The Misfits is showing at 1 pm this Saturday, June 3rd, at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, as part of a season of classic movies that influenced cult filmmaker Wes Anderson’s upcoming 1950s-set desert sci-fi comedy, Asteroid City, and an illustrated book of essays accompanying its release. Other films in the series include Fool for Love; Bad Day at Black Rock; Close Encounters of the Third Kind; Inferno (in 3D); three classic documentaries from the Maysles Brothers (Showman, Meet Marlon Brando, and A Visit With Truman Capote); plus a special preview of Asteroid City.
“John Huston’s psychologically rich, exquisitely shot and acted neo-western, featuring a screenplay by Arthur Miller, based on his own short story, gave Monroe one of her finest dramatic roles—and it would also be her last. She portrays Roslyn, in Reno, Nevada, filing for divorce from an inattentive husband (Kevin McCarthy). While there she meets a weary aging cowboy (Clark Gable, also in his last film) and his down-on-his-luck friend (Montgomery Clift), with whom she forms an unlikely, melancholy bond. Elegiac yet entertaining in its complexity of character, The Misfits is a quintessential early sixties American drama about outcasts, and its spirit can be felt throughout Asteroid City, in both the flavor of the setting and in Scarlett Johansson’s role. It was also one of the most documented film sets of its era, as Magnum was given an exclusive deal with Huston to photograph the shoot. DO NOT DETONATE… features a selection of images from the set of the film, including by Eve Arnold, Dennis Stock, Inge Morath, Elliott Erwitt and Bruce Davidson. The book also contains writing on the film by Serge Toubiana and Jonas Mekas.”
It’s also interesting that Scarlett Johansson’s role in Asteroid City is mentioned, as she has often been compared to Marilyn – see here. Saturday’s Misfits screening will be introduced by Jake Perlin, editor of DO NOT DETONATE (to be published on June 22nd.)
The Marilyn Report 
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