Friday, May 14, 2010

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.

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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.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

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 .

The Dick Cavett Show - Hollywood Greats



Tuesday, May 11, 2010

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.

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