MovieChat Forums > River of No Return (1954) Discussion > Too bad Marilyn's Life Didn't Follow thi...

Too bad Marilyn's Life Didn't Follow this Script.

posted 17 years ago by SusanJL
6 replies | jump to latest

This is my favorite MM movie. Her singing & guitar playing are wonderful! For me, the only real flaw in the movie is that corny piano music that starts playing whenever she talks about Rory - I'd like to edit that out of the movie.
Like others have noted, she wasn't playing her usual dumb blonde and it's a shame she is remembered mainly by that kind of role. I think she was a great dramatic actress.
I believe Hollywood & stardom eventually destroyed her. She probably realized at 36 it was all beginning to slip away and she had nothing to replace it with. She wasn't able to have children of her own, which was a tremendous heartbreak for her. I wish some man would have had the strength to have swept her away from show business like Mitchum swept her away from the saloon. Not as a trophy wife, but to a home complete with a child to love & who loved her in return. That's why I find the ending so poignant, the discarded high heels symbolic of Marilyn finally being willing to leave an empty, soul-destroying lifestyle.

[–] prjdean 17 years ago

Very nice post - it is one of my favorites too -

especially nice to see MM in a natural setting and not on just studio sets...

I love her singing in this - some of her very best..

I agree - I wish her life had ended like this movie - it is very poignant.

[–] ohmyheavens 17 years ago

Marilyn liked being a movie star it possibly helped her deal with (or destroy) her self-esteem. Norma Jean was just a plain ordinary girl so Marilyn had to get rid of her. She wanted to be important, special, loved, so she created Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn was married three times the first two wanted to give her the family life she craved but Marilyn loved being a movie star, it's probably the only time she felt special.

[–] SusanJL 17 years ago

Well, I shouldn't have called her a trophy wife. Maybe her husbands did try to settle her down. Unlike Kay, hating her saloon life, she probably did prefer being a movie star - at least until she realized she was aging & younger stars would soon take her place.
I still wonder what having a child could have done for her. The rapport between her & Tommy Rettig in the movie was remarkable.

[–] BlueSwirl 16 years ago

I agree with the op,if only her life ended happier.I really enjoyed the movie too, the scenery was beautiful & Marilyn looked lovely with the long hair.
She was very natural in this movie & her and Mitchum had good chemistry.

[–] PretoriaDZ 14 years ago

Joe DiMaggio did want to her as a traditional wife - too bad he wasn't emotionally experienced or mature enough to realize she needed some real psychiatric help (not drugs) to be able to receive the love he had for her. It is rumored that they were talking about getting married again around the time she died. Whether she died from her own addiction or that death was conveniently arranged for political reasons, that feeling of worthlessness (and the self medication because of it) problem would have had to be addressed before they could have had a good marriage, whether she still continued to act or not. Marilyn is not the only beautiful star that because of an awful childhood could never feel truly loved - Sandra Dee had the same problem. About the only good that can come out of these stories is for people to realize that possessions and fame don't mean a thing if you don't have, or can't have, real human, loving connections.

[–] LaPfieffer92 12 years ago

this was a great insight. yes, its truly sad. this movie should have been her real life, but as we all know real life has a will of its own and we cant always win against it. i wish this did happen to her, good post.