Month: October 2018

The Haunting 1963 vs The Haunting 1999

The Haunting (1963 Paramount Pictures)

Directed by Robert Wise

Screenplay by Nelson Gidding based on the Novel, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Music composed by Humphrey Searle

Rated G / 113 minutes

Cast: Julie Harris (Eleanor Lance), Claire Bloom (Theodora), Richard Johnson (Dr. Markway), Russ Tamblyn (Luke Sanderson), Rosalie Crutchley (Mrs. Dudley), Lois Maxwell (Grace Markway).

The Haunting (1999 DreamWorks SKG)

Directed by Jan de Bont

Screenplay by David Self based on the Novel, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Rated PG-13  / 113 minutes

Cast: Liam Neeson (Dr. David Marrow), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Theo), Owen Wilson (Luke Sanderson), Lilli Taylor (Nell), Bruce Dern (Mr. Dudley), Marian Seldes (Mrs. Dudley), Alix Koromzay (Mary Lambetta), Todd Field (Todd Hackett), Virginia Madsen (Jane), Michael Cavanaugh (Dr. Malcolm Keogh).

Halloween is almost upon us, so this installment of Double Vision is comparing the much lauded 1963 version of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House with the 1999 remake.  The ’63 version is still believed by many to be the most frightening ghost story ever filmed.  I don’t know if I would go that far, but it is certainly an original and well conceived study of fear and its effect on our emotions.  Robert Wise makes good used of Nelson Gidding’s screenplay to bring the characters to life as well as in giving life to a very creepy house.  In the leads, Julie Harris and Claire Bloom are wonderfully expressive and their character’s fear is palpable which is what has garnered such high marks for this as a ghost story.  They believe it and so the audience believes it, but is it true?  Is the house haunted or do they bring their own demons to it?  It is the unknown in this film that gives it its power.  It still works fifty-five years after its release date.

The 1999 version has the same run time as the original, but for some reason seems longer.  It may be because the house is actually the lead in this let down of a remake.  Once you’ve had the tour, you’re ready for something meaningful to happen, but art direction is the only real direction and the actors are left to flounder with lines that just don’t build suspense or move anything forward.  The attempts at humor are too obvious and ghostlike, and the amped up sexuality just doesn’t play.

Julie Harris’ vulnerability in the character of Nell is missing and the passive aggressive version of Zeta-Jones’ Theo is more party girl than secretive sophisticate.  These changes may have seemed necessary, but should have come with script changes that amount to more than comparing the house to the home of the Munster’s meets Citizen Kane.  The cast cannot be held responsible;  I could name a number of directors and writers that could have pulled this off and even stepped up the humor.

Once again, the original is unsurpassed.  Kudos to Robert Wise, Julie Harris, and Claire Bloom, and the wonderful black & white photography of Davis Boulton (Children of the Damned).

ABOVE: Kiernan Shipka in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

 

Warner Brothers Television

Directed by Lee Toland Krieger

Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Network: Netflix

Premiere Date: October 26th, 2018

Season One, Episode One: 60 minutes

Cast: Kiernan Shipka (Sabrina Spellman), Ross Lynch (Harvey Kinkle), Lucy Davis (Hilda Spellman), Chance Perdomo (Ambrose Spellman), Michelle Gomez (Mary Wardell), Jaz Sinclair (Rosalind Walker), Tati Gabrielle (Prudence), Miranda Otto (Zelda Spellman), Bronson Pinchot (George Hawthorns), Lachian Watson (Susie Putnam), Richard Coyle (Father Blackwood), Adeline Rudolph (Agatha), Abigale F. Cowan (Dorcas), Bronson Pinhot (George Hawthorne), Sarah-Jane Redmond (Mrs. Kemper), Kurt Max Runte (Mr. Kemper).

 

The first episode of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina wastes no time in pulling the viewer to the center of Sabrina’s world.  Kiernan Shipka’s Sabrina is a girl trying to navigate the life of a teen and the burden of being a half-witch while juggling a boyfriend, social reform, and her upcoming not so Sweet Sixteen party (read Pagan Ritual overseen by the Dark Lord) with the family.  She has a strict mother, an understanding aunt, and sympathetic cousin, but all of them expect her to adhere to the plan of going all wicca when she hits the big 16.  Besides the ceremonial party, this includes a private school for witches and warlocks, shades of Hogwarts!  She even receives a visitation from three current students of the school a la The Craft (see Halloween Video Review 2) because they don’t want a half blood at their pristine dark arts academy.

It also entails leaving her friends, and even her boyfriend behind.  What is a girl to do?  That is the dilemma that starts off a colorful and sometimes dark series that promises to be entertaining and original with some homages to what has come before and a good deal of originality in this graceful blend of horror and comedy. 

The cast is in full control as this first episode hits the boards running.  Kiernan Shipka is splendid as Sabrina bringing both wisdom and innocence in a tempered execution of the part.  Special kudos to Lucy Davis and Michelle Gomez for bringing very off beat characters to life.  Season One premiered on Netflix on October 26th.  Happy Halloween–binge witching all around!

A Short History of The Twilight Zone

 

Rod Serling Producer/Writer

of 

THE TWILIGHT ZONE

 

“You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.  A journey into a wondrous land of imagination.  Next stop, the Twilight Zone!”

Of course this is going to be more than a short history.  It’s going to be an appreciation of one of the early great television shows.  A show that brought not only better, more imaginative writing to television, but also was an incredible showcase for many talented people.  Writer’s, actors, and directors all had a chance to work on television in a quality vehicle.  In 1959 the American home was invaded once a week by an incredibly imaginative mind (Serling wrote over 50% of the scripts for the five season span).  From 1959 to 1964 five seasons and one hundred and sixty-four episodes aired on CBS Television.

 

 

 

 

The pilot that Serling chose was a story he wrote called, Where Is Everybody? starring Earl Holliman in a tour de force of a one man performance.  This episode clearly reflected not only Serling’s intent, but that he was raising the bar for what could be called quality television.  It would be decades before the majority of television producers would catch up and then only in fits and bounds and finally with the introduction of cable and more freedom would the renaissance really begin.

The second episode was shear genius, giving the audience a heartwarming story about death called, One for the Angels.  Ed Wynn and Murray Hamilton soar in this simple tale of Mr. Death (Murray Hamilton) coming for an old salesman known as Lou Bookman (Ed Wynn).  The cast is completed by Dana Dillaway who plays one of the children that lives in the same building as Bookman.  These two episodes remain among the best of the original Twilight Zone.  Before we get too far into the individual episodes, a little background is required.

The Twilight Zone was produced by Cayuga Productions, Inc.,  which was Serling’s own company.  Before producing the show, Serling had written a number of well known scripts for TV including Patterns and Requiem for a Heavyweight (both of which eventually were made for the silver screen), Patterns (1956) and Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962).  Patterns is the story of a man who is recruited onto the board of a large New York corporation and finds that his ethics and ambitions are at odds.  Requiem for a Heavyweight is the story of a punch drunk boxer who is at the end of the road;  but can he get away from the only thing he knows and the men that want to exploit him?

Serling’s deep interest in social issues and his defiance of the network norms would be his undoing with TV further down the road, but for now–he was it’s golden boy.  He had pitched the show with a script called, The Time Element which was then produced for Westinghouse-Desilu Playhouse  anthology.  The episode starred William Bendix and was about a man that believed he has travelled back in time to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The episode was so popular that CBS green lighted The Twilight Zone.  Rod Serling was about to break television out of the prison imposed by short sightedness, sponsors, and venal motivation.

In Part 2 we will look at the first season of The Twilight Zone.

 

 

 

 

Total Recall 1990 vs Total Recall 2012

Total Recall

(1990 TriStar)

Directed by Paul Verhoeven

Screenplay by Ronal Shusett & Dan O’Bannon and Gary Goldman inspired by Philip K. Dick’s short story: We Can Remember It for You Wholesale

Music composed by Jerry Goldsmith

Rated R / 113 minutes

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Quaid), Rachel Titcotin (Melina), Sharon Stone (Lori), Ronny Cox (Cohaagen), Michael Ironside (Richter), Marshall Bell (George/Kuato), Mel Johnson Jr. (Benny), Michael Champion (Helm), Roy Broksmith (Dr. Edgemar), Ray Baker (McClane).

Total Recall

(2012 Sony Pictures)

Directed by Len Wiseman

Music composed by Harry Gregson-Williams

Screenplay by Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback based on the Motion Picture Total Recall screenplay by Ronal Shusett & Dan O’Bannon and Gary Goldman.

Rated PG-13 / 121 minutes

Cast: Colan Farrell (Douglas Quaid / Hauser), Kate Beckinsale (Lori Quaid), Jessica Biel (Melina) Bryan Cranston (Cohaagen), Bokeem Woodbine (Harry), Bill Nighy (Matthias), John Cho (McClane), Will Yun Lee (Marek).

Double Vision is the column where we compare the remake of a film to the original.  Philip K. Dick’s short story, We Can Remember it for you Wholesale  inspired 1990’s Total Recall  which in turn was the basis for the 2012 remake that starred Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, and Bill Nighy.  With such a stellar cast, you would think that the 2012 effort would easily surpass the original, but for the most part–that is not the case. 

Director Paul Verhoeven and screenwriters Ronald Shusett & Dan O’Bannon and Gary Goldman use Philip K. Dick’s story as a starting point and run all the way to Mars with it.  Easily, Schwarzenegger’s best effort, and a stellar victory for Sharon Stone whose character’s hatred of the Red Planet is forever burned into my psyche.  The two had a lust/hate chemistry that has never been matched.  The violence and dark humor abounds as does the insane sexuality of Stone’s literally undercover agent, Lori.  Without these touches and Quaid’s trip to Mars, the remake falls flat.

Rachel Ticotin also gives a very real performance as the woman who loves Quaid.  Her fight with Stone is epic, although Lori’s demise is left to Quaid’s famous, “Consider that a divorce,” scene.  Michael Ironside is hilarious as Lori’s cuckolded lover.  Michael Champion shines as Helm, Ricter’s mordantly snide partner.

 

None of this is to say that the cast in the 2012 remake is inadequate, but it is a sterile version that also misses due to never going to Mars.  Quaid’s obsession with Mars is the McGuffin that powers the first film.  Without it there is a void that the new plot does not fully fill.  The pending invasion of the colony is so buried in the action that there is no real suspense.  Perhaps if the film-makers hadn’t based it on the script from the previous film it would not be as easy to find fault.  Keeping the three breasted woman while not having the environment that produced her is an example of both the homage to the film and the error of using it in this context.  There are also so many references to the 1990 film that it makes it difficult to see them as two different stories based on the same source.

Kate Beckinsale is a maniacally militant Lori, but lacks the passion of Stone’s version.  She also replaces the character of Richter in the pursuit of Quaid and Melina, and that effectively eliminates Richter’s partner Helm thus reducing the black humor further.  She is a practiced action star as well as an actress that commands the screen and her Lori tears through the film with a relentless furor.  She is the perfect foil for Jessica Biel’s Melina.  Biel’s Melina fights back with a fury to match Lori’s as she struggles both with Quaid’s indecision and the forces that are trying to destroy them both.

Brian Cranston and Bill Nighy are well cast, and the film is well produced.  The cast is up to the challenge and there is no shortage of special effects or action, but the script is just not what it could have been.  Given the popularity of the original film, a sequel would have been a better choice.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goldsmith’s score for Malice (1993) the thriller starring Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin is lyrically exhilarating and fuels the suspense.  The choral is alluringly evocative and powerfully performed.  The film and the score are still exemplary works.   This is one that you must listen to on the soundtrack CD.  A masterful composition of exceptional beauty.     

For Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Goldsmith was back to dazzle with the old and the new as he expanded the magnificence of the opening theme, and delivered a wonderfully symphonic score that takes you worlds away in the best possible sense.

 

 

 

 

 

For L.A. Confidential (1997) he wrote a distinctive score that moves with the story and pulls you into the twisting intrigue.  He merged the style of the time with his own and as with Chinatown the result echoes classic noir.  Trumpets, pianos,  strings, and percussion and back to the lone trumpet in a haunting refrain, Goldsmith gives us one of his most elegant scores.

 

 

 

 

 

In 1998, Goldsmith was back on another Star Trek.  Star Trek: Insurrection was gracefully gilded by his sure hand and from the opening notes we know that we are in for another wonder.  The softness that the opening segues into from the usual bravura of the franchise’s main theme tells us that things have changed  and we are again truly going where no one has gone before.

 

 

 

In 1999 his work on The Mummy would help in bringing back one of the Classic Universal Monsters.  His music is as important as the stunning sets and locations in evoking the feel and mood of the film.

The cast and the music bring Egypt to life with sound and movement as we re-live the adventure of The Mummy.  So much of the film is based on the original and is so well done that I don’t  understand why Universal chose to begin its re-boot of the Universal Monsters with The Mummy!   They already have two excellent Mummy films that are recent enough to be included in the current series.  And, the first one has an amazing Jerry Goldsmith score!

Also in 1999 came The Haunting a  remake of the 1963 classic Robert Wise film that starred Claire Bloom, Julie Harris, Richard Johnson, and Russ Tamblyn.  Still thought to be the most successful of all haunted house movies.  Of course the remake has a lot to offer in the way of special effects in addition to Goldsmith’s marvelous score.

 

Goldsmith composed his last score for the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek Nemesis which was released in 2002.  It was not the best of his Star Trek scores, possibly because it is  bleak and darkly colored in many places.  Goldsmith managed to pull it up in the end and delivers a rewarding entry that contributes to his astonishingly successful association with the series.

 

Okay, so I did forget witches.  Geez!  And, as someone else pointed out, “Only one vampire film and it had to be that stale old Stoker story?”  Calm down.  This is  Halloween Video Review 2 and it will bring you more fright films to party with!

WITCHES

Since I’ve received so much flack over the absence of witches, I have three films to recommend.   The first is a film from 1966 that was way ahead of it’s time on the sexuality meter.  It is based on the novel Aura by the Mexican novelist, Carlos Fuentes.  The film is not rated so parents beware, but it is also the least known of the chosen which include both well and lesser known films, but I think they are diverse enough to satisfy almost any wicked or good witch film fan.

The vampire film that I’m recommending is a remake of a foreign film called, Let the Right One In, which is also recommended.

The Witch (1966 Arco Films)

Directed by Damiano Damiani

Screenplay by Ugo Liberatore based on the Novel, Aura by Carlos Fuentes

Not Rated / 109 minutes

Cast: Rosanna Schiaffino (Aura), Richard Johnson (Sergio Logan),  Gian Maria Volonte (Fabrizio), Sara Ferati (Consuelo Lorente), Margherita Guzzinate (Lorna).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This off beat Italian film is a classic mystery/horror that is based on a novel by Carlos Fuentes.  Sara Ferati’s Consuelo is at the center of the mystery as she manipulates Sergio into coming to work for her.  Her concealed intentions spin the New Wave influenced narrative as  Richard Johnson’s (The Haunting) Sergio is led deeper and deeper into the old woman’s trap. Rosanna Schiaffino’s (Two Weeks in Another Town)  Aura moves slowly and sensually through the eerily seductive narrative bringing an unlikely plot to life.  This is a film that you are better off having no expectations about, and just allowing yourself to fall under   its spell.

The Craft (1996 Sony Pictures)

Directed by Andrew Fleming

Written by Andrew Fleming & Peter Filardi

Rated R / 101 minutes

Cast: Robin Tunney (Sarah Bailey), Fairuza Balk (Nancy Downs), Neve Campbell (Bonnie), Rachel True (Rochelle) Skeet Ulrich (Chris Hooker), Christine Taylor (Laura Lizzie).

This one is really all about the cast: Robin Tunney (Hollywoodland), Fairuza Balk (Almost Famous), Neve Campbell (Scream, Skyscraper), and Rachel True (The Manor).  What a coven they make!  It is scary (Fairuza Balk hits an 11 on the intense meter)  and violent, and it’s a great Halloween ride sans broomsticks.

It is not the usual twist on witches, but it is more then just a teen scare fest.  The girls get too deep into the occult and it begins to lead to darker places than most of them intended to go.

This powerfully angst ridden film out distances it’s surface appeal with strong performances and enough mayhem to satisfy the most demanding of horror fans for a fantastically frightful Halloween.

Hocus Pocus (1993 Buena Vista Pictures)

Directed by Kenny Ortega

Screenplay by Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert

Story by David Kirshner and Mick Garris

Rated PG / 96 minutes

Cast: Bette Midler (Winifred Sanderson), Sarah Jessica Parker (Sarah Sanderson), Katy Najimy (Mary Sanderson), Omri Katz (Max), Thora Birch (Dani), Vanessa Shaw (Allison), Amanda Shepard (Emily).

This one is for viewers that love Halloween candy but just don’t get the scary.  Funny Halloween fun with Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker (L.A. Story, Sex in the City), Kathy Najimy (Sister Act, King of the Hill), and Thora Birch (Ghost World, Deadline, Train).

One of the writers is Horror master Mick Garris, so you know there’s gonna be some dark patches, but  Thora Birch is adorable, Sarah Jessica Parker is full tilt batty, and Bette Midler and Katy Najumy are so far over the top that you wonder if they spent the whole movie on their broomsticks.  Perfect for a Happy Halloween!

Vampires

Let Me In (2010 Overture Films)

Directed by Matt Reeves

Screenplay by Matt Reeves based on Screenplay Let the Right One In and Novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Rated R / 116 minutes

Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee (Owen), Chloe Grace Moretz (Abby), Richard Jenkins (The Father), Cara Buono (Owen’s Mother), Elias Koteas ( The Policeman), Sasha Barrese (Virginia).

Let Me In is one of those rare moments when a remake of a foreign film turns out to be a gift.  This in part is due to Reeves’ script based on the original by John Ajvide Lindqvist which was based on Lindqvist’s own novel and the perfect cast: Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water), Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick Ass) and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Deadpool 2) all turn in subtle and believable performances.

It is a strangely original spin on the vampire myth that is powered by Abby’s situation and her concern for a timid boy that is being bullied.  This simple but brilliant plot lifts it up beyond most horror films and yet is strong in fear and scare as well.  A combination that makes for perfect Halloween fun for the whole family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s that time of year again!  Vampires, ghouls, demons, zombies, aliens, and psychos abound, that’s right–midterms!  Seriously though,  what are you going to watch on the scariest night of the year?  Here are some humble suggestions from the crypt keeper of F&TVR’s horror vault based on the type of Halloween night you wish to celebrate.

PSYCHOS

Repulsion (1965) 

Not Rated

Directed by Roman Polanski

Written by Roman Polanski & Gerard Brach

CAST: Catherine Deneuve (Carol), Ian Hendry (Michael), John Fraser (Colin), Yvonne Furneaux (Helen), Patrick Wymark (Landlord), Renee Houston (Miss Balch), Valerie Taylor (Madame Denise).This Roman Polanski thriller stars Catherine Deneuve in a tour de force performance of a young woman’s spiral into insanity with special effects that belie the 1965 vintage.  Influenced by Hitchcock’s Psycho, the film begins with Carol already out of her right mind.  The progression is slow at first and then rapid as her behavior quickly deteriorates and becomes more and more erratic finally segueing into delusions.

 

The methodically paced direction of Roman Polanski, the vivid black and white photography of Gilbert Taylor (Dr. Strangelove, The Omen, Star Wars: A New Hope), and Chico Hamilton’s disorienting jazz score combine to bring you a true horror in the Psycho vein.

 

The juxtaposition of this beautiful young woman and the insanity that ensues is terrifying.  This is a good choice for an extra creepy Halloween night.  It lacks the humor of Psycho, but is heavy on the horror.  This is a hands down classic and a dead on choice for a happy Halloween.

ZOMBIES/ALIENS

Slither (2006 Universal)

Rated R

Directed and Written by James Gunn

Cast: Don Thompson (Wally), Nathan Fillion (Bard Pardy), Michael Rooker (Grant Grant), Jennifer Copping (Margaret),  Gregg Henry (Jack Macready), Zantha Radley (Uptight Mom), Elizabeth Banks (Starla Grant), Tania Saulnier (Kylie Strutemyer), Brenda James (Brenda Gutierrez), Lorena Gale (Janene).

I’m trying to keep this article short, so Slither is kind of a trick because it allows me to do zombies and aliens with one film.  It’s sort of an Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets the Keystone cops or something like that, and that’s the treat! There is gore and laughs galore in this James Gunn gross out fromage (yes cheese) to horror and science fiction that heralds back to his days with Troma Films (Nuke’em High, The Toxic Avenger) and forward to Guardians of the Galaxy.

Nathan Fillion, Michael Rooker, Elizabeth Banks, Tania Saulnier, Gregg Henry and the entire supporting cast are excellent in this dead pan horror comedy, and there are even memorable lines!  Not for the squeamish, but if you can get past the gore–a good time will be had by all.

DEMONS

Curse of the Demon (1957 Columbia Pictures)

( Original title, Night of the Demon)

Not Rated

Directed by Jacques Tourneur

Written by Charles Bennett and Hal E. Chester

Cast: Dana Andrews (John Holden), Peggy Cummins (Joanna Harrington), Nial MacGinnis (Doctor Karswell), Maurice Denham (Professor Harrington), Athene Seyler (Mrs. Karswell).

Demons are harder to come by than most other horrors.  It seems you have to know what you’re doing to summon one.  Oh well, here’s a fine British production that worked some magic on the summoning.   Dana Andrews (Laura) and Peggy Cummins (Gun Crazy) do a fine job in what is one of the most frightening of supernatural horror films.  Jacques Tourneur’s (Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie) direction of the well written Charles Bennett  (The 39 Steps, The Man Who Knew to Much) script results in a well told story and  memorably horrifying sequences.  This is a most devilishly satisfying treat for the most diabolical of horror fans.

GHOULS

The Ghoul (1933 Gaumont)

Not Rated

Directed by T. Hayes Hunter

Written by Rupert Downing and John Hastings based on play by Leonard Hines & Frank King from a novel by King.

Cast: Boris Karloff (Professor Henry Morlant), Cedric Hardwicke (Broughton), Ernest Thesinger (Laing), Dorothy Hyson (Betty Harlon), Anthony Bushell (Ralph Morlant), Kathleen Harrison (Kaney), Harold Huth (Aga Ben Dragore), D.A. Clarke-Smith (Mahmoud), Ralph Richardson   (Nigel Hartley).

For those who may want to enjoy a more tame but still spooky Halloween, this fine cast will supply you with the means.  Boris Karloff is fittingly creepy and supported by the great Sir Cedric Hardwicke along with the ever deeply buried in the role, Ernest Thesinger (Bride of Frankenstein).  Vintage British horror for the perfectly ghoulish Halloween.

VAMPIRES

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992 Columbia Pictures)

Rated R

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Screenplay by James V. Hart based on the Novel by Bram Stoker

Cast: Gary Oldman (Dracula), Winona Ryder (Mina Murray/Elisabeta), Anthony Hopkins (Professor Abraham Van Helsing), Keanu Reeves (Jonathan Harker), Richard E. Grant (Dr. Jack Seward), Cary Elwes (Lord Arthur Holmwood), Billy Campbell (Quincey P. Morris), Sadie Frost (Lucy Westenra),  Tom Waits (R.M. Renfield), Monica Bellucci (Dracula’s Bride), Michaela Bercu (Dracula’s Bride), Florina Kendrick (Dracula’s Bride).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probably the most opulently produced of all the vampire films.  The sets and costumes star in this over the top adaptation of Stoker’s classic, but it remains a creep fest with an astonishing cast.  Gary Oldman is at the top of his game as are Anthony Hopkins and Winona Ryder is a winsome Mina and plays wonderfully with Sadie Frost’s Lucy.   Monica Bellucci, Michaela Bercu, and Florina Kendrick take the eroticism to new heights of horror as Dracula’s Brides.  Certain to liven any Halloween gathering with fond memories of good times along the Borgo Pass.

 

The Misfits (1961 John Huston/United Artists)

Directed by John Huston.  Screenplay by Arthur Miller.

124 minutes.

Cast:  Clark Gable (Gay Langland), Marilyn Monroe (Roslyn Taber), Montgomery Clift (Perce Howland), Thelma Ritter (Isabelle Steers), Eli Wallach (Guido), James Barton (Fletcher’s Grandfather), Kevin McCarthy (Raymond Taber).

Left: Clark Gable & Marilyn Monroe.

Below: Montgomery Clift & Marilyn Monroe.

The screenplay for The Misfits was written by Arthur Miller and based on one of his own short stories.  That is only one of the facts that makes this film such a treasure.   It was the last film of both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe.  Not only was this the last performance for each of them but also the best either had ever given.  They were supported by a show stopping turn by Montgomery Clift.  Eli Wallach and Thelma Ritter also lend depth and humor to the somber story.

John Huston sees to it that the pathos in the drama and comedy of the piece reverberates in the black and white desert surrounding.  The black & White Photography by Russell Metty (Touch of Evil), is superb and intensifies the  isolation of the locations.  The dying breed that Gay and Pearce and Guido are part of stay stuck in time, aided and abetted by Roslyn and Isabelle, they are unable to pull themselves out of the past.

Roslyn has come to Vegas to divorce a husband that, “you could touch him but he wasn’t there.”   Isabelle talks her in into staying for a while to get over the shock of the divorce; Roslyn finds solace among Isabelle, Gay, Guido, and later Perce.  Something sparks between Gay and Roslyn much to Guido’s disdain.  This causes some friction that is lubricated for better or worse by alcohol, and eventually they meet Perce.  Perce is a daredevil of a rodeo performer with a drunken death wish.  Roslyn agrees to go on a roundup of wild horses with Gay, Guido, and Perce and everything is fine until she understands why the horses are being rounded up.

The struggle their characters are suffering through is paralleled by the struggles the actors must have been facing as they shot the film:  Gable’s bad health (he died shortly after the filming),  Monroe’s harrowing addiction that was eating away at her relationship with Miller and landed her in rehab during the shooting, and one can only guess at what demons Montgomery Clift was wrestling with as his drinking accelerated.  The film is a monument to the careers of the three leads because it allows them to do what they did best at full throttle and without Hollywood’s usual restraints.  They are able to give timeless performances that not only stand up to multiple viewings, but invoke them.  Huston was able to help the stars leave a legacy reaching a depth of poignancy that echoes their real life tragedy.

Facts/Rumors/Hearsay: 

On completion of the film Clark Gable said of Marilyn Monroe, “Christ, I’m glad this picture’s finished.  She damn near gave me a heart attack.”  A day later he had a heart attack that led to his death within two weeks.

It is said that Marilyn Monroe said to Montgomery Clift, “I’ve never met someone in worse shape than me.”

Clark Gable admired Montgomery Clift’s performance so much that he would show up on the set to watch even on days when he himself wasn’t scheduled to work.

Clark Gable insisted on doing some of his own stunts.  One of which had him dragged by a truck moving at 30 miles per hour.

Available on dvd, Blu-ray, and streaming.