The famous nude swim on the set of her last uncompleted film, Something's Gotta Give
This Sunday August 5th, marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the biggest sex symbol the movies ever produced: Marilyn. No other name
is needed. For like Madonna or Elvis or Cher or Beyonce, Monroe is instantly recognized as 'Marilyn', the 20th century's wet dream. This August 5th then is a milestone. That early morning when she took her last breath also fell on a Sunday. An anniversary can't get more precise than that. Was she murdered? This theory has had A LOT of popularity in the last 40 or so years. Certainly there seemed to be some kind of foul play. But by whom? The Kennedys? Marilyn's own maid? Her P.R. rep? Peter Lawford? The mob? 20th Century Fox? Everyone seemed to have a motive or at least something to hide. So many people were mysteriously seen in the dark of night coming and going from her house in Brentwood, or so say the neighbors years after the fact. Or was it suicide [the official verdict]? Like Garland, Monroe was a classic Gemini. Torn between Norma Jean [her birth name] and Marilyn, she always an unhappy camper [her suicide attempts are too numerous to relate here] and she didn't seem much better the last 6 months or so of her life. I think it was just her fate. Kismet. After so many attempts or false attempts, so many late night/early morning calls to friends, who could take those threats seriously anymore? Marilyn, the person, was a train-wreck: a ton of affairs, abortions, an unstable childhood, analysis, 3 unhappy marriages, chronic insomnia, pills, booze -- you name it.
With fellow sex-symbol Jane Russell on set of ' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ', 1953
Marilyn relaxing. A favorite pic
With Geraldine, er , I mean Tony Curtis on set of ' Some Like It Hot ', 1959
But Marilyn the star, the icon, the sex symbol of all-time, that was something special. She made magic on the screen. Marilyn was what the movies were made for. Or maybe she was made for the movies. From 1950-1962 Marilyn was what people referred to when they thought of sex and the ultimate female animal, hands down, no argument. That's pretty much the characters she played. Whether she was psychotic as in 'Don't Bother To Knock' or adulterous as Rose in 1953's 'Niagara' or how the public probably remembers her best as the ditzy, child-like innocent from 1955's 'The Seven Year Itch', Monroe epitomized the image of what American men fantasized, who they wanted their girlfriend or wife to emulate.
For modern day audiences Monroe has probably been seen by most in 1959's 'Some Like It Hot', Billy Wilder's still hilarious gender-bending sex comedy that also starred Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, retains the power to entertain some 53 years after it's release. The cross-dressing, hints of homosexuality and carnality must have raised some eyebrows in 1950's Eisenhower America. And speaking of dressing, Monroe practically falls out of one costume after another.
In 1961 Monroe, who always wanted to be taken as a serious actress, signed on to make 'The Misfits' with Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift. Well, "signed on" may not be the correct term as it was written for her by her then-husband Arthur Miller, one of America's leading dramatists. This is a legendary film. A film whose production has been much written about. From Monroe's lateness on set to the strenuous work of Gable in 100 or more degree heat in the Nevada desert, to director John Huston's all night gambling sessions in nearby Reno, this was a movie with unrealistic expectations thrust upon it. Gable, the leading male sex symbol of his generation, Mr Rhett Butler ['Frankly, my dear...'] playing opposite Miss Monroe, sex symbol 1960 version. Everyone expected sparks to fly. Throw in a unstable, alcoholic, homosexual, highly-talented, highly-neurotic Montgomery Clift and macho director Huston into the mix, well one just drools at the thought of such a collection of new and old Hollywood all out there in the Nevada desert heat sweating their boobs and balls off. The press was taking bets as to who would kill who first. It seems Marilyn never was on time, which tried just about everyone's patience except maybe Clift's. Monroe and Miller were in the middle of a break-up of their 4 year marriage which naturally tightened the screws to an already tense shoot.
Photo op on the set. Clift, Monroe, Gable in front. Wallach with black baseball cap, Huston in white cowboy hat, Miller in glasses and producer Taylor under the ladder, 1960.
Gable at 59 was not quite the King he once was. He had aged noticeably during the 1950's, his excessive drinking and smoking habits had done him no favors. But he was still perceived as The King of Hollywood and United Artists, which was bankrolling the film, figured they had sure-fire marquee value with Gable & Monroe as the above-title stars. And he and director Huston had been wanting to collaborate for awhile. Huston originally wanted to work with Gable & Bogart in 'The Man Who Would Be King' as far back as 1950. The plan for the film fell though, but Huston did realize a long-standing dream when he made an epic of it in 1975 with Sean Connery & Michael Caine. No longer a young man, Gable, who had a love/hate relation with acting, was looking for a good one to 'go out on'. When he read Miller's screenplay, he immediately felt a connection to the cowboy Gay Langland and felt this might be the one to top off his career.
Montgomery Clift as Perce Howland, punch drunk rodeo rider.
Clift was a wreck. Alcoholic, unstable, as unreliable as Monroe, he somehow was on his best behavior during the 'Misfits' shoot. So much so that Huston, who abhorred gays and couldn't tolerate men who couldn't hold their liquor, cast Clift in his very next production, 'Freud', in 1961 which was another catastrophic shoot and pretty much ended Clift's film career. On 'The Misfits' however Huston saw a dedicated craftsman who would give anything to make the picture better. And it is better for his participation. His bronco-riding Perce Howland is touching, pathetic, funny, sad, broken, brave, lost, lonely. It is a great performance.
With Gable, pushing the censors envelope of acceptable skin.
And Marilyn, what of her performance? As Roslyn, the perennial woman-child that drives the story, she is asked to play someone who seems not to far from her reel and real self. More serious than, say, Lorelei Lee in 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', more desperate than Pola Debevoise in 'How To Marry A Millionaire', and as innocently sexy as The Girl, that iconic creation from 'The Seven Year Itch', Roslyn casts a spell on all she encounters, even to some extent Thelma Ritter's character Isabelle Steers. Roslyn seems to infuse parts from
Getting ready on the set. Was every day like this ?
her public life as well. A woman whose parents weren't there for her in childhood, Roslyn keeps going back to square one time and again. Recently separated from hubby Kevin McCarthy in the film, Monroe would soon be divorced from Miller and would gravitate to another bunch of man/boy group of delinquents, Sinatra's infamous Rat Pack. So instead of cowboys the real Marilyn would get not only gangsters but politicians -- for Sinatra's reach in 1960 was ever-widening. So life imitates art. The end of 'The Misfits' has Roslyn and Gay drive away after they round up of the stallions, which Roslyn abhors and which Gay now sees is wrong [the horses are being made ready for dog food], and are set free. Free to return home to the mountains they came from. That is what the movie is about: home. How all the people who inhabit this universe have lost it and how they so much want to find it again. A place to live free and be happy and content. I fear Perce won't find it. He will go back to his rodeos and broken bones and lost dreams, Guido [Eli Wallach and the villain of the piece, if there is one] is too self-centered and petty to find any lasting happiness, Isabelle leaves before the round up in the desert to hang out with her ex-husband who is now married to her old childhood friend [wtf?]. Only Roslyn and Gay appear to make an attempt to build a place where no fear of abandonment will infiltrate their lives. I feel this was Miller's attempt at his fantasy of going off with Monroe to the theater in New York and creating character's for her to inhabit.
'The Misfits' premiered in February 1961 by which time Gable had died of a heart attack the previous November. Many would blame Marilyn for those torturous waits in 100 degree heat on location and Gable's decision to do alot of his stunts rather than wait it out. Marilyn put blame on herself also and was haunted by it. Marilyn was always haunted by something. As for the film, it has a haunting quality itself, but at the time most critics were divided as to its merits. The public failed to turn out for The King's last film and it was a box office loser. Time has been kind to it, however, and it plays better than it probably did at the time, it currently holds a 100% 'fresh' verdict on RottenTomatoes. The movie was the last of Monroe's too. She would be dead little more than 18 months after it's release.
Death house. Marilyn's final home in Brentwood. She was found here, dead on Aug 5, 1962.
Marilyn died before women's lib. Before the 60's got started, before nudity on screen was acceptable. What would have became of her? Of course no one can say, but it is interesting to speculate. She would have been 86 this past June 1st. I for one wouldn't want to know what she would have looked like. She may have wound up like 'Sunset Blvd's' Norma Desmond, alone in a great house, living out past achievements and exploits in her mind? Or would she have been like a Liz Taylor, going from husband to husband, looking for love but finding a lasting one elusive? Most all the great stars from the 1950s died somewhat young or at least middle-aged. Only Brando & Liz lived on past their 70s. Grace Kelly died 1982 at age 52, Audrey Hepburn in 1993 at age 63, James Dean at 24. They all died tragically and the one's who did survive to an old age had enough pain to last more than one lifetime. These few along with Marilyn, epitomized the 50s Hollywood. They ruled it like Clooney, Brad and Angelina, etc do today. As heartless as this may sound, Marilyn's death, like Elvis's, was big box office and has kept her legend alive long after she has past. But her movies. Watch her movies, remember her movies, for that is where the real Marilyn Monroe still lives and still reigns supreme.
Thought I'd bring July to a close on a high note. As I've said before I love these YouTube videos from 1960's Hollywood. No help this time, how many celeb's can you spot? Next month is a dark one with some death looming ahead: Marilyn, Elvis, Groucho. August is such an ugly month. So for now enjoy these carefree images. Oh, if we could all be forever young. See y'all next month.
This pic from ' Dark Knight Rises ' reminds me of the Batman bubble gum cards I use to buy as a kid.
Having just seen ' The Dark Knight Rises ' this past friday night I have to say it may be the best Batman movie yet. A long movie that clock's in at about 165 minutes, the pacing rarely flagged, I never thought to look at my cell phone to check the time [ a rare thing for me when watching a movie that's over two hours ]. Nolan crafted a well thought out plot with the visuals brooding, the audio creative. At times the sound was near non-existent and the music was bombastic when needed but also quiet and moving. Perfs all around were just what the film required. Bale's Batman was, well, Batman [ hoarse voice and all ], his Bruce Wayne quiet, wounded and reclusive. Nolan has been on for sometime about making a film on eccentric, reclusive, obsessive billionaire Howard Hughes. Well it appears that film is no longer on the table as Nolan's next flick, he says in the latest issue of Empire magazine that he scratched that itch with the Wayne character in the Batman movies. If he did, it was merely a sketch, a doodle drawing of a subject that requires a color portrait to do it full justice. I could see the resemblance so I guess he was working in some touches on the subject of Hughes. But this being a Batman movie, well, it was just a bit of character to give the overall film some emotional pull. There is no one outstanding Heath Ledger-like scene stealing in this latest entry. However the heart and soul of this movie belongs to Michael Caine's Alfred. Always Master Wayne's father-figure, Alfred also acts as Wayne's conscious. Alfred figures quite prominently in the first half, almost completely disappears in the second, save for two outstanding and touching scenes. If any one actor walks away with the film, it's Caine.
Alfred with Master Wayne, in full Hughes mode.
Miss Kitt's Cat.
Puss in boots: Newmar's Catwoman
Meriwether's attractive Cat
Having said all the above about ' The Dark Knight Rises ' let me get to the main subject at hand: Catwoman. There have been many actresses who've tackled this part in the past. One of the first was Julie Newmar fom the ' Batman' tv show of the 1960's. Then there was Eartha Kitt's feline . One would have thought this a purr-fect fit, Eartha had a animal, cat-like appeal that should have translated well. For me, at least, it didn't. I wanted Julie back. The popularity of the tv show was parlayed into a movie with the cast from the show pretty much intact. Cesar Romero as Joker, Frank Gorshin as Riddler and Burgess Meridith's Penguin. And of course Adam West pudgy Batman and Burt Ward's holy-enthusiastic Robin. But again the creator's mucked around with Miss Kitty. This time they cast Lee Meriwether as the Cat. Ms. Meriwether was a Miss America 1955 edition winner so the looks department were pretty much there but the danger, sexiness and fire needed to bring life to the Cat was sadly lacking.
Halle with Sharon in Catwoman
In 2004 Miss Kitty got a big movie all to herself. ' Catwoman ' with Halle Berry as the the woman with the whip, with another hot momma Sharon Stone as her arch enemy Laurel Hedare. Halle gave it her best but the movie was a bust, it currently holds a 10% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes and didn't even crack 100 million worldwide. Now comes Anne Hathaway in the part in ' The Dark Knight Rises '. Ms. Hathaway is one attractive actress and she is sexy, slinky Cat, dressed in black through most if not all of the film. The movie doesn't address Selina Kyle's background though there are interesting items if one looks close enough. Newspaper articles are glimpsed about a cat burglar loose in Gotham City. Hathaway's Kitty is hostile towards not only men but the world in general. there is also a whiff of possible girl-girl action as the only character she interacts without hostility is Juno Temple's Jen. Selina/Catwoman is also attracted to Bale's Wayne/Batman though the flirting is on the back burner for much of the film, Hathaway does have the best audience pleasing lines in the film. Overall, I give Ms. Hathaway a strong 8 on the KittyLitter scale.
However the gold standard for all things kittenish must go to Michelle Pfeiffer's kitten with a whip in 1992's Batman Returns.
Kitten with a whip!
Meow! On the bed with friend
With her mousey, unsure-of-her-self Selina Kyle and alter ego Catwoman, Pfeiffer steals the show from both Michael Keaton's Bat and Danny DeVito's equally twisted Penguin. As torn in half as Batman with a ton more anger and angst, Pfeiffer is by turns sexy, playful and downright furr-ocious. No one before or since has captured that tortured, desperate quality combined with straight up sex that is Catwoman. Not only does she crush the KittyLitter scale she breaks it wide open. My Crush of the week goes back about 20 years: Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman.
I haven't seen alot of her movies but I am a fan of her show, ' New Girl ' on Fox. With her blue-blue eyes, rich brown hair, a husky-squeeky voice that sounds like a cross between Jean Arthur and Lauren Bacall combined with a nerdy sense of humor, Zooey has made geeky sexy. Looking forward to new episodes of ' New Girl ' this fall. She also sings in the duo She & Him. Talented girl, just starting to make her mark. * Sigh *
Just got these two books from Amazon and cannot wait to dive in. I have been on a Flynn kick since his birthday celebration on June 20 [ I took the day off from work for the occasion ]. Being a fellow Gemini, I have always felt a special connection with the last swashbuckler. In addition, he died the year I was born. Tomorrow at 1pm PST on TCM they are having a rare showing of 1958's ' Too Much, Too Soon ' in which he plays an aging and quite burnt out John Barrymore. In fact Flynn himself was a burnt out shell of a man when he made this movie and he would be dead some 16 months after it's release in May 1958. I saw this film, just once years ago, on an extinct TV station called KCOP channel 13 out of Los Angeles. As far as I know this movie hasn't been shown on TCM before, so I hope you can understand my excitement. As for the books, I have several bios on Errol in my library, a couple of the best are his autobiography ' My Wicked, Wicked Ways' which I first read as a mere lad of fifteen and ' Inherited Risk ' by Jeffrey Meyers which is a duel bio about Errol and his only son Sean, who was reported MIA in Vietnam while working as a photojournalist there in 1970. Both of these new books have gotten fairly high marks from film buffs and Flynn fans so I was thrilled to free up some hard earned cash and finally get them [ ' Slept Here 'was published in 2009 and ' Errol & Olivia' in 2010 ] Maybe I will review them after I plunge in the deep, murky water of Olivia and Flynn's working relationship and the sad, sordid, ghostly goings on at Mulholland House. So much of Flynn and the people he knew and touched in his life had somewhat sad endings: His son Sean dead in 1970, one of his daughters Arnella died in 1998 at age 44 and Mulholland House itself destroyed in the 1990's split up into parcels of land, sold to the highest bidder. Lots of ghosts to deal with. Wish me luck.
Underrated as Soames Forsythe in 1949's That Forsythe Woman with Greer Garson, Robert Young and Janet Leigh
Sometimes age has it's advantages. I was around to experience our country's Bicentennial in 1976, I spent it with my family at Disneyland, the happiest place on earth. Disneyland was wall to wall people that day and the weather was a scorcher. The fireworks were a blast as usual, and Mickey, Donald and Goofy led the parade down Main Street, USA dressed as Minute Men. Well a lot has changed in America since that day, to name just a few: Our House of Representatives brought articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton in 1998 for perjury and abuse of power, but it was really because he couldn't keep his pecker in his pants, we saw New York City decimated by terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001 and we've elected our first President of color, Barack Obama, in 2008. But I wish to call to your attention this day to a movie that made little noise when it was released in November 1972, ' 1776 '.
Gwyneth Paltrow's mom as Martha Jefferson
I first saw the movie in 1973 at the Fairview theater and thought it a good rendering of what had been a smash, Tony winning Broadway musical. It in fact won the Tony for Musical of the Year for 1969. I didn't read critics in those days, being all of about 13 or 14 years old , but I have viewed some excerpts from Vincent Canby of The New York Times in which he says the music was " resolutely unmemorable " and that the lyrics sound as if they were written by " someone high on Root Beer ". Roger Ebert gave it two stars out of 4. What I find fascinating is that for a film adaptation ' 1776 ' is remarkably faithful. If Broadway critics loved it why didn't film critics love it too? Owning the Broadway musical soundtrack and thus listening to it countless times, I noticed but one omission of the songs, the politically charged ' Cool, Cool Considerate Men '. The film's leads were members of the original stage show: William Daniels as John Adams, Howard De Silva as Ben Franklin and Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson. Having one or two members of the cast of a Broadway show reprise their roles for the screen is rare. Having all three leads and several of the supporting cast in the film version is downright radical.
Ben, Tom and John contemplate the consequences of independence.
The film was produced by a Hollywood old timer, Jack L Warner. The former studio chief [ from the 1920's to the 1960's ] of Warner Brothers studios was friends with then President Nixon. It was Nixon, who didn't cotton to ' Cool, Cool Considerate Men ' feeling it being a knock on conservatives in 1970's Washington, that brought pressure on Warner to cut the song. Warner did cut it, but not before the scene had been filmed. Warner not only ordered the scene cut from the film but that the negative of the scene be destroyed. Fortunately a film editor on the film saved the deleted scene and it was restored for the DVD and subsequent television showings. I was happy to see this as I feel it's one of the best songs from the score. I hoped I could find a film clip from YouTube to share but I couldn't. However I did find this sound clip:
' 1776 ' presents us our founding fathers as human. Adams is obnoxious and disliked, Franklin is horny yet philosophical and a newlywed Jefferson aches for his wife, Martha, played by a delectable Blythe Danner. It is the only movie I know that deals with the painful birth of our country in a humorous and fairly accurate way [ except that our founding fathers couldn't carry a tune ]. One big history lesson I got out of this is that the southern states refused to sign the declaration unless the slavery clause be removed. By removing it congress planted the seeds of the War Between The States, surely our country's bloodiest hour. I wonder today what law congress wants to stop or repeal [ Obama care, Roe Vs.Wade ? ] and the consequences it may have 50 or 60 years from now. The parallels between our congress then and our congress of today [ as Adams says they ' piddle, twiddle and resolve: nothing's ever solved' ] is scary. As history shows time and again, this country is only successful when we progress, not digress. How this country got started and how close we came to not getting it started is an amazing history lesson that this movie brings home in a touching, humorous and altogether winning way. I say ye 1776!! Happy 4th of July everyone!
A beautiful Maid Marian, Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938
This one almost got past me. July 1 marks the 96th birthday of Lovely Livy. Last living co-star of the epic soaper ' Gone With The Wind ' and for all I know possibly the only living member of the film that all epics are more or less measured against. She is also the former flame of legendary lothario writer/director John Huston and fended off more than a few advances from screen partner Errol Flynn. The duo made a total of eight films together starting with 1935's' Captain Blood' and culminating with 1942's' They Died With Their Boots' On. In between they also made ' Dodge City ' in 1939, ' Charge of the Light Brigade ' in 1936 and 1938's all-time classic ' The Adventures of Robin Hood '. According to de Havilland herself Errol tried for several years to jump her bones, to no avail. Appears that she was the one who got away from that Tasmanian Devil Flynn. Their final film was ' Boots ' and Olivia has said that both she and Flynn knew it was to be their last film together, so the knowledge of that gave their farewell scene where General Custer goes off to do battle at the Little Big Horn a bittersweet poignancy .She never gave the movies she made with him much credit, but they live on today as great epics, spectacles with sound, fury, adventure and romance from a distant time and place that no longer exists. The movies are the poorer without them.
Olivia's career covered more than five decades with the 30's and 40's being her golden period in which she would win two Best Actress Oscar's and have several more nominations her first coming in the Supporting Actress catagory with ' GWTW '. If I had to pick only one Olivia perfomance to take with me on a desert island, I might pick 1941's Mitchell Leisen's 'Hold Back The Dawn' with Charles Boyer. An acerbic, touching romantic drama from Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett before that duo went on to be one of the great writer-director-producer partnerships Hollywood ever produced. Still with us living in France [ Paris ?], one of the Golden Ages last movie stars when that really meant something, 96 years old today, but forever young, delicate and beautiful to me. Happy Birthday!
Great pic of the two stars probably from around 1940. Note the hand holding.
