Robert Mitchum

[MissGoddess]

Fire Down Below is kind of uneven but it's a movie I really like for the three characters and their relationship. Mitchum doesn't play a nice guy at all. Rita is sensational, as always.

[RedRiver]

As actors, they understood timing and pacing and how to tell a story and used those skills to help along a singing voice

Absolutely. Even singers who do have good voices, Sinatra and Martin, are helped by their acting skills. Johnny Cash, while not exactly an accomplished thespian, is all about phrasing. In musical theatre, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison pretty much "talk" their songs. Maybe that's a little different. Still, they wriggle in and out of notes; lapse into singing once in a while. Good actors make good singers.

A friend of mine said "Bob Dylan has a terrible voice. But he's my favorite singer!"

Mitchum doesn't play a nice guy at all

You're kidding?

[mrsl]

*****THE ENEMY BELOW *****

I've touted this film so often that I thought I would add a little to some of the one liner descriptions I've given of it. It's WWII in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Curt Jergens is the Captain of a German submarine (he hated playing Germans but with his accent he was perfect), and Bob is the Captain of a battleship (I have no idea how to describe it in any other way). Bob is sick with the flu when he is transferred to the ship and stays in his cabin for a while at first and finally shows his face when he is called because the sub is discovered directly below them. I mention this because his first order seems to be a crazy one and the crew begin to think the new Captain is a wuss. As the story unfolds, the two captains continue to out-guess, or basically read each others minds. The movie turns into a psychological mind game as each captain out-maneuvers the other captains' last move. There is little to no actual fighting involved, but the pull of this movie is almost seeing their minds working to figure out what to do next that the other won't guess. Ladies, the men are always fun to look at, and men, you'll be hooked by the thought processes of these two master captains.
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[mrsl]

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To show an example of the psyche's of these two captains, at one point both ships are to be running silent, but Curt decides that instead of hiding like mice, to confound Bob, he plays a record on the ships P.A. and encourages the crew to sing along. In the meantime, the American ship is bewildered as to what they're hearing, they can't make out what the noise is though they finally realize it's singing and music. Mitchum is both amused and admiring because he knows HE has these couple of hundred men caught under water . . . it's hot because they had damage to the air system, it's been days by now, and so many other things but Curt has come up with something to raise the crews spirits and pull together again. That is just one example of how each captain manages to out-do the other, back and forth during the movie.
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[Sue Sue Applegate]

Robert Mitchum will be inducted into the Great Hall of Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma in April.

For more information, follow this link: http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/eve ... fault.aspx

[MissGoddess]

Yay!!

[RedRiver]

It could be argued that this fine actor's best work is within this genre. His drunken, washed up sheriff in EL DORADO is spellbinding. Not many actors can pull your attention from big John Wayne, but the volatile, unpredictable Mitchum manages the feat. This is the movie that made me a fan.

"Come on. Let me hear you LAUGH!"

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I adored him in River of No Return. And it was not lost on me how much The African Queen and Rooster Cogburn paid homage to it. Something around every bend of the river...

[MissGoddess]

He even made so-so westerns enjoyable. He added a note of unpredictability, which could energize flacid scripts or direction and kept other actors on their mettle because you never could be sure just how he would react. His laid back style was often deceptive. Love him! And my favorite Robert Mitchum character in any of his movies is the mournful half Texan-half Mexican gunfighter in The Wonderful Country.

[RedRiver]

I'm afraid I don't know THE WONDERFUL COUNTRY. I like that Mitchum is the favorite actor of Sam and Coach on CHEERS. They have a long standing pact to ALWAYS watch his movies when they come on TV. Then sex enters the picture. "Scram, Coach!"

[MissGoddess]

It's on DVD, Red, I don't think it would be a waste of your time if you can get hold of a copy of THE WONDERFUL COUNTRY. Robert Parrish directed, and there is an elegiac, Fordian quality to Mitchum's character, a man torn between two worlds, and between violence and the woman he loves. Mitchum was seldom so tender (but tough!). He also has a great horse.

[RedRiver]

It seems I've heard something flattering about Robert Parrish. Can't remember what.

[ChiO]

Probably CRY DANGER.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Just found this intersting photo, and I'll bet Movieman1957 might know a little about it. It is a rare still that was just in an auction.

Robert Mitchum in The Dancing Masters , 1943,with Laurel and Hardy. Looks just like a young Jeff Bailey!

[mrsl]

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I spotted that Sue Sue pulled this thread up from the depths and enjoyed re-reading and seeing the photos of my favorite movie guy. BTW Miss Goddess, did you ever rent The Enemy Below from Netflix? You mentioned you were going to try, I hope you did get it. As I have said before, forget the fact that it's time frame is during WWII and just expect an exhilarating psychological film.
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