No Country for Old Cowboys: Damian and I caught a screening of "The Misfits" at the Quad, as part of a John Huston festival of sorts. I was a massive Marilyn Monroe fan in college -- just as home video made it possible to access just about everything -- so it had been some 40 years since I'd seen the film. I was excited to finally experience it on the "big screen" -- before remembering the theater's screens are smaller than our television! -- and was surprised by how little seemed familiar.
Although it was little-appreciated when it came out in 1961, it's easy to see why it's been reappraised over time, with so many incredible performances and themes to unpack: loneliness, aging, masculinity and the fading mythology of the American West, all embodied by a group of people desperately clinging to their independence while just as desperately trying to connect. (Life may have been imitating art given that Arthur Miller adapted the screenplay from his own short story specifically for then-wife Marilyn, even as their marriage was falling apart during production.)
Bonus points to Thelma Ritter, who steals every scene she's in!
Footnote: Filming wrapped on November 4, 1960, just 12 days before Clark Gable's death; "The Misfits" was released on what would have been his 60th birthday, February 1, 1961, and Marilyn Monroe died 18 months later, making it the final completed film for both stars. For his part, Montgomery Clift would die about five and a half years after the film's release at just 45.
