His Kind of Woman
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Movie Reviews of His Kind of Woman
Movie Review: Noir + comedy + action = His Kind of Woman!
Summary: 4 Stars
Produced by Howard Hughes, His Kind of Woman! is a blending of a little bit from several genres, including film noir, over-the-top comedy, and action. Surprisingly enough, it all works really well. Dan Milner is typically a gambler who has everything go his way, but of late he's hit an unlucky streak. When he's at his lowest, Milner is approached by some shady characters with a way to make some easy money. All he has to do is go to a remote Mexican resort and wait to meet a man. Arriving at the resort, Milner starts to smell a rat as the plan comes together, a deported mobster wants to buy his identity so he can get back into the US. Of course that's just the basic storyline. There's a wide variety of crazy, eccentric characters at the resort all with their own motives. The blending of noir, action, and comedy works perfectly together and makes for a very enjoyable movie.
Leading the ensemble cast is the always cool Robert Mitchum as Dan Milner, a down and out gambler looking for some easy money. Mitchum could pull off action star and romance equally well which serves him well here. He teams with sex symbol Jane Russell for their first of two movies together. Russell plays Lenore Brent, a heiress looking to nab a rich husband. Her scenes with Mitchum are great, and her character is basically a chance to show off her good looks in any number of outfits. Vincent Price really seems to be enjoying himself as over-the-top Mark Cardigan, a Hollywood actor who jumps at the chance to get into some real action when trouble arises. The solid supporting cast includes Tim Holt, Charles McGraw, Marjorie Reynolds, Raymond Burr, Jim Backus, Leslie Banning, and Philip Van Zandt.
The DVD has the movie in a standard presentation with a few scratches here and there, but nothing that takes you away from the movie. Film historian Vivian Sobchack also provides an informative commentary, but that's it for special features. So for a movie that blends action, comedy and noir with great performances from Mitchum, Russell, and Price, check out His Kind of Woman!
Movie Review: Is it Noir? Is it a comedy? Is it an action movie? Yes, and more besides!
Summary: 4 Stars
His Kind of Woman should be a mess, but somehow it emerges as a highly enjoyable insane asylum of a movie as much thanks to as in spite of the constant interference by Howard Hughes: credited to John Farrow, Richard Fleischer spent months shooting and reshooting the yacht finale at the mogul's whims in a desperate attempt to get out of his own studio contract. Even Raymond Burr's villain is a case of third time lucky after Howard Petrie and Robert J. Wilke played the part without meriting Hughes' approval. Snappy dialogue ("You're the guy who shot (him). How did it feel?" "He didn't say.") unlucky gamblers, fortune-hunting gals, randy Wall Street types (played by no less than Mr Magoo himself, Jim Backus), Nazi plastic surgeons, Italian mobsters, Robert Mitchum betting his shoe and ironing his money, and a very wonderful hotel set courtesy of Albert D'Agostino - this has everything Hughes' money could buy. Mitch and Jane Russell have real chemistry, and she comes over as far more genuinely likeable than in many of her contemporary roles: for all the chaos, you get the sense that they're actually having fun (certainly she looks genuinely happy when she sings in her opening scene). But the show belongs to Vincent Price's ham actor, who doesn't fear death - he's too well-known to die - loves guns, never shuns the spotlight - even if it is wielded by gun-toting mobsters - but isn't too wild about his wife. He should destroy the movie if you're still expecting the bleak noir it began as, but by the time he appears you know that this is a log ride that drifts with the prevailing current and his outrageous hamming somehow compliments the sadism and prolonged action of the extended finale perfectly.
A shame that the DVD has a noticeable scratch during the yacht sequences
Movie Review: Also available on Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 3
Summary: 4 Stars
I second all the positive reviews and would like to add that for a few dollars more you can get this movie as part of Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 3 (Border Incident / His Kind of Woman / Lady in the Lake / On Dangerous Ground / The Racket) -- well maybe more than a just a few dollars more, but you will get some other worthy films including another Mitchum vehicle.
You even get the commentary plus a bonus disk with other special features only available on the collection.
Movie Review: Robert Mitchum and Vincent Price on the corn-ball noir express, with Jane Russell and a nasty Nazi serum
Summary: 3 Stars
Robert Mitchum's loner cool, Jane Russell's breasts and Howard Hughes' obsessiveness might be all there are to this odd, dull noir, but then there's Vincent Price. He plays, as if born to the part, a ham of an actor who befriends Mitchum when Mitchum could really use some help. With Vincent Price deliberately overacting, Hughes and His Kind of Woman got lucky, turning a disaster into simply an oddity.
But that's not saying much. What Hughes came up with after taking the movie away from director John Farrow is a mishmash of poor craftsmanship and the forced joining of some decent noir scenes with low quality comedy. Hughes winds up with Mitchum and Russell in a Mexican resort, not a bad thing at all, but also with Raymond's Burr's bulging eyeballs and psycho brutality, a hypodermic filled with nasty Nazi fluid, a sinking rowboat filled with "comically" inept Mexican police officers, a facial transplant in the works, Tim Holt as a Fed agent, gravel-voiced Charles McGraw as a gunzel, Price hamming it up and Russell singing something titled "Five Little Miles from San Berdoo." The movie starts promisingly, loses its way for well over an hour and then ends with viciousness and belly laughs. His Kind of Woman is a movie almost as odd as Howard Hughes was.
What's the story? Dan Milner (Robert Mitchum), a loner down on his luck, stops at a diner late one night for a glass of milk he can't pay for, then meanders down the street to his rented room. He's met by three thugs who beat him up. Then he gets offered money if he flies down to a small resort on the Mexican coast to await further orders. He'll be part of a scheme involving a deported top gangster, Nick Farraro (Raymond Burr), who needs a new identity to return to the States. Dan shrugs and goes. On the way he meets Lenore Brent (Jane Russell), a singer who is determined to marry rich. She's headed to the same resort to hook up with Mark Cardigan (Vincent Price), famous Hollywood adventure star, who is down there for a spot of shooting and relaxation while his wife gets a divorce.
The ennui sets in when Dan and Lenore get settled at the resort. The movie lasts for two long hours, and a good deal of that time is spent getting to know a number of the guests, a good many of whom have nothing much to do with the story line. There's even a young hubby with a gambling problem being taken to the cleaners. Dan steps in and cleverly turns the tables. He gets a chaste kiss by the young wife as thanks as the couple happily leave the resort.
Then the movie starts getting serious again with Nick arriving in a yacht. Dan changes his mind and fights back, Lenore gets worried and Mark with his rifles sets out to rescue Dan from the yacht. Price uses all his hammy skills to play the hammy Mark, and he gives Mitchum a run for his money. Unfortunately, we keep cutting back to Mitchum creeping around the yacht, Mitchum being pounded in the stomach, Mitchum being whipped with a belt and Mitchum almost...almost...but not quite...being injected by a white-haired medical war criminal with a serum which will erase Dan's memory, destroy his brain within a year, and keep his face intact until it can be used by Nick the psycho gangster. The movie takes this seriously. Then add Mark playing slapstick hero. What on earth was Howard Hughes thinking about?
Well, we know he was thinking about Jane Russell and her 38D bust. He makes sure this actress, who he was determined would be a big star, is photographed with loving skill. As for Russell, the movie is so schizoid she's hardly given a chance to show what she can do. She has two songs, neither of them very good. What she does well is to project her natural good humor. She's sexy in the standard Hollywood style, but she never seems to really take herself too seriously. She works well with Mitchum, who manages to hold his own simply because his laid-back, tough style never really depended on the movies he was cast in.
His Kind of Woman isn't much of a noir, although it starts promisingly. It's not much of a movie, either, because it mixes so oddly and unconvincingly violence and low comedy. However, Mitchum is always Mitchum, Russell has a fine, honest personality despite the cantilevered bras Hughes designed for her, and Price is a good sport.
Movie Review: John Farrow vs. Howard Hughes.
Summary: 3 Stars
I loved the first two-thirds of this movie - great dialogue, interesting characters and a promising storyline. That is the portion directed by John Farrow. The last third of the film becomes a boring mess just as the action steps up. This is due to producer Howard Hughes take-over of the project at that point. He decided to reshoot a large part of the film resulting in an abrupt change in tone and direction toward the absurd and the illogical. Artistically Hughes' peculiar tastes and his "hands-on" approach didn't serve him well in his movie-making career. His contribution to this film spoiled a potential noir masterpiece and made it way too long.
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