Warner Archive Wednesday ~ The Wrath of God (1972)

The Wrath of God (1972) is a Western filled with fake blood, guns, whiskey and dust. Based on a novel by James Graham, the film stars Robert Mitchum  as Father Van Horne, a gun-toting Catholic priest from the Boston Diocese, or so he says, traveling Central America looking for a bottle of booze to drink, a cigar to smoke and people to bless. It's the 1920s and Prohibition makes whiskey smuggling a profitable venture. Irishman Emmett (Ken Hutchison) thinks he is smuggling whiskey for Jennings (Victor Buono) but really he's smuggling guns. Emmett saves a local Indian girl Chela (Paula Pritchett) from being raped by a bunch of local gangsters. But when the gangsters hold Emmett and Chela prisoner, it's assault rifle toting Father Van Horne who comes to save the day.

Caught with the smuggled guns, Emmett and Father Van Horne are thrown in jail along with Jennings who was already caught. Instead of being executed, Colonel Santilla (John Colicos) gives them a mission. This Unholy Trinity, the father (Robert Mitchum's Father Van Horne), the son (Ken Hutchison's Emmett) and the Holy Ghost (Victor Buono's Jennings) are to assassinate the corrupt leader of the city of Mojata (not 100% sure of the name), Thomas De La Plata (Frank Langella). De La Plata has been terrorizing his people, creating a ring of terror with lots of executions of his people. His death would help ease the tensions in already terrorized nation. Any priest to step foot in Mojata will be killed and anyone helping the priest will also be executed which makes things difficult for Father Van Horne.

The Unholy Trinity set out a plan to settle in Mojata and lure De La Plata so they can kill him. Emmett and Jennings pretend to be business men interested in the town's mining industry and Father Van Horne does what he does best.

This is Rita Hayworth's final movie. She plays Senora De La Plata, the terrorizing leader's mother who finds solace in the idea of a Priest helping the town. She delivers a fine performance even with her early struggles with Alzheimer's.

Despite so many interesting characters, this is really Robert Mitchum's movie. It's all about the Father Van Horne, his religious savvy and his guns. He's a bad ass priest who is looking to kick some dictatorial butt and take names.

 (Anyone know why the scene in which Father Van Horne provides religious services to the town is grainier than the rest of the film? It's as though a filter was added on purpose. The best I could come up with is that the filter is like the screen in a priest's confessional).

The Wrath of God is an action-packed Western with some humorous moments and a little bit of a love story. It explores the oppression of people by the suppression of religion and the paralyzing of civilians by the instillment of fear through widespread executions, many which happen publicly. The film starts off a bit slow but once the Unholy Trinity are assigned their mission and as we see Robert Mitchum's Father Van Horne lead the pack, the pace of the story picks up. I'm usually not a big fan of Westerns but I really did enjoy this one.

Warner Archive Wednesday - On (random) Wednesdays, I review one title from the Warner Archive Collection. I received The Wrath of God (1972) from Warner Archive for review.

Catching Up with Quelle (13)

Happy Sunday! How are all of you? I am finally getting around to another edition of Catching Up with Quelle.

TCM Classic Film Festival - It looks almost certain that Carlos and I will be attending the TCM Classic Film Festival in April. We have our tickets and our hotel booked. All we need is to buy plane tickets. There is still a chance we won't be able to go but it looks more certain that we will than it did before. I am excited to go, to see Hollywood, to meet a lot of classic film fans and of course to watch some great movies!

New Robert Mitchum iPhone Case - Remember the Robert Mitchum iPhone case I had custom made in September? Well it broke. I have a tendency to drop my iPhone a lot. So I got a new one and am determined to not abuse my iPhone as much so I can keep this case a lot longer. Otherwise this will be an expensive new hobby of mine!

I like this iPhone case better than the last one. It's a great colorful of image of Robert Mitchum's 1953 visit to Hawaii. If you want to create your own custom iPhone case, I recommend using CafePress. You can get one made for $25 but I suggest you wait for a sale or a good coupon code. I ended up getting a few dollars knocked off the price with a custom iPhone case sale.


Sidney Poitier's letter to President Roosevelt - I love the blog Letters of Note which shares real letters from notable figures. They include a scan of the real letter along with the text typed out for those who may not be able to read the handwriting. I have read some of the most fascinating and endearing letters on that blog. Recently they posted a letter from a young Sidney Poitier to President Roosevelt. Poitier wrote the letter before he became a famous actor and when he was poor living in the U.S. and hoping to get a loan from President Roosevelt so he could go back to his family in Nissau. It's a very intriguing letter given the time period and also how Poitier became such a successful actor in the U.S. afterwards. You can find it here:
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2013/01/my-name-is-sidney-poitier.html

Classic Film Books on Goodreads - Do you love books on classic films as much as I do? Please come join me on Goodreads and add to my Classic Film Books list and vote for your favorites. I'm thinking of starting a book club but am not sure if there is enough interest. So I thought I'd start off with a list to see how it goes:
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/30492.Classic_Film_Books

God Speed Jane Russell

Jane Russell

1921-2011

Jane Russell was a full-figured woman with flare and attitude. She spoke her mind and wasn't afraid of what people thought of her. I think her impervious personality, her thoughtfulness as well as her down-to-earth nature was what Robert Mitchum, her best friend for many years, admired so much about her. In fact, she was the only non-family member who attended the spreading of Mitchum's ashes.

In the book Baby I Don't Care: Robert Mitchum, Lee Server says the following about Russell's early friendship with Mitchum.

Bob and Jane got along like old buddies... She would rave about his astounding command of the English language - even as he would tell her she was the most inarticulate girl he knew. He would tease her about her God-fearing ways, but he understood she was no Loretta Young, wallowing in piety. He loved to tell the one about the pestering report who couldn't believe a girl with her 'image' read the Bible and went to church each Sunday. 'Hey buddy,' she told him, 'Christians have big breasts, too.' She was good-natured, generous, strong-minded when she had to be, a stand-up guy. Mitchum nickname her 'Hard John.' They became fast friends. 

If you haven't seen the Private Screenings episode with Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell being interviewed by Robert Osborne, I highly suggest you watch it. You learn a lot about both of the actors as well as their dealings with Howard Hughes and their days at RKO. I hope TCM will show it soon with Jane Russell's recent passing.

God Speed Jane Russell. Hope you'll continue to be fabulous wherever you are.

Here is the trailer to my favorite Jane Russell film, His Kind of Woman (1951).

Merry Christmas from Out of the Past ~ A Classic Film Blog

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

There is a reason why Janet Leigh's sweater was so tight...

Holiday Affair (1949)

Janet Leigh's film career began when retired actress Norma Shearer saw a photograph of the young Leigh dressed in ski-wear. Shearer was so impressed with the picture that she used what persuasive powers she had left with MGM and helped get Leigh a contract. Some years later, MGM loaned Janet Leigh out to RKO for a three picture deal. This arrangement made Leigh uncomfortable considering her previous dealings with RKO owner Howard Hughes. We all know Hughes was a notorious womanizer who set his sights on many actresses with a ferocity that would terrify your average woman.  Hughes was as impressed Leigh's beauty as Shearer was but in a totally different way. He arranged for a date with Leigh, whisking her off to a surprise rendezvous in Las Vegas (he flew of course). She was terrified of his aggressiveness and was turned off by his power and his age.  So you can imagine how terrified she was when she learned that MGM practically sold her off to RKO for three movies without her permission or asking for her opinion. 

In July of 1949, Leigh started filming the movie Holiday Affair (1949) with Robert Mitchum. Hughes put as much sex into his films as possible and he loved to complicate plots at whatever cost necessary to get the final product he wanted. But Holiday Affair was a bit tricky. It's a sweet film: a romance, a family movie and a Christmas film all in one. Janet Leigh plays Connie Ennis, a widower and single mother who works as a secret shopper for a department store. She meets Steve Mason (Robert Mitchum), a toy department clerk at a competitor's store, when she accidentally gets him fired. Mason and Ennis hit it off platonically and romantically but there are obstacles in the way, notably the memory of her deceased husband and her lawyer boyfriend. However, her son Timmy is the catalyst that keeps Connie moving in the right direction even when she's very reluctant to leave her past in the past.

Frankly, Howard Hughes was kind of bored by the idea of this film. No sex, no violence, no exotic locales, no intrigue, no malleable plot, no nothing. He knew the film would mean instant money in the bank because of the stars, the plot and the holiday hook. So he left it well enough alone which is why this film is one of the least convoluted productions from the RKO library during that time period. However, he did leave his mark by means of one very very tight sweater.  In Lee Server's Robert Mitchum biography Baby I Don't Care, he states "[Hughes] had them make Janet Leigh wear a shoulder-length fall [for hair] and in one scene a sweater so tight it made her breasts stand out like traffic cones." It was Hughes way of getting back at Leigh for her for rejecting his advances as well as injecting some sex into a pretty much sexless film. 

Action in the North Atlantic (1943)

A fine World War II movie, indeed.

What a superb war movie. It's got all the right elements: action, adventure, interesting characters, a couple of love stories, brains versus brawn, patriotism, etc. Plus, you have Humphrey Bogart as the effortlessly cool (I say that a lot huh?) Lt. Joe Rossi. That's delicious buttercream icing on an already fantastic cake. It does what a war movie in 1943 should do: make you hate the Germans and pump your fist in the air when the American prevail. Or in my case, make you clutch your soft blue blanket in fear when the German submarines DARE to fire off underwater torpedos at my beloved American ship. How DARE they?!

And now, a special message from Chris Rock:

(click on the image to watch the video. NSFW)

No matter what a stripper tells you, there's no Robert Mitchum in this Bogie movie.

IMDB and other sources claim that Robert Mitchum has a bit part and one line of dialogue in this movie. Mitchum? Really? I was so excited! I looked and looked and looked and looked for him. Couldn't find him. It was a big fat lie. Mitchum wasn't in the movie at all. I looked through Lee Server's bio of Robert Mitchum and Server devotes a section to 1943 when Mitchum was getting his start in Hollywood playing lots of bit parts. No mention of Action in the North Atlantic whatsoever. Again, it's a big fat lie. Unless you can show me proof, I'm calling this one's bluff. Moral of the story: don't believe everything that IMDB or Wikipedia tells you.

The Lusty Men (1952) at the Harvard Film Archive

The Harvard Film Archive is currently doing a retrospective on the work of director Nicholas Ray. Lucky for me, one of the films they happen to be showing was The Lusty Men (1952) which stars my beloved Robert Mitchum. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to get a chance to see many of the films in the series, I made this one high priority. Kevin and Carlos came with me to the HFA to see it last week. 

Robert Mitchum plays Jeff McCloud, a rodeo star who suffers an injury that hurts him more emotionally than physically. He retires to ranch life and seeks out his old childhood home. The home is sought after by a couple, Wes Merritt (Arthur Kennedy) and Leslie Merritt (Susan Hayward) who want to start a ranch. Wes gets Jeff a job but soon gets enamored by the idea of being a big rodeo star like Jeff. Wes is tired of working for someone else and decides that playing the rodeo circuit will earn him quick cash  to buy and run his own ranch. Wes convinces Jeff to teach him all he knows about rodeo. Jeff becomes Wes' manager earning a percentage of Wes's earnings and off they go, much to the chagrin of Leslie whose tumultuous past has made her yearn for the stability that rodeo life doesn't have to offer. Wes gets more and more dazzled by the false glamour of rodeo life: the quick cash, the instant fame, the parties full of booze and dames. He quickly gives up the idea of going back to ranch life. Leslie fights against Jeff who got Wes into this situation in the first place but Jeff is falling in love with Leslie. This is where things get complicated.

Watching the film, I couldn't help drawing comparisons to The Misfits (1961) which is also about the rodeo scene but focuses more on various wayward characters and the dirty business of mustang hunting. The Lusty Men is a much quieter film, less focused on a message or showcasing a cast of big stars and more interested in telling a very linear story. The film is filled with lots of rodeo scenes. Calf-roping, bronc riding, steer wrestling, bull riding, etc. A good chunk of the film consists of these scenes but I don't feel like they overwhelmed the movie. Instead, I felt like a spectator watching both the stories of the people on screen and watching rodeo life circa 1950s. It added to the experience.

The programmer who introduced the film to us mentioned that Robert Mitchum was reported to have stolen the original last reel of the film and gave it to his secretary to burn. He hated the original ending so much he went to those lengths so that a new ending would have to be filmed. Many people don't realize how much Mitchum influenced movies he made. He gave a lot of input in acting, dialogue, script, directing and production whether it was wanted or not. In my opinion, a film was always better for having Robert Mitchum in it.

The Salon article which I linked to on the heckyeahrobertmitchum Tumblr (a heads up from KC of Classic Movie Blog) has the following anecdote about The Lusty Men:

On the rodeo film "The Lusty Men": "(Producers) Jerry Wald and Norman Krasna -- one or the other -- would call me at the office and ask for ideas. So I gave them one -- a modern Western. They reached into a drawer and came up with a title. They had titles to fit just about any type of movie. They were quite a team. One would walk up and down and cry while the other sat down to talk to you. Then they'd reverse. I always thought that the producer was The Producer. I didn't know I was makin' more money than they were and that if I sneak-talked to the boss (Howard Hughes), they'd be out. I didn't know that, no shit. So Howard called me one day and said, 'Bob, for God's sake tell me you don't want to do this picture so I can get this son-of-a-bitch Wald off my back.' But I told him I wanted to do the picture. He asked, 'Is the script that good?' I told him we didn't even have a script, but we'd whip one up. And I wanted Nick Ray to direct it. 

"The next day Wald called me to tell me in hushed tones that 'Howard's OK'd the story and guess who we have as director? Nick Ray.' Then he hired Niven Busch and the guy who wrote 'They Shoot Horses,' Horace McCoy, to do the writing. They were at opposite ends of the lot and they kept passing each other by. Finally they passed each other and went right out the gate. Nick and I , both stoned, worked out the script.

"So we get the picture finished and Wald had insisted on this ending that was impossible. We snuck into the editing room, made off with the end sequence and burned it. The production number was still active, so we went out and shot another ending, bang-bang-bang, like that. And Jerry Wald traveled to colleges around the county lecturing on the art of filmmaking."

Unfortunately, The Lusty Men isn't available on DVD. If you get a chance to see it, please do. It's a wonderful little film. And it doesn't hurt that Mitchum looked amazing in a cowboy hat and tight jeans that hugged him in all the right places (::biting finger coyly::).

If you have TCM, it's showing on September 28th at 6:00 am!

This is me outside of the HFA and in front of some posters of Nicholas Ray movies. I love having my photo taken here.

If you are in the Boston area, make sure you check out the series. It goes on until August 9th. Or just check out the listing on the HFA site. A lot of the films are on DVD. In fact, I'm hoping to do a short Nicholas Ray series here on the blog. Stay tuned.

More Robert Mitchum Video goodness

Here is another Mitchum skit from Saturday Night Live with Dana Carvey and Phil Hartmann called "The Beggar". It's not particularly good. Death Be Not Deadly is much better.

Now all I need to find is "Out of Gas", the skit with Jane Greer and Robert Mitchum written by Mitchum's daughter Trina. From what I understand, it also features Mitchum's grandson Bentley Mitchum. If you find it anywhere, let me know!

And here is a funny clip of the show which written backwards is Ylimaf Yug (please don't comment back with the real name of the show because this could get pulled. I'll delete your comment. Warning!). In it, a cartoonized Mitchum is the Out of Shape in Shape Guy from the 1950s. I guess some people just don't appreciate big manly chests. I, however, am not one of those people. The world needs more big manly chests!

Who are you calling "out of shape"?!

Now a video that I was supposed to post a while back but never did. Millie from ClassicForever is a fellow Bobby Darin fan. I pleaded with her recently about a clip of Bobby Darin doing an impersonation of Robert Mitchum. I thought it was one of the most hilarious things I had ever seen. In fact it was so funny that Darin himself cracked up at his own joke and couldn't even finish the impersonation! Millie came to my rescue and found the clip of Darin doing a host of impersonations (including the Mitchum one) and posted it on her YouTube channel: ILoveRayMilland. Here it is! Thank you so much Millie.

The Mitchum impersonation starts at 5:58:

Is it me or did Bobby Darin and Robert Mitchum look oddly alike?

Robert Mitchum on Saturday Night Live

Jackpot! I've been searching for a clip (any clip) of Robert Mitchum hosting Saturday Night Live back in 1987. Thanks to the wonder of Twitter searches (and Tumblr ones too), I found a link to a clip recently posted on YouTube. It's of the skit "Death Be Not Deadly" in which Mitchum and Kevin Nealon spoof the Film Noir genre and that classic Noiresque voiceover that is so characteristic of the genre (yet found is so few of them oddly enough). It's an okay skit, funny but mostly enjoyable because of it's novelty. I think it's great that Mitchum was on a TV show which is still going strong today. Enjoy.

The Night of the Hunter - A Biography of a Film

The Night of the Hunter: A Biography of a Film
by Jeffrey Couchman
02/2009
9780810125421
Northwestern University Press

Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1954), an adaptation of Davis Grubb's 1953 novel, is many things: a fractured fairy tale, an American gothic story, a twisted song, an homage to silent films, a 20th century re-envisioning of William Blake's Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence and a pseudo-noir.

Couchman's book is not just a love letter to the film and its creators, nor is it a personal perspective on the film. However, if you think NOTH is a masterpiece, the book will only justify your thoughts by laying out the many reasons why it is so. Couchman's book is a soup-to-nuts look at all of the elements that went into creating this classic. He takes us through every phase of the process including the writing of the novel, Laughton's vision of the movie, Grubb's drawings and James Agee's screen adaptation.

Grubb's novel, the source of the story, is spoken about constantly throughout the text  but you don't have to be familiar with the novel to follow along. A general understanding of the film is all you really need.

I'm sure this book is better suited to the serious film student but what a treat it would be to a classic movie lover too? The rich information provided by the book makes the movie experience into a four-course meal instead of just a dessert. I would recommend this book to three different kinds of people. 1) A Film Student 2) Fan of The Night of the Hunter 3) Serious Classic Film Buff who wants to advance his or her knowledge of film.

Couchman delivers wonderful observations and this book is chockful of great information. Here are a few tidbits I'd like to share:

On the infamous scene of Willa (Shelley Winters or at least a wax dummy of her), floating underwater, with her throat slit. "The cinematic fakery resulted in images that no one who has seen the film is likely to froget. A slow pan along waving reeds picks up Willa, bound in the car, her hair flowing as though with a life of its own. In many ways, the scene defines The Night of the Hunter. It is at once realistic and surreal, grim and poetic. Everything about it is a contradiction. The car alone is a shocking, industrial intrusion in a natural realm. The greater intrustion, though, is Willa's body, a serene picture of violent death, a floating apparition weighted to the river bottom." pg 111

Novel versus Film: "[Grubb's novel] satisfies readers expectations. The film thwarts expectations at every turn." - pg 206

On the differing acting styles of Mitchum and Gish: "The choices Laughton made reveal how consciously he sought a stylized, exaggerated performance from Mitchum and a naturalistic unadorned performance from Gish. Each style of acting becomes a code in itself" Mitchum's affected manner signals Preacher's deceitful nature, and Gish's straightforward approach identifies Rachel as direct and honest" - pg 174

If you are a wimpy classic film fan who just likes to watch movies but not use your preicous brain cells to actually think about the films you've seen, then you are not tough enough to handle this book. For all other classic movie buffs, I throw down the gauntlet and challenge you to read this. What will separate the weak from the strong is the desire and ability amongst classic film fans to acquire knowledge, to analyze and think and to earnestly put this knowledge to good use. Are you up for it?
-----------------
Thank you to Northwestern University Press for sending me this book to review! And so sorry it took me so long to get to it. :-)

Robert Mitchum Portraits

These lovely scans of Robert Mitchum come via Kate Gabrielle who hails from the blog Silents and Talkies (as well as many other blogs too). She took them from the book Film Star Portraits of the Fiities by John Kobal. Thanks Kate!

If you have anything you want to submit to the It's a Veritable Robert Mitchum Explosion series, please feel free. I'll take whatever you throw at me as long as it basks in Robert Mitchum's awesomeness.

Robert Mitchum Video #6 ~ Mitchum on What's My Line?

Robert Mitchum was known amongst his drinking buddies as a great impersonator. He had an art for doing impressions and various accents and voices (although he couldn't quite master the Irish accent or the Boston accent in movies such as Ryan's Daughter and The Friends of Eddie Coyle, respectively). This is a cute clip in which you see Mitchum do various voices. Notice that he sort of plugs his Calypso album?! Enjoy.

Robert Mitchum is Dead

Well deh.

People have been talking about a Norwegian film entitled Robert Mitchum is Dead. The film will premiere on May 15th at the Cannes Film Festival. What is the movie about? I have no idea! What does it have to do with Robert Mitchum? Beats me!


After some research, the only description I could find was this one from Yahoo! Movies:

Franky is an actor suffering from insomnia. Franky is his manager Arsene's friend, spiritual son and source of income. When Arsene steals a car and takes Franky to the Arctic Circle under the pretence that the two are going to meet a famous director shooting an American film there, an adventurous journey ensues across Europe as Franky has problems distinguishing between what's real and what's not. 

As my good friend Jonas can attest, Norwegians are strange! But is it Norwegian? It's filmed by a Norwegian company, in Poland and the dialogue is in French. Really? I feel a headache coming on.

After even more research, I found a whole bunch of clips online. Here is one. Here is another. Here is one more. Can you make sense of it? Is it called "Robert Mitchum is Dead" because that is a truth and the film is trying to show a truth? That's the best I can do because otherwise this goes right over my head.

------------------

Regardless of the movie, Robert Mitchum really is dead. He passed away on July 1st, 1997 from lung cancer and emphysema. He had been sick for some time but it was only the spring of 1997 in which doctors had diagnosed him with lung cancer. Robert Mitchum had been smoking cigarettes for many years, as one can tell from his incessant smoking in films such as Out of the Past (1947). In his last months, his illness caused him to deteriorate so quickly that he became unrecognizable. He died peacefully at his home, his wife Dorothy by his side.

On July 2nd, 1997, Robert Mitchum's death made headlines. His death was eclipsed by Jimmy Stewart who passed away on July 2nd, the day after Mitchum, and the newspaper headlines and TV reports that followed focused even more on the uber-famous Jimmy. Mitchum was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the Pacific ocean. Only his wife, a few family members and one close friend, actress Jane Russell, were present at the quiet ceremony.

God Speed Robert Mitchum.

Robert Mitchum Video #5 ~ Mitchum on the Dick Cavett Show

This is a really great interview with Robert Mitchum done by the legendary Dick Cavett. It's pretty clear that Cavett is a bit afraid of bad boy Robert Mitchum. Mitchum was such a great storyteller though and Cavett really brought that out of the people he interviewed, by asking the right questions and allowing the interviewee to go on rants but also keeping them on track.

While this is only a clip, you can watch the entire interview in The Dick Cavett Show: Hollywood Greats .

heckyeahrobertmitchum Tumblr & a Q&A with James Mitchum

New on Tumblr is a heckyeahrobertmichum blog created by yours truly. If you are not familiar with Tumblr, it's a blogging service that lends itself to multimedia streaming and reblogging/sharing. heckyeahrobertmitchum will feature photographs, quotes, links, videos, etc. on all things Robert Mitchum. heckyeah and f***yeah Tumblr blogs are really popular. Almost every actor/actress has one up, but sadly there wasn't one for Robert Mitchum! So if you want an extra dose of It's a Veritable Robert Mitchum Explosion, make sure you pay a visit to heckyeahrobertmitchum.

Also, I recently found this lovely Q&A with Robert Mitchum's son James Mitchum on the Knox News website. It's from 2008 on the 50th anniversary of the movie Thunder Road (1958). James Mitchum touches upon working with his dad, getting to know Elvis Presley, Moonshine, his acting career, etc. He's pretty straightforward about his dad being more a male figure in his life than a father figure. This interview is definitely worth a read. It's interesting to note that James Mitchum owns the rights to Thunder Road and a remake is in the works. Since Mitchum has some control over the property, I'm sure it'll be better than most remakes of classic films.

Robert Mitchum Video #4 ~ The Night of the Hunter (1955)

The famous scene from The Night of the Hunter (1955) in which Robert Mitchum's character Harry Powell tells the story of Love versus Hate (Good versus Evil) using the tattoos on his knuckles and by dueling with his fists. This scene has become iconic in film history and is referenced in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing (1989).

Robert Mitchum Video #3 ~ Calypso is Like So... Playlist

If you are not at least somewhat amused by this album, you have no soul. My favorites are "Coconut Water" and "From a Logical Point of View". Some lyrical gems include:

from a logical point of view
better marry a woman uglier than you
from a logical point of view
always marry a woman uglier than you


an ugly woman give you your meals on time
and try to make comfortable in mind
a time when you lie sick in your cozy bed 
she will both caress you and scratch your head


Fill yourself a glass of coconut water, sit back and enjoy the album in its entirety.

Robert Mitchum sings... Calypso?!

All you need to record a Calypso album is a bottle of rum and a hot chick. Right?

The last thing you think of when the name "Robert Mitchum" comes to mind is Calypso music. That along with puppies, rainbows and soft fluffy clouds. This big lug of a man didn't seem quite suited to the fun and lively rhythms of the Calypso beat. Yet in 1957, Capitol Records gave the world Robert Mitchum's album "Calypso is Like So...".

In 1956, Mitchum had taken a much needed vacation in Trinidad and Tobago. As an actor, Mitchum was a workhorse, doing film after film after film and he rejected the Hollywood lifestyle. So his work could get to him sometimes and he  really needed the type of escape that only the Caribbean could provide. After his jaunt, he returned to the States and was so excited about all the Calypso music he had heard while away that he hit up singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer with the idea of doing a Calypso album. Mercer had referred him to Capitol Records.

You may be asking yourself why a big-wig like Capitol Records would agree to a Mitchum Calypso album? They were already salivating over the idea of a Mitchum music album to capitalize on his stardom. Also, another actor, Harry Belafonte, had done a Calypso album that was a hit on the airwaves. Big name star. Popular type of music. Ka-ching Ka-ching.

In March of 1957, Mitchum hit the studio to record the album. Capitol Records got a motley crew of songwriters, back-up singers and musicians to help Mitchum create "Calypso is Like So...". While Mitchum did a good job capturing the stereotypical Caribbean accent (whatever that is) and singing the Calypso songs with a lively air, the album flopped. No worries though. Mitchum was at the top of his game as an actor in Hollywood and a little Calypso album wasn't going to impede that.

Stay tuned because my next post will include music from Mitchum's foray into Calypso.

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retold from an excerpt of Lee Server's biography Robert Mitchum: Baby I Don't Care

Extra note: The lady on the cover of Mitchum's album was intended to look vaguely Caribbean (dark) but still be accepted to a Caucasian audience (not too dark).

James Mitchum in Thunder Road (1958)

Robert Mithcum's oldest son, James Mitchum, had a difficult time developing a career as an actor. It didn't help that he looked so much like his father who at that point had a very recognizable face and a well-established acting career. If you take a look at the pictures below, you'll see why. James had his father's sad eyes, square face, pouty lips and even his dimpled chin! These are screen caps taken from James Mitchum's screen debut in Thunder Road (1958).

Robert Mitchum Video #2 ~ "The Ballad of Thunder Road"

The theme song of Thunder Road (1958) was co-written and sung by Robert Mitchum.