Neither do I, bitches.

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Product Description

One of the movies' greatest actors and most colorful characters, a real-life tough guy with the prison record to prove it, Robert Mitchum was a movie icon for an almost unprecedented half-century, the cool, sleepy-eyed star of such classics as The Night of the Hunter; Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison; Cape Fear; The Longest Day; Farewell, My Lovely; and The Winds of War. Mitchum's powerful presence and simmering violence combined with hard-boiled humor and existential detachment to create a new style in movie acting: the screen's first hipster antihero-before Brando, James Dean, Elvis, or Eastwood-the inventor of big-screen cool.

Robert Mitchum: "Baby, I Don't Care" is the first complete biography of Mitchum, and a book as big, colorful, and controversial as the star himself. Exhaustively researched, it makes use of thousands of rare documents from around the world and nearly two hundred in-depth interviews with Mitchum's family, friends, and associates (many going on record for the first time ever) ranging over his seventy-nine years of hard living. Written with great style, and vividly detailed, this is an intimate, comprehensive portrait of an amazing life, comic, tragic, daring, and outrageous.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #149973 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

From Publishers Weekly
"Never forget that one of the biggest stars in the world was Rin Tin Tin, and she was a four-legged bitch," was tough guy Robert Mitchum's stock response when asked what it felt like to be a movie star. While many Hollywood personalities and stars now attempt to maintain their personal privacy, Mitchum gloried in the seamless meld between his lives on and off screen. Born in 1917 to a railroad worker and a mother with intellectual, even bohemian, inclinations, Mitchum lost his father early, and ran off when he was 14 to hop freight cars during the Depression. After gigs as a boxer, stevedore and union worker (perhaps even joining the Communist Party), he tried acting and finally got a break in Hollywood. After playing a cowboy in a 1943 Hopalong Cassidy serial, he made another 18 film appearances that year. In 1945, his performance in G.I. Joe made him a star. He perfected his tough guy image by the late 1940s, playing variations on this part (often comic as his career waned) until his last film, in 1995. In his heyday, Mitchum made headlines by suing Confidential magazine for libel, getting arrested on a marijuana drug change and generally acting rowdy. Server (Danger Is My Business) is at his best describing Mitchum's fine actingAespecially in the 1955 Night of the HunterAand his struggles to remain independent in an industry that demanded conformity. This is a well-researched, highly entertaining and revealing biography that contextualizes Mitchum in the broader world of industry and national economics, business and politics. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Mitchum was Hollywood's original "Bad Boy," who, as the title implies, didn't seem to care about living up to anyone's expectations. Best known for tough-guy roles in a career that spanned over 50 years, he made over 120 films, "forty of them in the same raincoat," and played everything from cowboys to sophisticated lovers. With no pretensions toward being Lawrence Olivier, Mitchum said he picked jobs for the number of days off, but there was no doubt that he was a powerful, sad-eyed, simmering screen presence. His private life was even more interesting than his film roles. Mitchum was a Depression-era hobo who fell into acting. Even when famous, he was independent and found trouble; he was busted for smoking marijuana before most people in the country even knew what it was. Server (Danger Is My Business) does good research but also offers a big, thick, juicy celebrity read that will not disappoint aficionados of the genre. Highly recommended.DRosellen Brewer, Monterey Cty. Free Libs., Salinas, CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Robert Mitchum was one of Hollywood's original bad boys. A notorious womanizer, boozer, and brawler who was jailed in the 1950s for possession of marijuana, which only enhanced his appeal as an outlaw and an outsider, Mitchum defined the antihero before the term had been invented. And yet, as Server makes clear in this superb biography, Mitchum was also a consummate craftsman, an actor who always hit his mark (no matter what had happened the night before) and who inspired testimonials from the likes of John Huston and Charles Laughton, who believed that Mitchum could have been the era's greatest Lear. Server tells the fascinating story of Mitchum's early life, riding the rails during the Depression, and he reprises the actor's more than 100 films, providing perceptive analysis of the remarkable number of masterpieces, from the quintessential film noir, Out of the Past, through his groundbreaking and too-little-known western, Pursued , and on to the classic Night of the Hunter , the cult favorite Thunder Road , and the stellar mainstream dramas, including Heaven Knows Mr. Allison and The Sundowners . There's plenty of fascinating insider stuff about what took place on the sets of all these films, but best of all is the way Server captures the Mitchum persona: his "gliding, pantherlike movements, his underplaying and powerful silences, his expressive quiescence," and, most of all, his "immoral face." Predictably, Mitchum had nothing but scorn for such accolades, claiming he had only two acting styles: "with and without a horse." A wonderful movie-star biography about a rebel who despised movie stars. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Customer Reviews

Mitchum had to be the original poster boy for "cool"!
Bio's I generally keep around for "light" reading to fill in those breaks when other books get to heavy. However, this well done tome written by Lee Server kept my attention from the introduction to the epilog. Of course, being a life-long fan of Mitchum may have had something to do my diligent enthusiasm for sticking with it while dust settled around me.

The author obviously dug deep in his research because he offers much information I don't think was generally known about Mitchum. His long marriage, which had to be a great trial to his long-suffering wife Dorothy, was exposed in a different tenor then anything else I've read on the couple. He brings out a soft, compassionate side to the crusty, vulgar macho man one generally hasn't been exposed to. Mitchum have been one of the few actors who worked with Marilyn Monroe that was understanding of her tardiness and outward vanity that covered a very vunerable woman with low self-esteem. Yet, he wasn't afraid to take on the "big guys"....the directors and producers while endeavoring to protect those that were intimidated by the "fat cats". He stood up for his convictions and remained honorable to those he cared about. To the end he was his image...Robert Mitchum; tough guy. He probably never had a clue how highly he was thought of because to him, he was just doing a job that as he put it, a dog, "Rin Tin Tin" was in the same profession! He tossed out one-liners that years from now will probably be well known cliches. I always respected him as an actor....now, I also respect him as a man. Hollywood lost their last great actor from the glory days.

Still a Mystery Man
As a dedicated fan of Robert Mitchum, I was happy to see a full-scale biography available at last. It does an excellent job of cataloging Mitchum's films and acting methodology. I would have appreciated less repetition of "understated, natural, stole the film" etc., and more insight to the particular strengths he brought to his best movies. The author tells us the movie might have been bad, but Mitchum-never. I have seen almost all of Robert Mitchum's films, and I am here to tell you, there were a few that he strictly walked through his part. This is true of almost any actor that has had a 30+-year career.

The book is severely limited by the lack of access to the principal players in Mitchum's life: his wife, sons, and many of his closest relationships. There are disadvantages to an "authorized" biography if the family wishes only the positive virtues of the subject to be included. However, without their input or cooperation, it is almost impossible to get any realistic picture of the man. Before I read this book, I knew Mitchum was a drinker, a brawler, a womanizer and a bad boy. When I finished the book, I didn't have much to add to that impression. His early life though sketchy, was interesting. His famous detachment is easily understood when you read about his childhood. His mother, though a hard worker, was a drifter and her children more or less raised themselves.

The direct sources are questionable. His sister is an unusual woman who claims "ESP" with Robert; though her view of him is so laudatory I sometimes wondered if she was speaking of an entirely different person. The tales from "barroom buddies" are just that - highly questionable. He seems to have been aloof toward his children and slightly skeptical. Mrs. Mitchum is a mysterious character throughout the book. Why did he stay with him? Why did he keep coming back? We never find out. According to the book, he had a long relationship with Shirley MacLaine, yet the author did not have one conversation with her.

Robert Mitchum remains an enigma. The definitive biography remains to be written.

This Mitchum's Got The Goods
I just recently finished Lee Server's bio on Robert Mitchum and found it to be extremely worthwhile. I had been eagerly awaiting for it to come out, both as a Robert Mitchum fan and as a fan of the writer, Lee Server, who has written excellent books on Pulp Fiction, Vintage Paperbacks, and Noir culture in general. He has a humorous and hip take on these subjects, knowledgable and enthusiastic without being academic.

The Mitchum book is written in the same style. It's full of great stories and details, particularly about his early life on the road, his infamous Reefer Bust, and how many of his movies were developed. There are numerous and lively anecdotes about many well-known directors and actors (John Huston, Charles Laughton, Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe) and some others who should be better known (Jane Greer, Edward Dmytryk, Anthony Caruso, Jacques Tourneur) The blend of Mitchum's actual life and his film life is shown seamlessly and there are no phony explanations about any of his actions. He is shown in many aspects: poet, partyer, brawler, and father. Warts and all. The book is a long one with many details but it is written in a crisp and fast-moving style. A very enjoyable read. Anyone who wants to learn more about: Mitchum, Film Noir, Hollywood, and a fascinating slice of 20th Century history should pick it up. This one's a keeper!