Movie Comment: Robert Gitt's road show of outtakes from The Night of the Hunter
Although more consistently harrowing, suspenseful, and amusing than the released work, I wouldn't describe the evening as revelational.
Confirmed:
- Robert Mitchum was the best screen actor of his and ensuing generations.
- James Agee overwrote.
- Shelley Winters makes Mia Farrow look like a dominatrix.
- Among directors, "perfectionism" is code for sadistic misogyny.
- Whoever agreed to the casting of that poor five-year-old girl deserves all blame.
Learned:
- Robert Mitchum was to be addressed as "Mitch" except immediately after hard blows to his head, when "Bob" was the preferred form. (I must ask Language Hat if a linguistic term exists for this contextual dependency.)
- When around young 'uns, Mitchum's euphemism of choice was not "darn" or "gosh" but "poontang."
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