KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

JohnHowardReid "His Kind of Woman" is a distinctly odd and muddled film. It starts off quite dramatically in true Farrow fashion with a striking shot, in this instance a long shot in which Raymond Burr advances quite sinisterly into the camera. This sinister mood is maintained deftly through Mitchum's opening scenes and the arrival at Morro's Lodge where Farrow gets quite a menacing portrayal out of Phil Van Zandt by shooting enormous close-ups of his face. Mitchum looks old (not inappropriately so far as the script is concerned) and Miss Russell is not all that attractively photographed either, though she wears a stunning assortment of costumes.The sinister mood at Morro's Lodge is gradually dispelled, particularly by the romantic scenes and the introduction of other characters. Our hero becomes involved in the financial problems of a pair of newly-weds when hubby is taken to the cleaners by four-flushing card sharpie, Jim Backus, - who drops out of sight as soon as the mood of the film changes back to menacing, when drunken playboy, Tim Holt (a small role but one of his most dazzling portrayals), is murdered.Farrow makes atmospheric use of the Lodge's peculiar architecture with its sliding panels and venetian blinds. There are no really long takes, but some effective ones of middling length particularly the opening tracking shot at Morro's Lodge in which the camera picks up and follows successively no less than three people before settling on Mitchum and following him to a table where he is joined by Van Zandt. And then follows the effective use of close-ups in the ensuing dialogue scene as mentioned earlier.We are obviously in for a violent climax when suddenly the film splits into two - the violent confrontation between Mitchum and Burr, with Mitchum being pursued in a real ship (something on which Farrow was an expert, having commanded one in the war), the terrifying business with the needle and the close-up of Burr's ravaged eyes and the muzzle of a pistol - but all this is intercut with scenes of high comedy when Vincent Price unexpectedly decides to do a broad skit on John Barrymore and leads a riotous expedition (with Fritz Feld as his deputy) to rescue Mitchum. Although some of these scenes are very funny (especially the boat sinking) others are as strained as Price's over-performance. Worse, they tend to dispel the mood and atmosphere of the sequences with which they are intercut, even to giving a lie to the credibility of the film as a whole. It was a noble experiment but it doesn't work, partly because it is so unexpected and we were not prepared for Price suddenly acting in this fashion beforehand.

dougdoepke A down-on-his-luck Mitchum is bribed to go to Mexico where he meets an assortment of characters, including a menacing Raymond Burr.According to TMC, studio honcho Howard Hughes was greatly impressed by Vincent Price and insisted that his part be expanded. It was, in spades, resulting unfortunately in two movies in one. The first half is pretty fair noir with the two icons Mitchum and Russell traipsing around a sound-stage Mexico. The second half, however, is little short of a mess, due to Price who appears to have been ordered onto the wrong set with the wrong script. Somehow, Russell has dropped out of sight, and in her place we get a Shakespeare spouting slice of ham, Price, who I guess is supposed to be funny. The intercutting between Mitchum being tortured and Price doing slapstick is almost like sticking the Three Stooges into the middle of a Nazi interrogation. If this is supposed to be clever satire of movie heroics, as some apologists claim, then I wish I could stop cringing.It might be interesting to know what the screenwriters originally had in mind (apparently, there were six of them, probably four doing re-writes to please kingpin Hughes). But the result is near incoherence and the waste of a noir icon and an Amazon princess. More damningly, it's the best argument I've seen in awhile for keeping the suits in their offices and as far from the set as possible.

MartinHafer The plot for this Robert Mitchum is an odd one. Dan (Mitchum) is a professional gambler whose life is suddenly a mess. It seems that someone is deliberately setting him up and making it impossible for him to accept a strangely vague assignment. Some gangsters (obviously the ones who sent him up) want him to go to a resort in Baja, Mexico and just wait...but for WHAT or WHO they won't tell him! Considering he doesn't have a lot of choice, Mitchum goes--where he meets all sort of oddballs--such as a woman pretending to be rich (Jane Russell), an obvious bit of muscle (Charles McGraw) and a hammy actor (Vincent Price). And, after being there for a while, he and the fake rich lady start to fall for each other...hard. So what's to become of this odd melange? See the film for yourself! "His Kind of Woman" is a great example of a film where the dialog is so snappy that the plot itself is secondary. Now this does NOT mean the plot is bad--the film is very well-written, as the WHAT and WHY turn out to be pretty interesting. But when Mitchum talks, he is the ultimate in 50s cool--with a wonderful world-weary style and sarcasm that sound, at times, like Bogart of the 1940s. In addition, his scenes with Russell are great--with a nice mixture of romance, sarcasm and heat! In addition, watch Price's character--he becomes VERY interesting as the film progresses. For lovers of Noir--or just a good film--this movie is well worth your time.By the way, if you've seen this film and "Key Largo", you'll probably see a lot of similarities. Now I am not saying that one film is a copy of the other or that it inspired the other--just that I saw some parallels.

zardoz-13 The big question about the thoroughly entertaining "His Kind of Woman" is who staged the incredibly suspenseful action scenes? John Farrow received credit as the director of record, but the trivia section about this movie at IMDb reveals that producer Howard Hughes hired Richard Fleischer to re-shoot the entire film. "His Kind of Woman" is an indulgently-paced, ironic, skewering of machismo. This is refreshing ahead of its time when most heroic actors took themselves seriously. Frank Fenton of "Garden of Evil" and "Narrow Margin" scribe Jack Leonard are listed as the primary scenarists. Gerald Drayson Adams is listed as the man who concocted the story. Adams is remembered for an earlier Mitchum effort "The Big Steal" and the Audie Murphy oater "Duel at Silver Creek."Nevertheless, word is that Hughes rewrote the ending, but how much of it did he rewrite. This atmospheric but lethargic crime thriller pits naive gambler Don Milner (Robert Mitchum) against deported gangster Nick Ferraro (Raymond Burr of "Perry Mason" fame), and the a hammy actor who breaks up their confrontation. Vincent Price plays Mark Cardigan who stupidly braves the odds and rescues our outnumbered hero in the last hour. The energetic last hour of this overlong thriller compensate somewhat with Farrow/Fleischer nimbly cross-cutting between Ferraro and the hero and Mark Cardigan as he musters a boarding party to storm the crime figure's yacht. Raymond Burr makes an excellent villain. Farrow does a first-rate job of generating suspense when Mitchum struggles against his captors who are about to inject him with a drug. Clearly, this movie came at a time in Mitchum's career that he could waltz around with his chest bared. Jane Russell enlivens things when our heroes aren't swapping blows or lead with the villains. Anthony Caruso capably plays one of Ferraro's evil minions.