Welcome to the Big Sleep

Robert Mitchum on Marilyn Monroe: "She Had a Quiescent Loser's Philosophy"

2012-01-28T00:25:00.000-08:00

I attended the Remembering Marilyn Monroe Wednesday night in Los Angeles, where the 1964 documentary The Legend of Marilyn Monroe was screened. (My account about the evening is up over at my Examiner column.)

ROBERT MITCHUM appears long enough to utter one mystifying line about Marilyn: "She had a quiescent loser's philosophy." He made River of No Return with her, on location in Canada, where he later recalled trying to get her to shake the affected mannerisms her dialect coach suggested.

Shelley Winters, who was Marilyn's roommate when the two were struggling starlets, was also quoted briefly in the film: "If she were dumber, she would have been a lot happier."

The director of the documentary, Terry Sanders took part in a Q&A with Susan Bernard, author of the book Marilyn: Intimate Exposures. Bernard commented that he was lucky to get Mitchum to say anything at all, as the actor was notoriously hard to interview. (Larry King recently told a reporter that Mitchum was his toughest interview ever: "I loved Robert Mitchum's work, but he drove me nuts. He only gave one-word answers!")

Bernard read from her book and shared images taken by her father, Bruno Bernard, the photographer who discovered Marilyn. Juxtaposed with pin-up pictures of a young Marilyn was a photo of Mitchum enjoying a girlie magazine!

Pic courtesy of this lovely Marilyn fan site

Screening of 'The Legend of Marilyn Monroe' Jan. 25

2012-01-21T21:55:00.000-08:00

LA-area fans of Marilyn Monroe might want to check out a free night dedicated to the screen icon taking place Jan. 25 at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum. The evening includes a screening of the 1966 documentary The Legend of Marilyn Monroe, with director Terry Sanders in person. Among the people appearing in the film are director John Huston and ROBERT MITCHUM, Monroe's co-star in River of No Return.

Also on the program, newsreels and outtakes of Monroe and a Q&A with Sanders and Susan Bernard, author of the photo book, Marilyn: Intimate Exposures.

More details here.

David Fincher Cast Daniel Craig for His "Robert Mitchum Center"

2011-12-20T22:37:00.000-08:00

For his ideal leading man in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, director David Fincher explains that he was seeking someone with an inner ROBERT MITCHUM, and James Bond star Daniel Craig was that actor.

“The casting process began with Daniel, and if you build your universe, it's like a good basketball team, you start with the anchor. And I knew him to be self-effacing and witty, and I knew that I needed that for Mikael. I wanted a very masculine center to the film. The androgynous side of the movie would be carried by Rooney, that was her job. So I knew that I needed a sort of Robert Mitchum center. And so when we had Daniel that was a fait accompli."

The closest Fincher came to working with Mitchum himself? In two degrees, Sean Penn (The Game) to Robert De Niro (the Cape Fear remake, in which Mitchum had a cameo).

Via News OK.

Merry Christmas From Robert Mitchum

2011-12-17T19:06:00.000-08:00

ROBERT MITCHUM in a plaid holiday vest? Yes, the movie is Scrooged, the '80s update of the Dickens classic. It stars Bill Murray as a heartless TV executive and his clueless boss (Mitchum), who gives him advice like creating programming for pets! (Why not a detective who plays with string instead of sucking on a lollipop?) As the film winds down to its happy ending, even Mitchum's character approves of Murray's transformation. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Albert Brooks Picks Max Cady as One of His Favorite Villains

2011-12-11T11:46:00.000-08:00

Albert Brooks, who's gotten great reviews and an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his role as a gangster in Drive, was asked to name his five favorite film villains. Among them: Norman Bates, Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford and Max Cady in the original Cape Fear. "With Mitchum's Max Cady, he could go crazy on you, you just didn't know where his tolerance would end and he'd turn into some other kind of guy," he says. Via Yahoo Movies.

Happy 95th Birthday to Kirk Douglas

2011-12-09T17:33:00.000-08:00

In honor of Kirk Douglas turning 95, I put together a list of my 10 favorite films of his. Curiously, enough, two of them happen to co-star ROBERT MITCHUM: Out of the Past and The List of Adrian Messenger.

RIP, Harry Morgan

2011-12-07T10:59:00.000-08:00

Sad to hear that Harry (also known as Henry) Morgan has passed away at the age of 96. He was best known for his role as Col. Potter on TV's MASH, but he also had a long film career. One of my favorite roles of his is as the judge in Holiday Affair. He hears an outlandish case involving ROBERT MITCHUM and his wry amusement at the convoluted love triangle with Mitchum, Janet Leigh and Wendell Corey and peculiar details involving a squirrel and a little girl with a balloon on her head, make for a very funny scene. RIP.

Mitchum: One of the Coolest Cowboys of All Time

2011-08-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

With Cowboys & Aliens in theaters (featuring Daniel Craig in his first western role), Rediff asks "Who are the coolest cowboys of all time?" Among their picks: ROBERT MITCHUM, John Wayne, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges.

Hard to disagree with that list!

The full photo gallery is here.

New Biography of Director Nicholas Ray

2011-07-17T01:06:00.000-07:00


Mitchum and Nicholas Ray on the set of 'The Lusty Men.'

Director Nicholas Ray made several 1950s classics, including Rebel Without a Cause, the Humphrey Bogart film noir In a Lonely Place, and one of Mitchum's finest films, The Lusty Men. But his later career stalled, despite his cooperation with HUAC during the Red Scare.

A new biography, 'Nicholas Ray: The Glorious Failure of an American Director' by Patrick McGilligan, profiles Ray, who was as known for his Hollywood romances as his movies: He slept with Natalie Wood when she was just 16 during production of Rebel. His other conquests include Marilyn Monroe, Joan Crawford and Judy Holliday.

His most famous marriage was to noir icon Gloria Grahame, who costarred with Mitchum in Macao and Not as a Stranger. The Grahame biography Suicide Blonde details their stormy marriage and her subsequent marriage to Ray's son from his first marriage. (That's right, she married her own stepson!)

Ray would go on to become a mentor to filmmakers Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch (who directed Mitchum's last theatrical film, Dead Man). Wenders gave Ray a cameo in The American Friend and filmed Lightning Over Water, a documentary about Ray's last days.

JSOnline Book review

Mitchum's Time in the Conservation Corps

2011-07-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

Mitchum tends his own yard as a movie star (ToutLeCine.com)

Were you aware that ROBERT MITCHUM served time in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)? Well, add ditch digger to his colorful pre-Hollywood resumé, which included riding the rails, serving on a chain gang (he was arrested as a vagrant) and a brief stint as an astrologer.

In this article about the CCC, Mitchum is mentioned as one of those who spent time in the New Deal program begun by Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

The program operated from 1933 to 1942 and provided unskilled manual labor employment for young men in relief families. It paid $30 per month ($5 for them $25 directly to their families) for work that conserved and developed natural resources in lands owned by the government.

The program was responsible for planting three billion trees, restoring 3,980 historical structures, constructing of over 785 parks, building 46,000 bridges, erecting 400,000 signs, and, aside from employing over three million men when the nation’s economy and morale most needed it, sparking a larger national interests in nature conservation and physical fitness."

After he'd made a success in Hollywood, Mitchum said, “those digging days were tough, acting is easy. I’m grateful for where I’m now, but I never get too cozy with it. I remember what it took to earn that money then and what we kept telling each other we’d do if we ever got another full-time job.”

Robert Mitchum Western Series at UCLA

2011-07-03T21:21:00.000-07:00

Mitchum in 'Blood on the Moon'

Great news for LA-based ROBERT MITCHUM fans: UCLA is screening 10 of his westerns in a series called Tracking the Cat: Robert Mitchum in the West.

The series runs from July 8 through July 30 and includes both well-known westerns like El Dorado and some much more obscure cowboy flicks, like West of the Pecos.

Films in the series include several great films not on DVD, like Blood on the Moon, The Lusty Men, as well as Pursued, The Sundowners (which apparently counts as a western even though it's set in Australia), Track of the Cat, Rachel and the Stranger, River of No Return and The Wonderful Country.

Overview of Mitchum's westerns.

A Family For Joe: Mitchum's Infamous '90s Sitcom Surfaces

2011-06-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, but in 1990, ROBERT MITCHUM starred in a sitcom called A Family For Joe, about a homeless man who poses as the grandfather of a bunch of adorable orphans so they won't have to be taken away by child services.

Mitchum? Sitcom? Little kids? Yeah, it was a disaster by all accounts, only very few people have ever seen it. Clips are now up on YouTube and it's just as dreadful as its reputation. And look, that's a young Juliette Lewis, who'd go on to star in the 'Cape Fear' remake.

Everybody Loves Raymond's co-creator Phil Rosenthal, who got his first job in Hollywood as a writer on the series, recently talked about his time on the show.

As this Macleans article states, "It’s every bit as bad as Rosenthal’s description makes it sound, so the one thing to enjoy is how much Mitchum clearly does not love the adorable orphans and how completely he signals his boredom with the whole thing. Rosenthal says that he tried to introduce The Night of the Hunter to the cast and crew and was depressed when they laughed at it. But the show itself only works if you assume Mitchum is really playing the same guy from Night of the Hunter and is plotting to murder all these people after the cheesy synth music dies down and the credits roll."

Hee, that is genius!

In honor of Memorial Day....

2011-05-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

Why not enjoy one of several military films with ROBERT MITCHUM, from 'The Story of G.I. Joe,' (above) 'The Longest Day' or 'The Enemy Below' or 'Heaven Knows Mr. Allison?'

Ohio Sheriff Blames 'Thunder Road' for Glamorizing Crime

2011-03-27T09:47:00.000-07:00

One Ohio sheriff's editorial on the legacy of 'Thunder Road' and the sorry state of current crime ran today in the Cleveland Daily Banner.

"The story line of this movie romanticized the lives of those who today we would call less than honorable citizens...

In the movie the moonshiners were justified in their law-breaking because they were supposedly poor, humble folks who were victimized by the federal government. That same refrain is still being used by many criminals today. History tells us that these poor, underprivileged victims were finally put out of business by the dogged efforts of federal, state, and local law enforcement."

Of course, putting anything on camera tends to glamorize it. No mention of Mitchum's own brush with the law.

Elizabeth Taylor's Best Performance in 'Secret Ceremony?'

2011-03-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

Very sad to hear of the loss of legend Elizabeth Taylor, who died this morning of congestive heart failure.

Among her many tributes and retrospectives, there's sure to be little mention of the one movie she did with ROBERT MITCHUM, 1968's 'Secret Ceremony.' It received terrible reviews, but, according to Wikipedia, features one of her best performances. It's one I haven't seen myself, only in bits on TV. It's currently available only in a non-USA format DVD.

The film stars Mia Farrow and Taylor in a rather twisted faux mother-and-daughter relationship; Mitchum plays Farrow's randy stepfather. Joseph Losey ('The Servant,' 'The Go-Between') directed.

Photo thanks to Heck Yeah, Robert Mitchum.

Hollywood's dark tales of Irish gangsters have long captured America's attention

2011-03-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

With the new films 'Kill the Irishman' and 'White Irish Drinkers,' the New Jersey Star-Ledger takes a look at Irish gangsters on film, including ROBERT MITCHUM in 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle.'

"... one of the greatest of all Irish gangster films, “The Friends of Eddie Coyle.” Eddie, played by a rarely better Robert Mitchum (who supposedly researched his part by barhopping with the real Boston mob) is a low-level gunrunner facing a long prison sentence. His only chance to cut a deal is to turn confidential informant.

But soon Coyle finds himself being pushed to sell more and more of himself. And that’s a dangerous habit in a world where the cheap price of someone’s life is refigured every day.

A prime example of downbeat ’70s cinema, “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” remains a genre touchstone. (During a scene in “The Town,” Ben Affleck’s portrait of the current Boston mob scene, the film can be heard, dimly, playing in the background on TV.) It hammered home the point that, however dishonorable these men are, the one virtue they cling to is their honor toward each other."

Trailer for Comedy 'Robert Mitchum is Dead'

2011-03-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'm only just now hearing about this: A film called "Robert Mitchum is Dead" (or in its native French "Robert Mitchum Est Mort") hit the festival circuit last year and is now scheduled for an April release, according to TwitchFilm.

The comedy is about an agent and scriptwriter, Arsène (Olivier Gourmet) dying to impress a big name director at a film festival held in the Arctic Circle. He and his lead actor Franky Pastor (Pablo Nicomedes) set out from France for a very strange road trip. The French trailer is below.

Mitchum Sings With the Ames Brothers in 'When Irish Eyes Are Smiling'

2011-03-12T18:53:00.001-08:00

ROBERT MITCHUM harmonizing with the Ames Brothers is one of the highlights in "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling -- An Irish Parade of Stars," a new PBS special that also features other little-seen performances from Irish and Irish-American stars.

The program opens in Dublin with Bing Crosby offering a pair of Irish folk standards, "Molly Malone" and "McNamara's Band." Then Mitchum joins the Ames Brothers for a rare rendition of "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That's An Irish Lullaby)." There's also an all-star version of "It's A Great Day For The Irish" featuring Rosemary Clooney, Maureen O'Hara, Pat Rooney, and TV host Ed Sullivan.

Patty Duke hosts the program, which was written by actor and author Malachy McCourt.

The special will air throughout March. Check local PBS listings for stations and times. (Sadly, it does not seem to be airing in the LA market.)

More at PR Newswire
Read more about Mitchum, the Singer.

Christopher Mitchum Running For Office?

2011-03-10T15:38:00.001-08:00

According to the Santa Barbara Independent, Christopher Mitchum, son of actor ROBERT MITCHUM, is "seriously considering" running for political office again.

Chris was the Republican nominee in the 1998 general election for the California State Assembly in the 35th District, but lost the election to Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson, Wikipedia states.

The picture at left is from a 2009 appearance.

Chris, now 67, appeared in a few films alongside his famous father, including 'Young Billy Young,' and the 1985 TV movie 'Promises to Keep,' which also co-starred Chris's son Bentley.

See more on The Mitchum Acting Clan

President Eisenhower: Not a Mitchum Fan!

2011-03-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

Turns out that Dwight Eisenhower was not a fan of ROBERT MITCHUM and refused to let any of his movies be screened at the White House, according to a new article about presidential viewing habits in the Washingtonian.

"Westerns were a lot more common in the 1950s than they are today, but Ike clearly favored silent-type, tough-guy movies. He was also discriminating. He refused to watch films featuring Robert Mitchum because Mitchum had served time for marijuana possession. This was no small sacrifice: Mitchum was a star who appeared in more than 20 movies during Eisenhower’s two terms, including 1955’s classic 'The Night of the Hunter.'

White House projectionist Paul Fischer occasionally would try to sneak a Mitchum film past the President, but Ike would get up and walk out of the theater upon seeing the actor’s face onscreen."

Jane Russell Dies at Age 89

2011-02-28T18:49:00.000-08:00

Sad news! Jane Russell, one of my favorite movie stars and ROBERT MITCHUM co-star, has died at age 89. Here's a blog I wrote in her memory over at Examiner.com, complete with photo gallery of this stunning star.

Mitchum fans will remember her from her turns in the RKO noirs 'Macao' and 'His Kind of Woman,' where she always gave as good as she got.

Here's a short bit on their working relationship: Mitchum's Leading Ladies

Farewell, Jane. We'll miss you!

'Return to Thunder Road' author appearance

2011-02-21T21:08:00.000-08:00

This non-fiction book by Alex Gabbard profiles the real-life story of moonshining in the southern Appalachians, as seen in the 1958 ROBERT MITCHUM film 'Thunder Road.' Gabbard will be speaking at the March 17 Literacy Luncheon in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

From the Amazon profile: "This is a powerful saga of an age gone by ... Alex Gabbard tells the story of moonshining in the mountains where he grew up and how it influenced the rural south and fledgling stock car racing, giving the sport its most colorful and enduring characters."

'Thunder Road' was one of Mitchum's most personal films. He came up with the idea for the film, produced it, chose the director and cast his son, Jim, as his younger brother. He also sang the hit title track, 'The Ballad of Thunder Road.'

Feeling Noirish: NY Times on the Film Noir Foundation

2011-02-17T19:00:00.000-08:00

The NY Times' editorial on saving our favorite film noirs.

Critics have wondered why we love to watch tragedy. It’s easier to understand why we love film noir. In tragedy, none of the characters know they’re going to be tragic until it’s too late. The characters in film noir know what terrible cards they’re holding. We’re the bystanders witnessing a pitiless world where the game is rigged. Just watch “Out of the Past,” starring ROBERT MITCHUM and Jane Greer, and you’ll see. The only moments of true tenderness involve women lighting cigarettes for men and men lighting cigarettes for each other.

Contribute to the Film Noir Foundation which helps preserve neglected or damaged films.

Julian Cope Sings 'Robert Mitchum'

2011-02-10T09:07:00.000-08:00

As a fan of both '80s music and, of course, ROBERT MITCHUM, I'm embarrassed to say this is the first I'm hearing about a song from 1989 called "Robert Mitchum." It's by ex The Teardrop Explodes front man Julian Cope, who co-wrote it with Echo and The Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch.

Sample lyrics, "You're such a guy, you're such a dude, you're so half-asleep."

Here's the Chart Attack article that led me to it.

'Friends of Eddie Coyle' Director Peter Yates Dies

2011-01-10T15:47:00.001-08:00

Director Peter Yates, best known for the films 'Bullitt' and 'Breaking Away,' died Sunday. He was 82.

Yates was a graduate of London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art who relocated to New York. His first Hollywood production, 'Bullitt,' became the high point of Steve McQueen's career and its chase scenes set a new standard. The film won an Oscar for Best Editing.

Yates also directed ROBERT MITCHUM in the1973 crime film 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle,' about a small-time Boston hood. The film was recently released on DVD, after several years of being unavailable.

He earned a Best Director nomination for the 1979 coming-of-age film 'Breaking Away' and for 1983's 'The Dresser,' which also scored Best Ator nominations for stars Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay.

Robert Mitchum in 'The Human Comedy'

2011-01-01T14:11:00.001-08:00

Over the holidays, I caught one of Robert Mitchum's earliest films for the first time. 'The Human Comedy' is one of the many 1943 films Mitchum appeared in when he first hit Hollywood.

This film, based on the book by William Saroyan, concerns a small-town family during World War II. It stars Mickey Rooney as a telegraph company messenger, a very young Donna Reed as his older sister and Van Johnson as his older brother, who's serving in the war.

Mitchum makes his appearance about halfway through the film, as one of a trio of G.I.s who ask Donna Reed and her friend Mary (played by Dorothy Morris), out to the theater. G.I. Barry Nelson does most of the talking, but when the quintet swings by the telegraph office, we learn that the first name of Mitchum's character, Horse, is actually Quentin! Before the G.I.s part, they give the girls a kiss, with Mitchum kissing Morris (at left, in the photo above). This was, sadly, the only time Reed and Mitchum shared the screen.

The film itself I have to give a thumbs down: Great cast, but a schmaltzy and often preachy script, alas. Still, I'm glad to have seen one of Mitchum's first movies!

Happy Holidays, From Robert Mitchum!

2010-12-10T17:46:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays from ROBERT MITCHUM!

Here's a still from his underrated but wonderfully charming Christmas movie 'Holiday Affair.' He plays a store clerk who gets fired just before Christmas because he doesn't report pretty comparison shopper, Vivien Leigh. Soon, he's swept up in her life and that of her little boy, who desperately wants a toy train set for Christmas.

Read more about 'Holiday Affair.'

RIP Leslie Nielsen

2010-11-30T20:26:00.000-08:00

In all the kudos for the late Leslie Nielsen (who died November 28), I doubt anyone mentioned his role in 'The Amsterdam Kill,' a 1977 thriller about the international drug trade, starring ROBERT MITCHUM. It's a low point in both their careers and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but diehard Mitchum fans (and, apparently fans of "Golden Harvest Trash," as it's labeled in the Youtube trailer below.

If you've ever wanted to hear Mitchum dubbed in German, now's your chance! His German voice double is actually quite good! And the film is re-titled "The Tiger From Taipei."

Nielsen would go on to reinvent his career as a comedian with 'Airplane!' just three years later and in the '80s, Mitchum would go on to make 'That Championship Season' and the TV miniseries 'The Winds of War,' which introduced him to a new generation.

'Night of the Hunter' One of 'Ten Creepiest Movies Ever'

2010-10-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Seattle Times critic John Hartl lists 'The Night of the Hunter' as one of his 'Ten Creepiest Movies Ever,' along with other classics like 'Rosemary's Baby,' 'Psycho' and 'The Innocents.'

Remember, the Criterion DVD/Blu-Ray edition of 'Hunter' is coming out November 16.

Isn't this still (at left) cool? Found it at cinemaisdope.com, as its Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day.

Billy Corgan's New Role Model: Robert Mitchum

2010-08-28T09:52:00.001-07:00

The Smashing Pumpkins singer opens up about his spiritual journey, what the rise and fall of grunge felt like from the inside, and his current role model (ROBERT MITCHUM?)

Corgan: "Robert Mitchum always struck me, at least how he came across as an actor, he was a man who was comfortable with both his grace and his darkness. If John Wayne was the hero version of that, Robert Mitchum is the darker version of that. He's the darker hero. He's the guy who's not sure whether he wants to fuck the chick or go home to his wife. He's gotta sit there and smoke a cigarette and think about it, you know what I mean? He's closer to my archetype of being conflicted by the forces of the world but really wanting to make the best of it."

Read the full interview at LA Weekly

'Night of the Hunter' Coming to Blu-Ray

2010-08-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

No surprise that 'Night of the Hunter' will be the first ROBERT MITCHUM movie released on Blu-ray. The special edition will feature lots of extras and will also be available on DVD. Look for it November 16.

Here's some of the bonus features:
-- New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
-- Audio commentary featuring assistant director Terry Sanders, film critic F. X. Feeney, archivist Robert Gitt, and author Preston Neal Jones
-- Charles Laughton Directs "The Night of the Hunter," a two-and-a-half-hour archival treasure trove of outtakes from the film
-- New documentary featuring interviews with producer Paul Gregory, Sanders, Jones, and author Jeffrey Couchman
-- New video interview with Simon Callow, author of Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor
-- Clip from the The Ed Sullivan Show, in which cast members perform live a scene that was deleted from the film
-- Fifteen-minute episode of the BBC show Moving Pictures about the film
-- Archival interview with cinematographer Stanley Cortez
-- Gallery of sketches by author Davis Grubb
-- New video conversation between Gitt and film critic Leonard Maltin about Charles Laughton Directs "The Night of the Hunter"
-- Original theatrical trailer
-- A booklet featuring essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Michael Sragow

Full article here at IGN

The Star Who Made it Look Easy

2010-08-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

From The Irish Independent

While surfing channels recently I came across a late-night screening of Martin Scorsese's 1991 thriller Cape Fear. Like most people I'm a huge admirer of Scorsese's films but have always thought this is one of the worst of them -- and as I watched it again my worst suspicions were confirmed.

A master director like Scorsese was well able to keep the tension going, but seemed unable to decide whether the prevailing mood in his remake should be irony or fear. And surprisingly, the film's weakest link is Robert De Niro.

As a result perhaps of his director's uncharacteristic indecision, De Niro's portrayal of cheery southern psychopath Max Cady quickly descends into an overblown caricature, and is about as scary as a trip to Santa's grotto. In fairness, De Niro has hardly ever been bad in anything, before or since, but his performance and Scorsese's film match up very badly against the excellent 1962 original.

Appearing in small parts in Scorsese's remake were the two stars of the first Cape Fear, Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Peck brought a sort of moral authority to every role, but it was Mitchum's sneering sadist Max Cady that made the original film so memorably disturbing, and perhaps he's the real difference between the two versions.

He and Robert De Niro couldn't have been more different in their approach to acting, and when they first performed together in The Last Tycoon in 1976, 'Mitch' made fun of De Niro's insistence on staying in character between shoots.

Throughout his long career Mitchum made light of his chosen profession and was fond of saying things like, "I got three expressions, looking left, looking right and looking straight ahead". But this bluster may have been a front because behind it all Mitchum seems to have been a dedicated and surprisingly versatile actor.

Read the rest of the article here.

Interesting Interviews: Reminiscing with Robert Mitchum

2010-07-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

From Cinematical.com

It's safe to say that once God made ROBERT MITCHUM, he then turned around and broke the mold. The late actor was a one of the kind talent -- a fantastic performer who was every bit as interesting when he was just being himself. He was the antithesis of today's celebrities -- Mitchum didn't care about fame in the slightest. A tough guy actor who often made you believe he was more than capable of doing everything he'd done onscreen in real-life, Mitchum was always a great interview. While surfing around, looking for something else entirely, I stumbled across this Salon piece from back in 1997. In it, author Dick Lochte reminisces about the actor's career after his passing and shares excerpts from a four-hour chat -- one filled with vodka, no less -- they'd had twenty years earlier. It's a great piece of writing, made memorable by Mitchum's characteristic candor and humor. Don't expect any politically correct answers in this one.

Full interview at Salon

NY Screening of Bruce Weber's 'Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast'

2010-07-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

From Italian Vogue:
On June 21st, 30 Rock star and Emmy Award-winning actor Alec Baldwin hosted a special sneak peak of fashion photographer Bruce Weber's latest film, Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast, (the title comes from a 1967 album by singer Julie London) a beautifully shot documentary examining the life of the movie star with the tough guy looks and a cigarette always in his hand, ROBERT MITCHUM

The film also reveals never before seen studio recordings of Mitchum, a notorious Hollywood bad boy who starred in films like The Big Sleep and The Last Tycoon, singing. Filmed mostly in black and white, the movie is narrated by New Orleans rhythm and blues musician Dr. John and features revealing interviews with Mitchum, his brother John and many of his friends.

... Weber is most famous for his erotically charged photographs of semi-nude All-American boys, but he is also an Academy Award nominated director who has turned his movie camera in 1988 on jazz trumpeter Chet Baker in Let's Get Lost (which earned him the Best Documentary Oscar nomination), on his herd of beloved pet dogs and on teenage boxers in Broken Noses in 1987.

Weber is attracted to not only male physical perfection, but to beauty's flipside: damaged, wayward souls, so Mitchum, who often played anti-heroes and was called by film critic Roger Ebert "the soul of film noir," is the perfect subject.

From The Huffington Post:

The big question of the night, how did Weber get such candid footage from interview-phobic Mitchum who eluded the invitations of Barbara Walters, Dick Cavett, and Larry King. Weber, in signature head scarf, is disarming and sly, telling how he sent beautiful women with gifts to Mitchum's door ...

Through Weber's lens, the Hollywood tough guy of Westerns and noirs, the creep in the original Cape Fear with deep cleft chin and eyes at half mast emerges as a shy, modest, non-celebrity jamming sweetly off-key with Dr. John, Marianne Faithfull, and Rickie Lee Jones ...

New to DVD

2010-06-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

Robert Mitchum movies that are new(ish) to DVD:

Agency (1979) with Lee Majors
A Killer in the Family (1983 TV Movie) with James Spader, Lance Kerwin, and Eric Stoltz
Rampage (1963) with Elsa Martinelli
Two for the Seesaw (1962) with Shirley MacLaine

Mitchum in New "Match Prints" Photography Book

2010-06-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

This looks like a very cool new photography book of classic actors and rock 'n' roll stars:

Jim Marshall and Timothy White made an odd couple. White is a stylish shooter of celebrity portraits. The gruff Marshall ("I only photograph artists I like, where I get the trust") has taken some of the most iconic shots in rock & roll.

"We'd dress differently. We'd look differently. There's 20 years difference in our lives, our careers, everything. But there was this affection. There was this love that we had for each other, that this book came out of."

The book, called "Match Prints" (HarperCollins) is the product of Marshall and White's 24-year friendship.

It was a photograph White had taken of actor ROBERT MITCHUM that started it all: "My image of Robert Mitchum, which Jim just loved. He just really loved this picture a lot," said White. "And then, of course, [he] pulled out this image of Jim Morrison that was just uncanny. Just, you know, it was the exact same position, holding the cigarette the same way."

As they went through each other's work, they noticed more and more similarities.

Rest of the article at CBS News

Pairing a DVD and a Drink Takes Care

2010-05-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

From the NY Times:
I COULD blame Don Draper, but if it was anyone’s fault, it was ROBERT MITCHUM’s.

There he was early in one of my all-time favorite films, “Out of the Past,” sipping bourbon in a little bar in Acapulco (or a Hollywood version thereof), waiting for the girl, thinking about how the day went away like a pack of cigarettes you smoked. But, baby, I didn’t care. I was thinking, man, that bourbon looks good.

So I paused Mitchum midsentence, went over to the liquor cabinet and then the freezer, and poured myself a Knob Creek on the rocks. And then another.

By the end of the film, whose labyrinthine, double-upon-triple-cross plot had baffled me with each previous viewing, I was even more hopelessly lost than usual. But so what?

So, no, Don, your great-looking old-fashioneds in great-looking bars in “Mad Men” didn’t get me started on this funny habit of mine. I’ve been matching my drinks to my movies for at least 15 years. I’ve done it with my wife, in groups, or (and I’m not ashamed to say this) alone. It adds a new dimension — Alc-O-Vision? — to the plot, the photography and, especially, the sense of immersion if the film takes place in the same country from which the drink in my hand originated.

Different spirits cause different results. “Out of the Past” paired with Knob Creek is mellow yet ominous. But try it with smoky Monte Alban mezcal backed by Negra Modelo beer, and it is vibrant and energetic. The opening Mexican scenes seem to stretch the whole way to the end, to the final quadruple-cross. And it all makes sense.

Read the rest of the article at the NY Times.

You must read (and watch) Eddie Coyle

2010-05-06T17:58:00.000-07:00

The first thing to know about George V. Higgins' The Friends of Eddie Coyle is that it directly entered the crime-fiction canon upon its 1970 publication. The second thing to know is that it holds up as both a writer's-writer thriller and as popular pulp, with Dennis Lehane introducing Picador's new 40th-anniversary reissue of the novel by heralding it as "the game-changing crime novel of the last fifty years"—a moderate claim compared with that of Elmore Leonard, who hails it as the best crime novel, period. The third thing to know about The Friends of Eddie Coyle is that, as Lehane beat me to quipping, Eddie Coyle doesn't actually have any friends. When "my friend" is said in these pages, it is used with far less affection than in the case of a guy at a bodega or a coffee cart man addressing a patron

Read the rest of the article at Slate.com

The Star Who Didn't Care

2010-05-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

From Commentary Magazine:

Of all the movie stars created by the Hollywood studio system whose films continue to be viewed, Robert Mitchum is the one whose artistic legacy is most problematic. Throughout much of his career, he was generally regarded less as an actor than as a personality, one whose hell-raising private life (among other once-scandalous things, he was arrested in 1948 for possession of marijuana) contributed to his reputation as one of the baddest of Hollywood’s bad boys. Many of his best-known films were trivial entertainments in which he played cartoonish heroes.

Read the whole article.

Jean Simmons Dead at Age 80

2010-01-23T20:12:00.000-08:00

Very sad to share the news that actress Jean Simmons has died of lung cancer at the age of 80. Simmons is well-known for her roles in Guys and Dolls and Spartacus, but ROBERT MITCHUM fans will also remember her as a femme fatale in the noir Angel Face. She also starred with Mitchum in the comedy She Couldn't Say No and The Grass is Greener.

She was married to actor Stewart Granger and under contract to movie mogul Howard Hughes. "I was married to Jimmy (Granger's real name was James Stewart), so Hughes remained at a distance," she recalled years later. "But those movies! So terrible they aren't even on videocassettes." Of course, Angel Face has benefited from the resurrection of many film noirs that were overlooked in their day.

The Washington Post gives this account of her time with Hughes:
Ms. Simmons was wildly miscast in a series of lurid dramas and second-rate adventure and historical films ....

Hughes reportedly refused to lend her to another studio for the leading female role in "Roman Holiday" (1953), which made a star and Oscar-winner of Audrey Hepburn. Granger later wrote in his memoir that Ms. Simmons's relationship with Hughes deteriorated so badly that the producer cast her as a murderess in the drama "Angel Face" (1952), with Robert Mitchum, and reportedly ordered director Otto Preminger to be rough with her.

Preminger demanded repeated takes of Mitchum's character slapping Ms. Simmons, and the actress's face became redder and redder. Finally, according to Granger, Mitchum punched Preminger, asking how that take was, or "Would you like another, Otto?

Good to know she had Bob on her side. RIP, Jean

Psycho Stepfather Supreme: Night of the Hunter

2009-10-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

"A re-do of The Stepfather? It only led me to my archive of demented dads, a movie (and real life) character I'm fascinated by. From the anti-Atticus Finch figures of Bigger than Life to Lord Love a Duck to Paper Moon, varied degrees of problematic parenting are always interesting. But for those special psycho stepfathers, however, no one should ever forget the biggest, baddest, most brilliantly baneful step-dad of all time: Robert Mitchum's Harry Powell in Charles Laughton's genius, Night of the Hunter."

Read more at :The Huffington Post

"Ryan's Daughter" Sequel

2009-08-02T17:32:00.000-07:00

Story @ Independent UK

The critics loathed it, and the public just ignored it. When Ryan's Daughter was released in 1970, it proved such a box-office dud that many blame it for stalling the director David Lean's career for 10 years. Now it is considered one of the British director's best and most popular films. It is an unrepeatable classic – only now they want to do it again.

Sarah Miles, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Rosy Ryan, is writing a script and undertaking research in Ireland for a sequel. Yesterday her agent said: "She is writing a script and there is a producer for a film, but it's very early days."

Classics from the vault: Thunder Road

2009-07-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

Story at Examiner.com

... Thunder Road is the kind of movie that sticks in the minds of its viewers for years after seeing it. It’s the first film maverick director Jim Jarmusch* ever recalls seeing, at the age of six at a drive-in theater. As he related in a 1992 interview in Film Comment, despite being a huge Mitchum fan he never saw the film again, so indelible was the childhood memory in his mind. Bruce Springsteen named the opening track of his 1975 Born to Run album after the movie, although he never even saw it – he only saw the film’s poster in the lobby of a theater.

Thunder Road airs Tuesday, July 21 at 6:00 PM ET on Turner Classic Movies.

*Jarmusch later directed Mitchum in his last film, Dead Man.

Oscar-winning actor Karl Malden dead at 97

2009-07-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

Story at CNN.com

Veteran actor Karl Malden, who won an Academy Award for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire, has died at age 97, his manager said Wednesday.

Among Malden's films is the 1967 western The Way West, costarring ROBERT MITCHUM and Kirk Douglas.

Jean Simmons Admits Mitchum Affair

2009-06-26T12:07:00.000-07:00

From NewKerala.com

London, Jun 24 : English actress Jean Simmons has opened up about her affair with late American actor ROBERT MITCHUM.

Simmons, 80, and the tough-guy actor had acted together in the Fifties in films such as Otto Preminger's 'Angel Face' and Stanley Donen's 'Grass Is Greener'.

The actress had previously spoken only about her fondness for her late co-star, but she now has revealed that there was more than just friendship between them.

"All right, then - Robert Mitchum," the Daily Express quoted her as saying when asked if she had off-screen dalliances.

"He was a real man. He was a ladies' man and a man's man. He was also extremely bright, despite those sleepy eyes," she added.

Jean added that she admired other Hollywood leading men.

"I had two big loves: Spencer Tracy, whom I adored, and Larry Olivier," she told Saga magazine, "but they were not sexual relationships."

NY Times on El Dorado, Friends of Eddie Coyle

2009-05-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

Story at New York Times

The veteran Hollywood directors still working in the ’60s sometimes seemed to be addressing the decay of the studio system that had nurtured them. Decay is very much the subject of Howard Hawks’s penultimate movie, the 1966 western “El Dorado,” but less the decay of golden-age Hollywood than the decay of age itself....

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) Think of Boston and images of genteel, picturesque beauty come to mind: swan boats gliding across the pond at the Public Garden, a Paul Revere statue nobly silhouetted against the sky. There’s none of that in Peter Yates’s cold, damp and piercing modern noir from 1973, “The Friends of Eddie Coyle.” Its chief visual feature is the sad-eyed, beaten-down mug of the low-level hood Eddie, played by ROBERT MITCHUM. But that’s enough. ...

George Hamilton recalls working with Mitchum

2009-04-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

Story at Daily Mail (UK)

Gorgeous George Hamilton's tantastic tales: The actor recalls Elvis, Marilyn and JFK in his new autobiography.

An excerpt about Mitchum:

I worked with ROBERT MITCHUM on the 1960 film Home From The Hill and I never saw any star care less about being one. Bob could talk your ear off, but the one thing he didn't want to talk about was his lines or the film. He liked to get drunk and then sing songs - sea shanties, cockney ditties, Australian football songs, anything.

What he would usually say to me was: 'Gettin'any?' He was. Bob would send me to buy him liquor. On my first run back to his hotel room, I found him 'entertaining' a lady. He motioned me to open a bottle and hand it over. I was honored to be of service.

When he wasn't having sex, he'd sit in a rocking chair wearing just boxer shorts and alligator cowboy boots while casting for imaginary trout with a fishing rod.

He drank a lot and smoked a lot of dope. He also took a lot of pills, which he kept in his own leather doctor's bag. One night I asked him for something to help me sleep. He handed me a pill he called a 'nighty night' - and I slept straight through my call the next morning and on into a second day.

Bob once said to me: 'They think I don't know my lines. It's not true. I'm just too drunk to say 'em.'

The studio once sent a manager to keep Bob in line, but the minute he walked into the hotel room, Bob punched him, knocking him through the door.

For years, Bob sent me Mother's Day cards. I was never sure why, but he gave me confidence that you could always be a star in Hollywood on your own terms."

'Young Billy Young" Coming to DVD

2009-04-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

Source: Deseret News

Fox/MGM is releasing "Young Billy Young" (1969) with ROBERT MITCHUM and Angie Dickinson May 12. The film co-stars Robert Walker, Jr. and David Carradine.

Pre-order at Amazon.com

Broccoli Only Man Brave Enough to Wake Mitchum

2009-04-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

Story at Times Online

Albert "Cubby" Broccoli is best known as the producer of the classic James Bond series. The BFI is celebrating with a two-month season of his films, starting on April 8. Here's an anecdote regarding Mitchum:

"On the Caribbean shoot for Fire Down Below, Broccoli was the only man brave enough to dump a bucket of water over a comatose ROBERT MITCHUM to wake up the boozy actor."

Two Mitchum Films Scheduled for LA Film Noir Series

2009-03-25T19:33:00.001-07:00

It's time for Deadline: Noir City, the 11th Annual Film Noir Festival, held at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles. This year, two Mitchum films will be shown:

April 2: Out of the Past -- part of a Jane Greer double feature with the rare The Company She Keeps.

April 11: The Racket -- a double bill with another Robert Ryan film, Woman on Pier 13.

Film Noir Schedule

American Cinematheque on Blogspot

Keely still singing classics from Rat Pack days

2009-03-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

Story at SF Examiner.

"For Smith, those old songs have a lot of history. "Yeah, there’s about 40 men that I think of when I sing certain songs!" she says, laughing. "I used to think a lot about [Frank] Sinatra, but not so much these days. I think of [Prima]. I think of ROBERT MITCHUM, and a couple of other people I can’t tell you!"

She’s saving that for her autobiography, on which she has been working in a stop-and-go fashion."

Keely performs daily (except Mondays) at The Rrazz Room in San Francisco through April 5. She costarred in Thunder Road with Mitchum.

DVD Review: The Friends of Eddie Coyle

2009-03-24T08:06:00.001-07:00

DVD Review at Filmcritic.com

"The fact that Coyle is so effective has much to do with the fact that he is played by Mr. Mitchum. Though not as transfixing as his monstrous preacher in Night of the Hunter, Coyle easily allows for one of Mitchum's best performances, a grounded, unsentimental study of a man as used-up and disposable as an empty can of Schlitz."

Pre-order
here at Amazon.com

'Fire Down Below' Screening in London

2009-03-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

Fire Down Below will be screened April 11 and April 26 at London's BFI Southbank as part of a tribute to James Bond producer Cubby Broccoli.

Schedule information at BFI

'El Dorado' Part of Howard Hawks LACMA Retrospective

2009-03-16T17:21:00.001-07:00

Story at LA Weekly

Better Late Than Never: Howard Hawks at LACMA
Retrospective surveys indomitable director’s final films

... Rio Bravo (1959), El Dorado (1967), and Rio Lobo (1970) all star an increasingly monumental John Wayne and were scripted by Ms. Leigh Brackett, retracing the same paths to diminishing returns. (Hawks: “You’ve got fellows with guns, and one of them’s a sheriff ... there isn’t much you can do.”) Hedged in by outlaws, the Law waits on reinforcements. This involves rolling cigarettes, propping his leg on whatever’s handy, and generally bullshitting. Wayne nurses a gunfighter-turned-lush (real-life alkies Dean Martin or ROBERT MITCHUM) back to self-esteem and humors a procession of orn’ry ol’ crackers (real-life crackers Walter Brennan, Arthur Hunnicutt and Jack Elam). Hawks shows he can still turn a scene on a dime, as in... El Dorado’s shift from pastoral openness to the intimate suffering of a gut-shot kid (one of the toughest scenes Duke ever played).

Film Schedule at LACMA.org
El Dorado screens March 20.

First-Ever Film Footage of Mitchum?

2009-03-13T12:05:00.001-07:00

Mitchum, with his own chest hair, we assume, in His Kind of Woman

Story at LA Times

Ladies and gentlemen, the UCLA Film & Television Archive Festival of Preservation has returned. This is the 14th UCLA festival, at one time an annual event and now held every other year at the Hammer Museum's Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood. Though I've seen only parts of it, the most boggling program of the entire series looks to be "Behind the Scenes in Hollywood," which samples the archive's fascinating collection of cinematic flotsam and jetsam ... Here is possibly the first-ever 1942 screen appearance by ROBERT MITCHUM as a nameless extra getting hair put on his chest in a Max Factor promotional film called "The Magic of Make-Up." — Kenneth Turan

Note: Mitchum in need of extra chest hair? I recall reading that he was actually the first actor in Hollywood to refuse to shave his chest hair, ushering in a new age of ultra-macho movie stars. Mitchum's film debut was in 1943, so this footage would definitely pre-date that.

The festival runs from March-April. The Mitchum footage will be screened April 10.

UCLA Film & Television Archive Schedule.

‘Ryan’s Daughter Doc’ Nominated for Rose d’Or

2009-03-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Story from IFTN (Irish Film and Television Network)

The RTÉ documentary ‘A Bit of a Fillum: Ryan's Daughter in Dingle’ has been nominated in the Arts Documentary Category for the Rose d'Or International Television Competition 2009 to be held May 2-5, 2009 in Lucerne, Switzerland.

The Rose d’Or, held annually in Lucerne, offers four days of viewing the best in entertainment and television programming from around the world. ‘A Bit of a Fillum: Ryan's Daughter in Dingle’ documentary which screened on RTÉ One, 25th December last year, goes behind-the-scenes of the making of David Lean’s 1969 feature ‘Ryan's Daughter’ in Kerry and explores the effects of the arrival of an all star cast including ROBERT MITCHUM, Sarah Miles and John Mills had on the Kerry natives and the local economy. The documentary features footage from the RTÉ Archive and from the UCLA Ethnographic Program.

New Book on the Making of The Night of the Hunter

2009-03-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

The Night of the Hunter: A Biography of a Film, by Jeffrey Couchman (March 2009).

"The only film ever directed by the great character actor Charles Laughton, The Night of the Hunter failed miserably when it opened in 1955. But since then it has come to be recognized as one of American cinema's greatest masterpieces. Shot in glorious black and white, this poetic, highly stylized movie is half-Gothic nightmare, half-morality play, a pastoral film noir set along the banks of the serene Ohio River. Cahiers du Cinéma ranks it as the second most beautiful film of all time (after Citizen Kane and just above The Rules of the Game). In this enthralling 'biography,' Jeffrey Couchman traces how the cinematic classic came to be made."

From the Washington Post Book Review

Order the book at Amazon.com

The Friends of Eddie Coyle coming to DVD

2009-03-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

Long unavailable, Mitchum's '70s crime drama The Friends of Eddie Coyle is coming to DVD May 19, 2009.

Pre-order here at Amazon.com

60 Years Ago: Mitchum Released From Prison

2009-02-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

Story from DC Examiner

On this day, Feb. 25, 1949, actor ROBERT MITCHUM was released from a prison farm after a two-month sentence for marijuana possession.

In 1948, Los Angeles detectives burst into a small party and found Mitchum smoking a joint. Mitchum, who two years earlier had been nominated for an Oscar in “The Story of G.I. Joe,” reportedly said, “This is the bitter end of everything.”

Instead, it seemed to enhance his image as a rebel, and his next movies were box office smashes. Mitchum went on to define the film noir in classics like “Crossfire,” “Out of the Past” and in his portrayals of psychopaths in “The Night of the Hunter” and “Cape Fear.”

Clint Eastwood Talks Dirty Harry, The Greatest Movie Badass Of All Time

2009-02-09T11:31:00.000-08:00

Story at MTV.com

"I guess they tried to get a lot of people for it. They tried Frank Sinatra and ROBERT MITCHUM and Steve McQueen. Then they finally ended up with Frank Sinatra," Eastwood recalled of the early '70s casting process for the original "Dirty Harry" film.

Other famous films that almost starred Mitchum

Philip French's screen legends

2008-10-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

Story at The Observer

Philip French profiles ROBERT MITCHUM

Lila Leeds: Movie star mystery photo

2008-08-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

Photo by LA Times
See story, photos at LA Times

Mystery star photo revealed to be Lila Leeds, at her LA home after the raid in which ROBERT MITCHUM was arrested, showing that it's not a marijuana shack.

See also: Photos of the site in 2003; Robert Mitchum, The Original Bad Boy

50s Fords Haul Moonshine To Quench The Devil's Thirst: Thunder Road

2008-07-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

Story at Jalopnik.com

ROBERT MITCHUM outrunnin' revenoors in a triple-carbed '50 Ford sedan full of white liquor - now that's what we call a car movie! Thunder Road still holds up well after 50 years.