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| The Misfits | 
 enlarge | Actors: James Barton, Peggy Barton, Rex Bell, Ryall Bowker, Montgomery Clift
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $2.86
You Save: $7.12 (71%)
New (44) Used (41) Collectible (3) from $1.61
Avg. Customer Rating:  71 reviews
Sales Rank: 10609
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dvd-video, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 124
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: D1002063D
ISBN: 0792850130
UPC: 027616862938
EAN: 9780792850137
ASIN: B00005AUKC
Theatrical Release Date: February 1, 1961
Release Date: June 19, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: ******BRAND NEW****** ** Over 1.5 million orders shipped worldwide and more than 500 000 items in stock, BUY FROM A TRUSTED SOURCE, ESTABLISHED SINCE 1998 - INETVIDEO ~~~
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| Customer Reviews:
 Monroe and Gable go out like stars February 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Although there were some things that I really didn't like about this movie.. (especially the rather obvious symbolism in the Miller script..) I found the delivery of these movie giants to be so amazingly good that this will stand in my mind as one of the great movies... Monroe is perhaps at her best here as a really innocent and childish and, indeed, lost woman.. who takes the seemingly sagely advice of a cowboy to get away from it all and spend some time in the country... But what results from this is actually the realization of her former marriage and divorce in rather symbollic terms.. Along the way she meets some interesting characters.. played by Montgomery Clift and Elli Wallach, of course..
The real treat of the film is the acting and the direction... The final scenes of the movie are so beautiful.. some of the greatest images you will ever witness in a john huston film... or any film for that matter...
and as Gable and monroe drive off at the end.. one can only think what a fitting finale for these two great stars of the screen...
i really liked it! Thelma Ritter and Monty Clift shine July 21, 2007
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
this is a nice, little movie. MM is neurotic, highly inquisitive, and sad. Ritter is sassy, funny, confident, and flirty. clift is energetic, kind, drunk, and touching. gable is lively, loud, tough, down too earth, a real man's man. eli wallach is kind of vindictive, smart, in love with MM's character, and likes his own way. by no means is this Oscar worthy or "the ultimate motion picture" as it was heralded in its day. it is just too simplistic for that. it is simple b/c the plot/storyline is not deep: monroe is a lost, depressed and heartbroken divorcee who needs a retreat and is talked into it by Gable and Wallach. she hangs out with them all they way to their catching of the mustang horses. she argues and fights with them to let them go, and eventually gable and clift do, to the behest of wallach. i guess the movie's very interesting too b/c there was so much "star power": gable, clift, monroe, and written by the great Miller. now that you know the plot, it's more important to know the performances; thats the best this movie has to offer. in my initial watching of this i did not like Marilyn in it even though i am a huge fan. she seemed so sad and cranky. and i guess i'm annoyed of people who act like that. but after watching it a few more times, i came to realize that i had to accept that this was essential for her character. it was just at first it was a shock but i got over it. i think MM gave an excellent performance. really great. this lady has talent for comedy or drama. Now Thelma Ritter who i was, and still am unfamiliar with, absolutely shines. she should have at least been nominated for an Oscar. she is hillarious and her performance is so real. Monty Clift I was only a bit familar with, but after seeing his performance in this I am definitely interested in him. he is a great actor. he commands the screen. i think his is my fave in this (and MM is tough to beat!) i love the scene on the way to his rodeo match where he's drunkingly hailing his rodeo pals; he says to mm, gable, ritter, and wallach, "look! over there's bob! (i can't remember the name), boy does he hate his wife!" then he shouts to the guy "hey bob, how's your wife?!" it might not seem so funny, but they way he says it and acts it really cracks you up. another joke is "i went to a club once called the Naked Truth.....and boy they weren't lying!!" it's this kind of humor that makes The Misfits a good movie. and it was surprising b/c Arthur Miller is so serious, and not known for laughy but his writing shows he has a great sense of humor. i think Miller's script and dialogue is excellent. MM looks absolutely beautiful in this. i was really surprised that despite of all the drugs and alcohol she is very pretty. i highly reccomend this movie; it won't change your life, but you might learn a thing or 2, and it will definitely entertain you, and if you are fans of any of the actors you should get it even more. mostly get it to watch Ritter and Clift's performances.
The triumph of the feminine July 8, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Superb in every sense, this film is a masterpiece, growing better with distance from the actual life dramas of the actors who perform so well here.
I rate this film as a five star film based on the outstanding performances of the cast, the steady minimal visual foundation developed by the director, the penetrating script, and the fascinating message or theme of the film.
Monroe is super as the fragile, feminine, idealistic Roslyn Tabor. We learn that her sensitive soft nature has had multiple blows in the world of male dominated reality. Yet she holds her ground. She holds it so well that she becomes the transformative figure in the lives of three men. Gable gets an A plus for this performance of the aged knight, weary from the battle but so familiar with the rules of the game that he is somewhat reluctant to begin a game with new rules. Roslyn offers a completely new game in which he is not in control, a challenge he eventually accepts. Montgomery Cliff plays Perce Howland, a young broken man. He is broken in heart and spirit engaged in a rough trade of rodeo work that breaks his body to match his soul. Eli Wallach plays Guido, that thinks he can move toward meaning in his life if he possesses the girl rather than transforming his life by incorperating the femine principle into his existence. Thelma Ritter is super as Isabell Steers, a character that has learned how to limit her expectations and to even celebrate defeats.
John Houston uses stark minimal sets which help focus the attention onto the actors and their interactions and struggles. The narrative and visual flow are excellent and coordinated with high impact. Arthur Miller's script is under appreciated in my opinion. It is an actor's delight to have such intense and insightful poetic language, made even more interesting coming from human misfits in the desert.
Miller taps into a theme of great psychological importance in this film, which is the transfoming of the masculine by the feminine. Monroe plays this perfectly as her beauty which is sometimes her curse, is a blessing for those men who try to grow and incorporate the feminine principle. Cliff is healed by this force, Wallach tries to overpower the force with the force of the masculine, but it is Gable who has experienced a world of pain that then allows him to fully integrate the feminine into his character, opening him up to a new world of experience and insight. In this sense the film is very Jungian for the path of pure masculinity is limited and eventually destructive, as the three men in this film reveal. Ritter says they are the 'only real men left and as dependable as jack rabbits.'
In the end, the work is a masterpiece in every respect.
 A SAGA OF THE NEW WEST June 7, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
What is not to like about a movie set in the modern American West where civilization is fast taking the starch out of the independent-minded cowboys and their hangers-on and they are trying to hold on for dear life. Obviously they had not read Professor Turner's thesis on the end of the Aerican frontier. Nevertheless the code of the old West and its values was losing its effect by the day to the ethos of the modern capitalist farmer and rancher. Larry McMurtry and others have also taken up this theme but none have done it better on film.
Add a screenplay by the legendary playwright Arthur Miller. Further add the strong performances, aided by the black and white format, of a grizzled Clark Gable, the ill-fated Marilyn Monroe and the troubled Montgomery Clift supported by Thelma Ritter and Eli Wallach and you have a very good film indeed. I have read that Miller's screenplay was written especially for Monroe, then his wife. If so that explains why this story about castoffs, drifters and non-conformists looking for some emotional relief in the 'new' West that has passed them by had such a powerful effect on me. Monroe as the beautiful but hard luck and misunderstood object of affection seemingly was playing herself here. And to great effect. Watch it.
A Film That Ages Well May 6, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Released in 1961 and filmed in beautiful black and white, THE MISFITS is one of those rare films that get better with age. It has everything going for it. Directed by the great John Houston from a screenplay by one of America's greatest playwrights Arthur Miller,the film starred Marilyn Monroe as the just divorced Roslyn Taber, Clark Gable as Gay Langland, along with Montgomery Clift as an over-the-hill rodeo rider, Eli Wallach as a mechanic and Thelma Ritter as Rosyln's friend.
Each of these characters in his or her own way is a misfit. They all are pretty much asea even though they are in the Nevada desert. The males all are in love with Roslyn, a fragile creature who cannot stand to see anything or anyone hurt. Her attitude is pitted against the cowboys' who hunt wild mustangs that eventually will be killed. The men value their independence and fear the worst thing that can happen to them, becoming paid by the hour and doing something like pumping gas. The film is beautifully shot, and the stunts with the horses are tense and breathtaking. Monroe and Gable give stunning performances. Ms. Monroe really could act if given a chance and demonstrates it here. I had always thought of Gable as a one trick pony(Rhett Butler) but he is quite wonderful here as the aging cowboy.
What was going on off the set rivals the movie. Monroe's showing up late or not at all for a shoot was legendary; Clift was on a downward spiral because of substance abuse; Miller would divorce Monroe soon after the movie was finished. Gable had a heart attack days after finishing the movie and died. This was Monroe's last completed film as well. There are too many ironies here to unravel. Wallach early in the film tells Roslyn that she has "the gift of life." Surely no one would describe Monroe in real life in those terms. She apparently had a crush on Gable for years and convinced herself that he was her father.
THE MISFITS fits very well as a fine film.
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