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Robert Mitchum: "Baby I Don't Care"
vBulletin Book Store > vBulletin books beginning with R
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Robert Mitchum: "Baby I Don't Care" |
Author: Lee Server
Published: 2002-03-06 |
List price: $21.95
Our price: $16.46
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Out of the Past: Build My Gallows High, Baby
Lee Server has done a commendable job capturing the essence of an enigmatic and iconic Hollywood star. His task was not an easy one: Mitchum's wife and immediate family did not cooperate with Server and made themselves inaccessible. Nonetheless, Server soldiered on and managed to write a creditable biography of a mercurial and oftentimes inexplicable performer.
Mitchum was a living contradiction in terms. Having lived a vagabond life as a hobo during the Great Depression, which included a conviction for vagrancy and a stretch on a Southern chain gang, Mitchum rode the rails to Los Angeles. After marrying his high school sweetheart, Dorothy, who defined the role of a long suffering and supportive spouse, and working in a defense plant, Mitchum broke into acting as a bit player in inexpensive Westerns. Gradually his roles were expanded until he scored successes in films such as "The Story of G. I. Joe" and the low budget film noir thriller "When Strangers Marry." A long term contract with RKO Studios helped establish Mitchum as one of the leading actors in the film noir genre in pictures such as "Crossfire," "The Racket," "The Big Steal" and the definitive noir "Out of the Past."
In the latter film, Mitchum narrated the picture and delivered some excellent lines such as the following response to a statement concerning the femme fatale, Kathy Moffat (Jane Greer): "She can't be all bad. No one is." To which Mitchum replied: "Well, she comes the closest." In several exchanges with Moffat, Jeff Bailey (Mitchum) scores again: "You can never help anything, can you? You're like a leaf that the wind blows from one gutter to another" or "Just get out, will you? I have to sleep in this room."
Late in his career, Mitchum was given the opportunity to revisit noirland in a visually stunning adaptation of Raymond Chandler's "Farewell, My Lovely." Mitchum treated the acting profession with contempt and disdain, preferring to spend his idle hours reading, womanizing, drinking and smoking. From his youth, Mitchum had smoked marijuana and eventually he ended up serving a prison term for doing so while in Hollywood. Mitchum survived this scandal and continued to prosper.
Server's book recounts some wonderful anecdotes about Mitchum's encounters with the reclusive studio chief Howard Hughes, the penniless bon vivant Orson Welles, John Wayne and many others. The film contains an extensive filmography and summarizes all of Mitchum's important film roles. This book is an excellent read that will be enjoyed by any serious film enthusiast and noir aficionado.
Baby I Don't Care, But You Will About This Bio
If Robert Mitchum was a favorite actor, if you're interested in Hollywood history, or larger, funnier than life true stories, or if you just like well written and superbly researched biographies, then this book is for you.
My only criticism is Lee Server leaves you wanting for more, for revealing the tantalizing crazy tales shared to him in interviews, but for concerns of privacy and libel suits, he could not disclose.
I look forward to reading his new book on Ava Gardner, even though I don't care much for Hollywood.
 You'll Learn Alot About This Interesting Person
Robert Mitchum was NOT one of my favorite actors before reading this book. I didn't appreciate his films very much nor his acting ability. But, after reading the book, I learned that I was wrong. He was a great actor and he was in SOME wonderful films! Plus, the guy was a "maverick" which makes him even more interesting as a personality. This book is worth your time. You'll go back and rent some of the movies in which Mr. Mitchum appeared and enjoy them more than you would have before reading this book. Recommended.
What a Man!
They don't make them like him anymore. This was a very well researched book and I enjoyed it very much. One of the things that I thought about while reading it was that Mr. Mitchum remained at RKO in spite of inferior movies and roles because he remained loyal to Howard Hughes who stuck by him after his arrest for using marijuana. What might he have done if he had been at a different studio? Then again if he was with another studio his career might have been over then and there.
One other thing. His wife stayed with him through countless affairs and public humilations. Ava Gardner even called her and asked her to let him go! That was some kind of love. Mr. Mitchum should have been more impressed with her.
baby, I don't care...
they don't make them like this anymore..a man unto himself..answering to no one but himself..entering LA on a train as a hobo..smoking the wild weed along the route..and leaving Hollywood as an icon of the American screen...Lee Server writes a memorable book..no sugar coating here..a man who could see through the bs of the business and who was never enamored with being a star only with doing the work with integrity..he'll never be canonized but to truly appreciate him, read this wonderful book and then watch one of his films..God, we need more like him today...
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