Any one who had ever stepped into Movie Place knew right away that there was a fan of Robert Mitchum in the house. Some one who also had control of the decor of the place. His birthday was celebrated by having nothing but Mitchum on the screen. His passing in 1997 was marked by a week of nothing but Mitchum, black bunting and, from my personal collection, an autographed picture in the middle of the counter. I am, and always will be, a Robert Mitchum fan. Not just a Hollywood rebel / bad boy whose career survived a reefer bust in 1949. His work is always great, rising above bad scripts, Mr. Mitchum was the most under appreciated actor by the industry in all of Hollywood history.

I am fairly certain that these titles are all available on DVD. Most of these pictures have or will show up on TCM.

Out Of the Past See the post

Night Of The Hunter See the post

The Big Steal See the post

Heaven Knows, Mister Allison

A Marine washes up on what appears to be a deserted island in the South Pacific. The island is deserted except for a woman who is about to become a nun. Such a dilemma. Mr. Mitchum’s performance as Mr. Allison is one of the subtlest, gentle and warm performances ever put on screen. Of course I am prejudiced but this performance should have gotten him an Oscar Nomination at least.

Cape Fear (1961 of course) See the post

Enemy Below

Another quite, subtle performance from Mr. Mitchum.Set during the Battle of Atlantic during World War II, The Enemy Below tells the very tense story of a cat and mouse style Destroyer and U-Boat hunting for each other . For the Americans, a former Merchant Mariner who saw his wife killed when his freighter was torpedoed by the Germans. For the Germans, a veteran U-Boat commander who sees no honor in the German aims of the war. The character of the U-Boat commander is made more human by his not so hidden disdain for the Nazi party.This was probably a first for a World War II picture. Nazi’s are generally portrayed a certain way.Both of these highly experienced and evenly matched men must now battle each other, knowing that only one will survive.

Home From The Hill

Captain Wade Hunnicutt (Robert Mitchum) is the wealthiest and most powerful citizen in his Texan town; he is also a notorious womanizer, he is shot at in the first 2 minutes of the picture by an irate husband. This has turned his wife Hannah (Eleanor Parker) against him. When one of his more serious indiscretions was revealed, Wade agreed to allow her to bring up their son Theron (George Hamilton pre suntan) to get her to stay. However as Theron reaches adulthood, Wade insists on taking over his upbringing, initiating him in hunting and other masculine pursuits, under the watchful eye of Rafe (George Peppard), Wade’s loyal employee. But Theron’s new pursuits and skills lead him into a love-affair with a local girl, and thence to his learning things about his parents and Rafe that were previously hidden from him. Gossip and innuendo (all of it from men, not women) don’t help things either. Mitchum is as always great in this and deserved at least a nomination. Again, I’m prejudiced so you decide.

His Kind Of Woman See the post
Pursued
One of the darkest Westerns ever made. It is so dark that has been called a Film Noir Western by leading experts. There is some validity to that statement. The film is dark and shadowy like a noir picture; the great James Wong Howe was the director of photography. Giving it that extra stamp of Warner Brothers film noir is the director, Raoul Walsh. This man was comfortable with material such as The Roaring Twenties High Sierra, and The Enforcer (1951). The story is simple but so what. A deep secret held for years finally comes out in the last reel and you’ll figure it out half way through but again so what. Known for adapting his novels as well as his adaptations of the novels of others for the screen Niven Busch wrote this one for his then wife Teresa Wright.

Mitchum is the adopted brother into a fatherless family headed up by Judith Anderson (in a western yet). Ma Callum (Anderson) already has two children, a son Adam (John Rodney) roughly the same age as Jeb (Mitchum) and Thorley (Wright). Tensions grow as do the kids. The civil war comes along and one of the sons has to go off and join the fracas. Mitchum goes and comes back a big war hero, adding even more tension. A mysterious stranger who claims to be Adam’s uncle sets the wheels in motion for a fatal gun battle and what appears to be a spite marriage. This picture is worth a look.

Blood On The Moon

Almost a noir western. This had to have been seen by Akira Kurosawa before Yjimbo was made. In this case a bad guy playing two sides against each other for his own personal gain. Robert Preston is impressive as the bad guy, a huge departure from his Music Man persona. Mitchum is magnificent as the hired gun Preston brings in to his “war” of homesteaders against cattle owners. This hired gun however has a code that he lives by and has a change of heart. He is hired to fight for the homesteaders but falls for the cattle owner’s daughter. He also sees the true purpose of this “war” and decides to end it and punish the real bad guy(s).

Friends Of Eddie Coyle

A great and overlooked picture and performance. Mr. Mitchum stars as Eddie Coyle, a small time hood who is about to go back to jail. In order to escape this fate he deals information on stolen guns to the feds. Simultaneously he is supplying arms to his bank robbing/kidnapping hoodlum “friends”. But who else is dealing with the feds? Who gets the blame for snitching on the bank robbers? Who are the real bad guys? Eddie has lots of “friends” but who can he trust?. Mr. Mitchum pulls off the South Boston accent and attitude as if he was born there. I won’t say it but he should have been . . . But of course I am prejudiced.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 11:51 am and is filed under Top Ten Lists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.