JohnDoe
Bryn
Brenton
Robert Mitchum - Part 1
Robert Mitchum - Drinking Tough and Fighting Renaissance
"Up there on the screen you're thirty feet wide, your eyeball is six feet high, but it doesn't mean that you really amount to anything or have anything important to say." – Robert Mitchum
The stone cold hep-kat Robert Mitchum was an enigmatic tough guy, on and off the silver screen. His laconic trademark sagging eyes, disgruntled delivery and pent up rage cement an image of detached cool to rival the king, Steve McQueen.
"I started out to be a sex fiend but couldn't pass the physical." – Robert Mitchum
Boozin’, brawlin’ and ballin’ his way all over the globe, arrested for possession of pot long before the 60’s counter culture revolution, Mitchum was the embodiment of a subversive rebel, notoriously flippant about life and his work.
"The only difference between me and my fellow actors is that I've spent more time in jail." – Robert Mitchum
His impenetrable exterior alluded to a thug, a lack of attachment to anyone or anything. Keeping the world at arms distance in real life too, all that knew him acknowledged a complexity to this dedicated performer who revelled in the written word, playing saxophone and intellectualising life’s riddles.
"Movies bore me; especially my own." – Robert Mitchum
Born into poverty and independence, Bob learnt to suppress his emotions from a young age. By his mid teens he was physically daunting. Two traits that he would come to be revered for, along with a lethargic style of delivery that deceived many into thinking he wasn’t really trying.
"Listen. I got three expressions: looking left, looking right and looking straight ahead." – Robert Mitchum
Making his screen debut as an extra with no dialogue in Alfred Hitchcock’s WWII era propaganda film Saboteur, Mitchum’s career began with bit parts in war and western films like Colt Comrades, We’ve Never been Licked and Gung Ho. It was in the combat Story of GI Joe that he finally was noticed.
Establishing himself as a lead at Howard Hughes studio RKO in 1940’s with a string of quality tough guy noirs including The Locket, Pursued, Crossfire and the most notable being Out of the Past.
"I kept the same suit for six years - and the same dialog. We just changed the title of the picture and the leading lady." – Robert Mitchum
Casual to the point of despondent, he would often take any role as long as there was a progressively larger paycheck involved. Thankfully many great Directors saw past the raw masculinity of the man to find the poet within.
"Not that I'm a complete whore, understand. There are movies I won't do for any amount. I turned down Patton and I turned down Dirty Harry. Movies that piss on the world. If I've got five bucks in my pocket, I don't need to make money that f***ing way, daddy." – Robert Mitchum
...To be Continued
Click here to see Part 2 - John Doe’s favourite Robert Mitchum Films
Here is part of a biography on the man and his films
Robert Mitchum 1917-1997
"Up there on the screen you're thirty feet wide, your eyeball is six feet high, but it doesn't mean that you really amount to anything or have anything important to say." – Robert Mitchum
The stone cold hep-kat Robert Mitchum was an enigmatic tough guy, on and off the silver screen. His laconic trademark sagging eyes, disgruntled delivery and pent up rage cement an image of detached cool to rival the king, Steve McQueen.
"I started out to be a sex fiend but couldn't pass the physical." – Robert Mitchum
Boozin’, brawlin’ and ballin’ his way all over the globe, arrested for possession of pot long before the 60’s counter culture revolution, Mitchum was the embodiment of a subversive rebel, notoriously flippant about life and his work.
"The only difference between me and my fellow actors is that I've spent more time in jail." – Robert Mitchum
Mitchum in Night of the Hunter
His impenetrable exterior alluded to a thug, a lack of attachment to anyone or anything. Keeping the world at arms distance in real life too, all that knew him acknowledged a complexity to this dedicated performer who revelled in the written word, playing saxophone and intellectualising life’s riddles.
"Movies bore me; especially my own." – Robert Mitchum
Born into poverty and independence, Bob learnt to suppress his emotions from a young age. By his mid teens he was physically daunting. Two traits that he would come to be revered for, along with a lethargic style of delivery that deceived many into thinking he wasn’t really trying.
"Listen. I got three expressions: looking left, looking right and looking straight ahead." – Robert Mitchum
Making his screen debut as an extra with no dialogue in Alfred Hitchcock’s WWII era propaganda film Saboteur, Mitchum’s career began with bit parts in war and western films like Colt Comrades, We’ve Never been Licked and Gung Ho. It was in the combat Story of GI Joe that he finally was noticed.
Establishing himself as a lead at Howard Hughes studio RKO in 1940’s with a string of quality tough guy noirs including The Locket, Pursued, Crossfire and the most notable being Out of the Past.
"I kept the same suit for six years - and the same dialog. We just changed the title of the picture and the leading lady." – Robert Mitchum
A classic shot from Out of The Past
Casual to the point of despondent, he would often take any role as long as there was a progressively larger paycheck involved. Thankfully many great Directors saw past the raw masculinity of the man to find the poet within.
"Not that I'm a complete whore, understand. There are movies I won't do for any amount. I turned down Patton and I turned down Dirty Harry. Movies that piss on the world. If I've got five bucks in my pocket, I don't need to make money that f***ing way, daddy." – Robert Mitchum
...To be Continued
Click here to see Part 2 - John Doe’s favourite Robert Mitchum Films
Here is part of a biography on the man and his films
Flick Wit
Michaelie
Film & TV on DVD
Few have matched his laid back style while still managing to inject characters with added depth. He forces you to pay attention to every mannerism and their is an unblinking quality to watching him onscreen.
In the modern era most actors just ham it up,over selling lines and exaggerating human emotion. With Mitch there is a restrained focus and effortless charisma that seems completly genuine.
Have you seen many of his films from my list in Part 2?
The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
L.A.M.P.
"Night of the Hunter"--ooooh, JD, you just reminded me of the other Mitchum film besides the original "Cape Fear" that scared hell out of me when I saw it as a kid....