Video Viewpoint
"A Robert Mitchum Trifecta"
Robert Mitchum... The only man who taught me more than my own daddy about how to BE a man. His movies are the stuff of legend and a virtual "how to" guide. Learn to sock a jerk in the kisser, to manhandle a dame, to knock back a shot of booze, to smoke a Lucky Strike, brandish a weapon or handle a vehicle correctly while looking stylish in triple pleated baggies and a neatly trimmed coiffure. Today's generation has me worried running around in T-shirts asking "What Would Jesus Do?" (WWJD). If I could turn water into wine I would too, but a more realistic question is "What Would Robert Do?"(WWRD). When invited to a party should I show up on time with a 6 pack of beer for the hosts or should I drink the beer by myself and show up late, drunk and empty handed? Hmm...What would Robert Do???
THUNDER ROAD - 1958 (B&W)
Korean war veteran Luke Doolin (Robert Mitchum) proudly carries on his families 250 year moonshining tradition and Luke is the biggest, baddest, fastest, most reckless, hard headed, chain smoking hillbilly whiskey runner the Tennessee Valley has ever seen! His daddy makes the whiskey & Luke drives the load in his souped up 1950 Ford while his brother (played by real life son James Mitchum) is the family grease monkey who handles a wrench and torch better than a NASCAR pit crew. Constantly in danger of being boxed in by the Federal Revenuers, the organized crime syndicate, the sweet country gal or the sophisticated night club singer (played by Keeley Smith) Luke must BREAK OUT! The acting has some crunchy spots but there's really nothing better than watching cool '50's cars crash and blow up to a twangin' soundtrack.
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER - 1955 (B&W)
Down by the banks of the Ohio, a very young Shelley Winters plays a widow saddled w/ 2 children after her husband is hanged for killing 2 men in a depression era bank robbery. No one knows where the money is hidden except the 2 kids and they swore to daddy not to tell a single soul. Enter Robert Mitchum as the evil psychopathic preacher with "Love" and "Hate" tattooed across the knuckles of his hands and searching for the undiscovered loot. Using the bible as his weapon he seduces the town and the widow and only the children can see what this evil son of a bitch is really up to as they are cast adrift in a cruel world fleeing terror and fearing for their lives. Directed by Charles Laughton, this extremely odd, twisted, creepy little movie is obviously a huge inspiration for the Tim Burton movies to follow with it's menacing lighting, cartoonish scenery and ! eerie nursery rhyme soundtrack. It's not your typical Robert Mitchum tough guy picture but it's fun to watch him act so dang demented.
OUT OF THE PAST - 1947 (B&W)
Robert Mitchum is the hard-boiled, nicotine abusing gumshoe Jeff Bailey who gets a gig working for a mobster (Kirk Douglas) to find a moll who bilked him "outta 40 G's." Turns out the moll is hottie Jane Greer who uses her "talents" to play Mitchum for a sap. Mitchum, thinking with his penis, makes a few enemies and tries to run from his past but inevitably gets sucked back into the seedy underworld with its frame-ups, patsies, double-crosses and cold hearted dames. This is truly a Film-Noir classic with it's cigarette fumes, fist fights, femmes fatales and flashing forty five's!!!
Rent a Michum flick today!