Customer Reviews

The Misfits: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack [Enhanced CD]

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Alex North was among the most innovative and unique talents that wrote for movies. Although I would not rank this among his best over all, the title music alone is worth the price. It is powerful and moving and conveys the very essence of the tragic arc of the film. Thankfully, the title motif is repeated a number of times throughout the score (except for the cut where he introduces it as a dance tune!) For those who remember and appreciate his scores for Cleopatra or Spartacus, this is not in that league; but it remains vintage North. (Now will someone please tell me why they haven't released Cleopatra on CD?)

Moody music that grabs your attention. What fitting music for "the last western", and the last movies Gable and Monroe would complete. The main theme is very haunting, and immediately hooks the listener in. A soundtrack as mysterious as the movie...very thrilling!

If you love the 1961 film "The Misfits", this soundtrack is for you. I bought the original 1961 lp at a record store years ago and was dissappoined since it only included about half of the music featured in the film. This CD inlcudes every bit of music from the movie and it is a truly moving score to add to your library. The titles include jazzy songs as well as dramatic sequences, all portraying different scenes from the movie and all tied together by the central theme of the film. If you loved the film, you will go "wow" over this disc. Also, the packaging is extremely beautiful and includes some interesting photos, stills, and original design reproductions.

I saw this movie at a small town theater when it first came out. I was twelve. There weren't many people in the movie house at the time and no wonder, this movie was about themes that very few Americans wanted to confront. The guilt felt by some vets for all the killing in WW2, divorce, alcoholism, destroyed family relations, destruction and abuse of nature, alienation and other themes that Americans have never really wanted to face head on. I didn't know who Arthur Miller was at the time but I knew this was a heavy movie. The movie did not end as good as it could, probably because the studio got involved with the editing.

Anyway, the music is pure fifties/sixties soundtrack. Alex North did a great job here. It's jazzy and epic and somber in some parts. It really helped create and support the mood of the film. I listen to it often with my other soundtrack music from the fifties and sixties. It looks like it's out of print now but you may be able to pick up a used copy here at Amazon. Good luck.

like the film, the music is sad, keeping the whole atmosphere showed in this depressed but deep story, the last work of some actors, and the best thing Marilyn did in motion pictures.Listening to this tracks you can ¨see¨and/or ¨feel¨ her presence.

I first saw the misfits as a teenager/college undergrad. Even in low-fi, the soundtrack packed a punch. Served up as digital/remastered, it is all the more haunting. Nuances and instrumentation previously unnoticeable are revealed with great clarity.

Some tracks are hopeful/joyous (e.g., Reno Bar Dance), flirtatious/sassy (e.g., Paddleball). Most, however, capture edgy, somber moods befitting the characters, and the actors portraying them. Marilyn and Montgomery were notably doomed and damaged. Alas, Marilyn and Montgomery would be dead within a few years, and Clark died shortly after wrapping the film. Knowing the tragetory of these living (yet burned out) stars, the soundtrack gives me goose bumps every time I hear it. Or, sometimes, brings me to tears. That's the test of good music--whether it touches you.

IF YOU LOVED THE MOVIE, BUY THIS SOUNDTRACK.