The Rewind Movie Podcast

We’re travelling back to the fading embers of the Hollywood Golden Age with John Huston’s 1961 elegiac lament The Misfits, written by legendary playwright Arthur Miller for his then-wife Marilyn Monroe, who stars alongside “The King of Hollywood” Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach and Thelma Ritter.

Monroe stars as Roslyn, a recent divorcee who finds herself unmoored in Reno, Nevada and drifting in to the orbit of aging cowboy charmer Gay (Gable) and temperamental mechanic/pilot Guido (Wallach). The triangle becomes an unsteady rhombus when they pick up punch-drunk rodeo rider Perce (Clift), and head out into the wilderness outside of the city to hunt for mustang. A monochrome, melancholy mood piece, it was a financial flop on its release, and several of its stars and creative team held the film in disregard, while others considered it among their best work.

A film marked by tragedy, this features the final completed performances of both Monroe and Gable, who sadly died only days after filming concluded, and also marked one of Clift’s final films. Dissolving marriages, dependencies on drugs and alcohol, and fractious tempers marked a tortuous shoot, but one that resulted in a film that this episode’s film picker Devlin holds a great deal of affection for. Will first-time viewers Gali and Matt, and 2nd time viewer Patrick, share his enthusiasm, or will it all be too sad to bear?

Outro Song - '"Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" (1975) by Ed Bruce

If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future episodes you can contact us on Twitter @rewindmoviepodcast or @galithegreek

(Gali), (@quilllicker (Devlin), (@PatrickWaggett (Patrick) and @mdridley (Matt), and join our Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/rewindmoviecast/ or email us at [email protected]

Thank you for listening and if you like the show please press that subscribe button and leave us a little review, MANY THANKS!!!

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.