Robert Mitchum C/D, S/D

in Angel Face with Jean Simmons

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http://members.aol.com/PJaySin/mitchum2.jpg

in River of No Return with Marilyn Monroe

"Somebody says, 'We really want you to do this script.' And I say, 'I'd need an awful lot of money in front to do that one.' And that never seems to be a problem. The less I like the script, the higher my price. And they pay. They may pay in yen, but they pay. Not that I'm a complete whore, understand. There are movies I won't do for any amount. I turned down 'Patton' and I turned down 'Dirty Harry.' Movies that piss on the world. If I've got $5 in my pocket, I don't need to make money that fucking way, daddy."

One of the things Dean Martin used to say was, who gives less of a shit, Kotto, or Mitchum? And I think Mitchum kind of outdid me. We had these bungalows together, right next door and I went to get him one night to go eat. I go over there and knock on the door. He said, "Who the hell is it?" and I said "Kotto." And I go in, and he's just sitting there on the edge of the bed, and I notice that the room is dark, and it's cold. And I said, what are you doing here in the dark, and he said, there's no lights. I said why is it so cold, and he said, there's no heat. So I said, Bob, why don't you get someone to turn on the heat? Why don't you get someone to turn on the lights? And he just sat there on the edge of the bed, and said, "Fuck em." He would have gone on right that way. That's how much he didn't care.

"I've been called a cynic, which I surely can't deny because I am a cynical-style girl. I happen to believe a certain amount of cynicism is inherent in the beast. But there's a little romanticism in there, too. And more than a little hedonism. You can use this to sum it all up: I know what I'm doing is bullshit. But I've got to admit, it's also a pretty good ride."

"The Big Steal" is a great film, with William Bendix and Jane Greer. He calls Greer "chiquita" during the whole movie. Very nice.

"Calypso Is Like So" is awesome, I just got a brand-new Mitchum CD with that entire work on it. Also, Robert Mitchum, for what it's worth, did the best-ever version of "Sunny."

One of the greatest all-rounders ever. The deodorant works good too.

seriously every film noir should end with every major character hospitalized for lung cancer.

"there's a way to lose more slowly."

"Among the likes of Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, and Ronald Reagan, he was like a switchblade on a plate of cupcakes."

"Mitchum is always playing a presence, a moral creature, incarcerated by the text, and when it works, he burns a hole in the screen, invests the vacant platitudes of professional screenwriting with something dark and strange, simply because he is not playing by the rules: he is obeying the rules, of course, as any convict must. He is hitting his marks, making the moves and saying the words, but he is not acting by the the rules, not deriving the subtext from the text."

After all, every one of these threads devoted to an oldtime actor usually has another actor pop up on them trying to steal the limelight, even the RIP ones.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v24/n02/cart01_.html
I recently finally got to see Thunder Road. I can't seen to get hold of The Yakuza in the UK.. anyone got any ideas?

I like OOTP fine, but even after seeing it a few times, I have trouble getting completey absorbed in it- it is a little too long, elaborate, understated, laid back and abstract in a way, it is almost a mannerist take on noir. I actually prefer the other Mitchum/Greer teamup, The Big Steal- it's zips along at a fast pace, has got a great cast, and has some great stuff about Mexico.

Even at the very height of my Mitchum obsession I saw a DVD box of that and thought "life's too short".

https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/film-comment-podcast-robert-mitchum/

River of No Return, wasn't nuts about that one.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, August 18, 2003 5:29 PM (

agreed

Liked a few moments but yeah

Notable Mitchum character names from the 1940s:

Quentin 'Horse' Gilford
Tate Winters
Henchman Randall
Dirk Mason
Panhandle Mitchell
Ben Slocum
Trigger Dolan
Henchman Rip Austin
Seaman Chuck Ryan
Mickey Halligan
Dying Soldier - 'I'm All Right'
Nick Drago
'Pig-Iron' Matthews
Jim Lacy aka Nevada
Pecos Smith
Jeb Rand

The Winds of War was a miniseries, right? i'm sure Bob snored through it.

when he wasn't freezing his ass off and getting eaten by ticks during the year (!) of filming, according to the bio

And that presumably doesn't include War and Remembrance.

I do recall David Letterman was tickled when TWOW won an Emmy and the producer gruffly thanked the network for "ponying up the dough!"

speaking of those I can't believe Herman Wouk is still alive.

Dan Milner: Whenever I have nothing to do and I can't think, I always iron my money.
Lenore Brent: What d'ya do when you're broke?
Dan Milner: When I'm broke, I press my pants.

video essay

https://filmkrant.nl/video/thinking-machine-29-english/

30 of his films on Criterion right now.

Enjoyed the Lusty Men. He’s great in it

Yeah, like that one too.

Just watched the two films he did with director John Farrow:

Where Danger Lives a simple but very good noir, featuring Faith Domergue. Mitchum is semi-zonked for much of the film after getting brained by Claude Rains.

His Kind of Woman an odd 2-hour long film that starts as straight noir and then Vincent Price's ham actor character hijacks it and turns it into a comedic spoof. Has some cool interior design.

And then watched Track of the Cat which is florid and awkward and oh-so-1950s. Not for me.

Also watched Angel Face which is a little nutty but I liked seeing Jean Simmons in the bad girl role, it seems to go against character.

*against type I mean

Watched out of the past oh Saturday. Absolute stone cold classic. Five bags of popcorn and a bunch of cigarettes for Bob Mitchum to smoke

Feel like I live-blogged a stretch of His Kind of Woman once, maybe upthread.

Robert Mitchum C/D, S/D

Howzabout the, um, sequel to Out of the Past, The Big Steal?

I highly recommend Pursued which is not in the CC series

His Kind of Woman an odd 2-hour long film that starts as straight noir and then Vincent Price's ham actor character hijacks it and turns it into a comedic spoof. Has some cool interior design

I posted almost exactly this earlier this morning on the noir thread! I saw this movie eons ago, 1980s I believe, and in the intervening years I forgot the title, the plot, and the stars. All I could remember was the fantastic mid-mod set design of the Mexican lodge, and that the action later moved to a boat. Finally tracked it down last night! Allegedly it was Howard Hughes' meddling and reshoots that led to the incoherent combination of violent hypodermic attacks and shipboard slapstick in the finale.