The Misfits is showing at the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles – where a young Norma Jeane Baker was once just another starstruck moviegoer – on Saturday, May 2, at 2:30 pm, as part of this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival.
“THE MISFITS has more to offer than just the last screen appearances by Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. Under John Huston’s guidance it became an elegy for the old West. Monroe is in Nevada waiting out a divorce when she meets aging cowboy Gable. With no other prospects in sight, he agrees to capture mustangs to be used in dog food, aided by Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach, while Monroe comes along for the ride. Arthur Miller’s script was a tribute to his wife, Monroe, whose innate sensitivity brought out the best in her co-stars. Together, Monroe and Gable display the star power and talent that have kept their images alive.”
This promises to be a lively event, as another iconic blonde – Oscar-winning actress Sharon Stone – will be the guest of honour. Sharon has spoken before of her admiration for Marilyn from an early age, and praised her work in “movies that really mattered,” including The Misfits (see here.)
UPDATE:
As Lara Walsh reports for InStyle, Sharon Stone ‘had fans doing a double take as she debuted her longest hair in decades’ at the TCM Film Festival.
Sharon’s hairstyle is somewhat reminiscent of Marilyn’s in The Misfits, while her all-white look reflects bombshell fashion from Jean Harlow in Dinner at Eight (1933) and Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), to Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch (1955) and her own Basic Instinct (1992.)
Sharon spoke at length with TCM host Eddie Muller, revealing that she lives in Montgomery Clift’s former home and that she once auditioned for John Huston.
Muller likened The Misfits to ‘John Huston’s version of a John Cassavetes movie,’ and said that Arthur Miller chose Huston to direct because he excelled at literary adaptations. Muller also claims that Marilyn insisted on Thelma Ritter’s character being written into The Misfits, according to her biographer Christy Putnam.
And finally, here’s a partial transcript of Sharon’s thoughts on the film – you can watch their conversation in full below.
“I was that kid that never went outside but spent Saturday morning watching old movies. I was the one whose ex-husband is probably ‘ex’ because he finally said to me, ‘Can’t you watch anything in colour?’
But I’m also a big Marilyn Monroe fan. And I feel like Marilyn has got a really weird rap. Always something wrong about her. Too fat, too skinny, too crazy. She must have been high. Well, you know, it’s just amazing how many geniuses were in love with her and would just marry her and chase her around if she was such a mess, right? Or that she was able to greenlight so many pictures if she was such a disaster.
And when you think about a film like this, you think about the other disasters – like the great John Huston who was gambling the production money away in Reno, or you think about Clark Gable … He was pushing 60 … She was getting a divorce and very, very vulnerable, and exactly what was happening in the film was happening [in reality.] And that’s unnerving to have that kind of beauty and wonder, and a person that’s willing to stay in a state of wonder around you when you’re shutting down for a thousand different reasons.
But this film is interesting to me because it has a legend around it and it’s like death is stalking everyone in it. I don’t think that as many people have seen this film as are familiar with the legend of the making of it and the legacy of Clark Gable, who would die literally days after finishing this movie.”
The Marilyn Report 