Robert Mitchum

Only Angels Have Wings … is one of Howard Hawks’ finest films, arguably his quintessential work.

The Racket tackles on a subject matter that can be rather confounding for unsuspecting viewers hoping to relish in a good old fashioned yarn about two tough guys having a blistering tête-à-tête from start to finish. Make no mistake, the battle between the film’s chief protagonist and antagonist does transpire, and the scenes in which both actors face off against each other explode with tension, only that director James Cromwell and the duo of screenwriters painstakingly depict nearly every aspect of municipal corruption they see fit in order to properly, if in somewhat convoluted fashion, present the facts of the case to the audience.

40. Night of the Hunter (1955) Scene: The Preacher on the Horizon Video: http://youtu.be/9PyNL2ahKwc?list=PLZbXA4lyCtqolaQOAXly96de5FYQlPzqK Just like a few others in this section of the list, Charles Laughton’s brilliant Night of the Hunter isn’t really a horror film, but still sets out to keep the audience on edge. Starring a diabolical Robert Mitchum as a preacher/serial killer …

There are multiple reasons why Out of the Past is such an exemplary work in the world of noir, and part has to do with just how faithfully and inventively it adheres to the form.

“El Dorado” is a refreshing genre classic, at once suggesting topical concerns while conserving an enduring arena for its Hollywood icons to do what they do best. It incorporates much of what distinguished Howard Hawks’ cinema: his uniform themes, style, and tone.

Pursued Written by Niven Busch Directed Raoul Walsh USA, 1947 In a small, dilapidated home in the middle of the New Mexico desert, the beautiful but worried Thor Callum (Theresa Wright) arrives to convene with her on-the-run lover Jeb Rand (Robert Mitchum). From whom or what he is fleeing is unclear at first, but he …

Some of you (hopefully) may have noticed my recent profile on the late, great Robert Mitchum.  In the course of researching the piece, I came across the fun tidbit that Mitchum had been a favorite of film critic Roger Ebert. The mind rarely works in linear fashion, and I suspect mine may even be more …

Out of the Past Written by Daniel Mainwaring Directed by Jacques Tourneur U.S.A., 1947 Sometimes, there is no eluding one’s past, regardless of how hard one tries. The reasons are numerous. Perhaps the emotional and psychological weight of an event in one’s life are too great to shake off. In other instances the shackles exist …

Out of the Past  Directed by Jacques Tourneur Written by Daniel Mainwaring Starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas USA, 97 min – 1947. “I never saw her in the daytime. We seemed to live by night. What was left of the day went away like a pack of cigarettes you smoked. I didn’t …

His Kind of Woman! Directed by John Farrow Written by Frank Fenton, Jack Leonard U.S.A., 1951 John Farrow’s His Kind of Woman! has it all, and so, so much more. Sometimes the best entries in a film genre or series are the ones that need to add different ingredients to spice things up a little …

Where Danger Lives Directed by John Farrow Screenplay by Charles Bennett U.S.A., 1950 Infatuation is a funny thing. On the spur of the moment, its symptoms exude nothing less than immeasurable positivity. One’s attraction to particular individual feels good, feels right, feels like it must be satisfied. Despite however powerful its hold may be, everyone …

The Big Steal Directed by Don Siegel Screenplay by Daniel Mainwaring U.S.A. 1949 What does it is matter if one possesses a powerful, booming voice if one cannot use it to the full extent? Robert Mitchum, Hollywood legend and an actor whose voice could sound like that of a giant when pulling those vocals chords …

The title of Lee Server’s acclaimed 2002 biography, Robert Mitchum:  Baby I Don’t Care (MacMillan), offers a perfect encapsulization of the eponymous actor:  a hard-partying Hollywood Bad Boy who didn’t give a damn what moralizing finger-waggers thought of him, or what his peers in the movie business thought, or the press, or even the public.  He …

Coming out of World War II, the major Hollywood studios had hoped to get back to business as usual.  The distraction of the war was gone, rationing repealed, and the boys – 15 million of them — were coming home.  But the expected upsurge in business didn’t come.  In fact, almost immediately box office began …