His Kind of Womanis a 1951film noirstarringRobert MitchumandJane Russell.The film features supporting performances byVincent Price,Raymond BurrandCharles McGraw.The direction of the film, which was based on the unpublished story "Star Sapphire" by Gerald Drayson, is credited toJohn Farrow.[3]
His Kind of Woman | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Farrow Richard Fleischer(uncredited) |
Screenplay by | Frank Fenton Jack Leonard Earl Felton(uncredited) Howard Hughes(uncredited) |
Story by | Gerald Drayson Adams |
Produced by | Robert Sparks |
Starring | Robert Mitchum Jane Russell Vincent Price Tim Holt Charles McGraw |
Narrated by | Charles McGraw |
Cinematography | Harry J. Wild |
Edited by | Frederic Knudtson Eda Warren |
Music by | Leigh Harline |
Production company | |
Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 120 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2 million (US rentals)[2] |
After Farrow had turned in what he thought was the finished film, RKO studio BossHoward Hughesintervened and caused extensive re-writes, re-casting, and re-shooting under the supervision ofRichard Fleischer,whom Hughes coerced into cooperation by threatening not to releaseThe Narrow Margin,a film that Fleischer had just finished for RKO. This post-production process took a great deal of time and money, costing about the same amount – $850,000 – as the film lost at the box office in its initial release.
Plot
editDown on his luck, professional gambler Dan Milner accepts a mysterious job that will take him out of the country for a year but pays $50,000. He accepts a $5,000 advance and tickets that will take him to an isolated Mexican resort, Morro's Lodge, where he will receive further instructions. Milner is attracted to the only other passenger on his chartered flight to the resort, Lenore Brent. When he arrives, Milner finds that several guests at the luxuriousBaja Californiaresort have hidden agendas. He is disappointed to find that Lenore is the girlfriend of famous movie actor Mark Cardigan.
Milner overhears two guests, self-proclaimed author Martin Krafft and a man named Thompson, planning something which he suspects involves him. When Milner confronts them, he is given $10,000 and told that someone is on his way to Baja to see him. Seemingly drunk Bill Lusk flies in, despite warnings of very dangerous storm conditions. Milner thinks he must be the contact but when the two are alone, Lusk says he is an undercover agent for theImmigration and Naturalization Service.He tells Milner that the U.S. government suspects that underworld Boss Nick Ferraro, deported to Italy four years earlier, is scheming to get back into the country posing as Milner. The two men are a close physical match and Milner is a loner, so no one is likely to miss him. Krafft turns out to be aplastic surgeon.
Cardigan's wife Helen and his personal manager Gerald Hobson show up. She had gone toRenoto get a divorce, though not really intending to go through with it, as she is still fond of her husband. Hobson also thinks it is a poor idea because Cardigan's film contract is expiring and the bad publicity would make it hard to get a new one. With her own plans ruined, Lenore confesses to Milner that she is really just a singer looking to hook a wealthy spouse. Milner shows his softer side when he helps unhappy newlywed Jennie Stone by cheating at poker to win back her husband's gambling losses from investment broker Myron Winton. Lusk sneaks into Thompson's room but is caught and killed. Milner and Lenore stumble upon his body dumped on the beach; Milner is convinced that the dead man must have been telling the truth.
That night, Thompson and his men take Milner to a yacht, recently arrived in the bay. Milner is able to pass along a veiled plea for help to Lenore. She persuades Cardigan, who is tired of just pretending to be a hero, to help out. While the actor keeps the mobsters pinned down with his hunting rifle, Milner sneaks back onto the boat, knowing that the only way out of his mess is to deal with Ferraro once and for all. He is caught and brought to the crime lord. After killing two of the thugs and wounding and capturing Thompson, Cardigan mounts a rescue with the reluctant assistance of the Mexican police and a couple of the more adventurous guests. A gunfight breaks out aboard the boat, followed by a melee. Milner manages to break free and shoot Ferraro dead. Cardigan and his wife are reconciled. Milner and Lenore end the film in a clinch.
Cast
edit- Robert Mitchumas Dan Milner
- Jane Russellas Lenore Brent
- Vincent Priceas Mark Cardigan
- Tim Holtas Bill Lusk
- Charles McGrawas Thompson
- Marjorie Reynoldsas Helen Cardigan
- Raymond Burras Nick Ferraro
- Leslie Banningas Jennie Stone
- Jim Backusas Myron Winton
- Philip Van Zandtas Jose Morro, the resort's manager
- John Mylongas Martin Krafft
- Carleton G. Youngas Gerald Hobson
- Paul Freesas Corley
- Anthony Carusoas Tony
Cast notes:
- Robert Mitchum, who referred to himself as "The Tall Dog", called Jane Russell "Hard John" because of her strict, straitlaced religious beliefs. When a male reporter questioned these in light of her image, she told the reporter, "Christians can have big breasts too." Whatever sexual chemistry Mitchum and Russell had onscreen, the two performers were never more than friends.[4]
- The film was a rare RKO role outside ofWesternsforTim Holt.[5]
- Vincent Price threw a party on the set celebrating his one-year anniversary working onHis Kind of Woman.[6]Mitchum had been patient for over a year, during the multiple rewrites and reshoots. However, he snapped on the penultimate day of shooting during a fight scene, and started fighting for real with the stunt men who were manhandling him. He destroyed the set and all the lighting and sound equipment on the stage, all the while cursing at everyone involved with the production.[6]One modern source claims that in Mitchum's fight scene with Raymond Burr, Burr actually knocked out Mitchum.[7]
- Vincent Price, a gourmet cook, prepares to cook a duck, and Raymond Burr, an orchid fancier, tends orchids. Jane Russell, who was a singer as well as an actor, sings two songs.
Production
editThe film – which was at one stage known asStar Sapphire,the title of the unpublished story by Gerald Drayson it was based on[8]– was announced in July 1949 with Jane Russell and Robert Mitchum already attached.[9]For Howard Hughes, who owned RKO and acted as its executive producer, Mitchum and Russell were the epitome of sexual chemistry.[4]
Robert Sparks was to produce andJohn Farrowto direct. Farrow had directed Mitchum inWhere Danger Livesthe year before, and the two had gotten along well.[4]They expectedHis Kind of Womanto be a similar experience, shooting a straightforward adventure thriller. However,Frank Fentonand Jack Leonard, who co-wrote the screenplay, intended the film to be a send-up of the dark film noir crime movies which were popular at the time. The primary conduit of the comedy of the film was the character of the ham Shakespearean actor Mark Cardigan, played by Vincent Price.
Filming took place in November 1950.[10]In December, the production was doing retakes.[11]
Russell and Mitchum were promptly re-teamed in the 1951 filmMacao.[12]RKO were so pleased with Price's performance inHis Kind of Womanthat they signed him to a non-exclusive contract as a writer and director.[13]In May 1951 it was announced further retakes would be done for the film.[14]
“Vincent Price is superb in his one right role—that of a ham actor thrown suddenly into a situation calling for high melodramatic courage.” —Film criticManny FarberinThe Nation,January 15, 1952.[15]
Howard Hughes, the Texas billionaire who had bought RKO Pictures in 1948,[16]loved Vincent Price's character, and demanded of director John Farrow that it be expanded. Farrow, however, had delivered a film he believed to be finished, and refused to make Hughes' changes, leaving the production.[4]Hughes then askedRichard Fleischerto change and reshoot the ending, estimating that the reshoot would take ten days or two weeks.[17]
Fleischer had just finished making aB moviefor RKO,The Narrow Margin.Hughes and other RKO executives thought this was something special, which was why that Hughes approached Fleischer to reshoot the ending ofHis Kind of Woman.When Fleischer turned down Hughes' request, the producer attempted to persuade him by offering Fleischer the chance to remakeThe Narrow Marginas an "A" film with a million-dollar budget and RKO's top stars. Fleischer again refused, as he was satisfied with the film he had made. Hughes then coerced his acceptance by threatening not to releaseThe Narrow Marginat all, and Fleischer gave in.[4]Fleischer ended up reshooting most of the film.[16]
Story conferences between Hughes, Fleischer and the writerEarl Feltonbegan on December 3, 1950,[6]and took several months to complete. Because of Hughes' obsession with the film, especially its ending, the meetings lasted 7 or 8 hours each. Hughes demanded that the film have more slapstick comedy, more death and brutality, and more fighting. He also added the character of Martin Krafft, the sadistic German plastic surgeon. Hughes wrote all of Krafft's lines, tape recorded himself saying them, and then sent the recordings to the production to ensure that the part was played exactly as he envisaged it.[6]
The changes added new action scenes on the yacht, of which a set of the bridge had been built for the original production.[18]As action sequences were added in the rewrite, this set was expanded bit by bit to a set for a full-size 150-foot (46 m) yacht, including interiors.[19]The yacht set was in a very large water tank on Stage 22 of the RKO Culver City lot, the biggestsound stagein Hollywood.[20]
A new scene involved the sinking of a row boat; "After the boat reached a certain point, it had to sink fairly slowly, the water coming up to the chins of the smallest seated soldiers".[21]This required that the tank with the yacht set be emptied, have a portion rebuilt to deepen it to accommodate the sinking as scripted and be refilled.[22]Another new scene involved a massive brawl.[23]
After two months of shooting and a month of editing, an hour and 20 minutes of new material had been added to the film. When Hughes viewed the new material, he decided that he did not like the actor playing the character Ferraro,Lee Van Cleef,and ordered the scenes reshot.Robert J. Wilkewas chosen for the reshoot after a careful search and screen tests; this second reshoot involved nearly every scene of the new material and a number of scenes earlier in the picture.[24]Three quarters of the way through this second reshoot, Hughes sawRaymond Burrin a film and ordered Ferraro's scenes reshot again, this time using Burr in the part.[25]
In total, the reshooting of the film cost about $850,000 to complete – which, coincidentally was approximately the amount of money which the film lost in its initial 1951 release.[26]
Promotion
editHughes promoted the film with a giant firework-shooting billboard featuring Mitchum and Russell that spanned Wilshire Boulevard, proclaiming the two as "the hottest combination to ever hit the screen".[4]The same image of the two actors later caused problems in London, as it was decided that too much of Russell's cleavage was showing.[7]
Release and reception
editBox office
editThe film recorded a loss of $825,000.[27]
Critical response
editIn a review of the film, the staff atVarietymagazine lauded the pairing of Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell as the lead characters, writing, "[The] two strike plenty of sparks in their meetings as each waits out plot development... Both Mitchum and Russell score strongly. Russell's full charms are fetchingly displayed in smart costumes that offer the minimum of protection. Much is made of Vincent Price's scenery-chewing actor character and much of it supplies relief to the film's otherwise taut development".[28]
Critic Dennis Schwartz called the film, "An oddball tongue-in-cheek crime thriller, filled with ad-libs, from Howard Hughes' RKO studio that strays from its conventional film noir plot to try its hand at comedy". Schwartz also appreciated the acting, writing, "It's a part where Mitchum is perfectly at home with being a loner anti-hero and Russell is perfectly cast as the bouncy 'his kind of woman', who in the last shot kisses him while his pants are being scorched by the iron--a perfect metaphor to end on".[29]
Linda Rasmussen liked Mitchum's performance but as a film noir proper gave the film a lackluster review, "As a serious film-noir thriller, it lacks suspense and depth. However, the film has its moments, and Robert Mitchum is in his element as the loner anti-hero".[30]Jane Russell later said "It was a good film until they took John Farrow off and put in this nonsense at the end, the gore and [hypodermic] needles".[31]
Writing inThe Nation,film criticManny FarberdescribesHis Kind of Womanas “good course romantic-adventure nonsense, exploiting the expressive dead-pans of Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell, a young man and a young woman who would probably enjoy doing in real life what they have to do here for RKO.”[32]
Farber adds: “Russell’s petulant, toneless rendition of “Five Little Miles From San Berdoo” is high art of a sort.”[15]
Attempted remake
editFilmmakerBrian De Palmasought to helm a remake in the 2000s and 2010s,[33]though it was ultimately not produced because RKO refused to relinquish the rights to the property.
Footnotes
edit- ^American Film Instituteentry
- ^'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951',Variety,January 2, 1952.
- ^His Kind of Womanat theAFI Catalog of Feature Films.
- ^abcdefMuller, Eddie(January 6, 2019) Intro to the Turner Classic Movie showing ofHis Kind of Woman
- ^Jewell, Richard & Harbin, Vernon. (1982)The RKO Story.New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p.259
- ^abcdMuller, Eddie(January 6, 2019) Outro to the Turner Classic Movie showing ofHis Kind of Woman
- ^abHis Kind of Womanat theAFI Catalog of Feature Films
- ^Brady, Thomas F. (December 23, 1949)"Deal as Director Made by Colbert"The New York Times
- ^Hopper, Hedda(July 21. 1949)."Looking at Hollywood"Chicago Daily Tribune(1923-1963)
- ^Staff (November 12, 1950)"Director and Players"Chicago Daily Tribune
- ^Brady, Thomas F. (December 12, 1950)"New Disney Movie is Nearly Finished"The New York Times
- ^L. S. (August 27, 1950)."Long Vacation Ended"The New York Times
- ^Staff (February 26, 1951)"Drama"Los Angeles Times
- ^Brady, Thomas F. (May 24, 1951)"Phyllis Thaxter Gets Movie Lead"The New York Times
- ^abFarber, 2009 p. 375
- ^abFleischer 1993,p. 38
- ^Fleischer 1993,p. 49
- ^Fleischer 1993,p. 54
- ^Fleischer 1993,p. 56
- ^Fleischer 1993,p. 53
- ^Fleischer 1993,p. 62
- ^Fleischer 1993,pp. 62–65
- ^Staff (June 10, 1951)"28 stunt men required for mass movie brawl"Chicago Daily Tribune
- ^Fleischer 1993,pp. 69–70
- ^Fleischer 1993,pp. 71–72
- ^Fleischer 1993,p. 78
- ^Jewell, Richard B. (2016)Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures,Berkeley, California: University of California Press
- ^Variety.Staff film review, December 31, 1950. Last accessed: January 2, 2024.
- ^Schwartz, Dennis.Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews,film review, August 5, 2019. Last accessed: January 2, 2024.
- ^Rasmussen, Linda.His Kind of WomanatAllMovie.Last accessed: January 15, 2008.
- ^Peary, Gerald (July 1992). "Russell".Film Comment(28.4 ed.). p. 31.
- ^Farber, 2009 p. 375 And: p. 786: Sources and Acknowledgments, The Nation, “Best Films of 1951” January 15, 1952
- ^Guerrasio, Jason (August 29, 2013)."Brian De Palma on Passion, His Updated Version of 2010's Love Crime, And Why He Still Loves Thrillers".Vanity Fair.RetrievedJune 8,2023.
Sources
edit- Farber, Manny.2009.Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber.Edited byRobert Polito.Library of America.ISBN978-1-59853-050-6
Further reading
- Fleischer, Richard (1993).Just Tell Me when to Cry: A Memoir.Carroll & Graf Publishers.ISBN978-0-88184-944-8.
External links
edit- His Kind of Womanat theAFI Catalog of Feature Films
- His Kind of WomanatIMDb
- His Kind of WomanatAllMovie
- His Kind of Womanat theTCM Movie Database
- His Kind of Womaninformation site and DVD review at DVD Beaver (includes images)
- His Kind of Womanfilm traileronYouTube