Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-18-2023
Abstract
Director John Huston’s The Misfits (1961) was one of the most volatile productions of his career, with its ensemble cast headlined by a trio of screen icons: Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift. Drawing on new archival research, I argue that The Misfits illuminates the transition from old to New Hollywood in terms of its behind-the-scenes star negotiations of Gable and Monroe, who had varying levels of creative control to appear in the film. My analysis of their respective deals underscores how The Misfits anticipates the shift from the female driven star system of Classical Hollywood to the male lead talent of the New Hollywood era, in which men dominated creatively and financially in Hollywood productions . Nevertheless, even within this male centric production context, Monroe exerted her own creative influence in the film by using her star power to help secure United Artists and the A-list talent in the film and by utilizing her Method acting technique. In this way, The Misfits is a transitional film that points to the emerging gender gap that continues to impact Hollywood filmmaking to the present day.
Recommended Citation
Carman, E. (2023). A "Misfit" Revision: Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and Transitional Stardom in Postwar Hollywood. Cinephile: The University of British Columbia’s Film Journal, 17(1), 36–45. https://doi.org/10.14288/cinephile.v17i1.198289
Copyright
The author
Included in
Film Production Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Comments
This article was originally published in Cinephile: The University of British Columbia’s Film Journal, volume 17, issue 1, in 2023. https://doi.org/10.14288/cinephile.v17i1.198289