, unfortunately. And he wrote that Gable was a great actor to work with, and was very professional about his craft. He always had stories of the old days in the 1930s.
More about Clark Gable from Huston's memoir:
Because I edit as I go along, Clark got to see the first cut of the film, and he was delighted. The picture was way over budget. It would cost about $4,000,000 - and that was a lot of money in those days for a black and white film. Clark said, "Hell, John! If the studio is unhappy about the cost, I'll buy this picture for four million dollars. I think it's the the best thing I've ever done. Now all I want is to see that kid of mine born!" That was on November 4, and he was due to become a father in February. It wasn't meant to be. He suffered a heart attack on November 5 and died less than two weeks later.
Because of Clark's death and the tragedy of seeing Marilyn slowly destroying herself, my memories of The Misfits are mostly melancholy.
