Saturday, July 11, 2020

The Centennial Of The Birth Of Film Actor, Noir Film Actor, Robert Mitchum (2017) -Hats Off!

The Centennial Of The Birth Of Film Actor, Noir Film Actor, Robert Mitchum (2017) -Hats Off!




Film Critic Emeritus Sam Lowell comment:

No question I am despite my putting myself "out to pasture" more than happy to do a short guest appearance to pay tribute to the centennial of the birth of film actor Robert Mitchum. The headline speaks of a film noir actor although he did many more types of films from goof stuff like the Grass Is Greener to truly scary can’t go to sleep at night stuff like Cape Fear to the pasty/fall guy in The Friends Of Eddie Coyle. But to my mind his classic statement of his acting persona came in the great performance he did in Out Of The Past where between being in the gun sights of an angry gangster played by Kirk Douglas and the gun sights of a gun crazy femme played by Jane Greer damn did he have his hands full.

Yeah, that film kind of said it all about a big brawny barrel-chested guy who had been around the block awhile, had smoked a few thousand cigarettes while trying to figure out all the angles and still in the end got waylaid right between the eyes by that damn femme. All she had to do was call his name and he wilted like some silly schoolboy. I like a guy who likes to play with fire, likes to live on the edge a little but our boy got caught up badly by whatever that scent, maybe jasmine, maybe spring lilac but poison that he could never get out of his nostrils once she went into over-drive.

You know, seriously, that he should have backed off right away when he was snooping for a bigtime Reno gangster (that before Vegas and Bugsy came down the road) looking for a wayward dame who took him for some dough, for forty thou, maybe not big money now but then yes. Should have known that whoever took some dough from a mob guy was in trouble big time good-looking and smelling or not. Like a later guy said though take the ticket, take the ride. Yeah, that was a role fit for a guy like Robert Mitchum. Live hard, fall hard.            


More later but check this little clip out as a sampler.     


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