Misfits Soundtrack CD
Misfits.
1961, United Artists.
Alex North.
Ryko, CD, 1998, RCD 1073
Rating: 
Alex North’s highly engaging score, written to accompany director John Huston’s intelligent anti-western, is a surefooted mix of melodrama, jazz and even rock n’ roll. Celebrated playwright, Arthur Miller - who first met North when he scored Miller’s ’Death Of A Salesman’ - wrote the script, about three emotionally flawed ‘Misfits’, getting by at the tail-end of the old frontier. The movie, starring Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable, in their last movie roles, alongside Montgomery Clift, gave North the perfect opportunity to write for characters who went beyond the usual two-dimentional all-action no-brainers. The effective ‘Main Title’, brimming with human high drama, largely sets the standard, resurfacing in cues ‘Roslyn’, an energetic big band number written for Marilyn Monroe’s character and the understated ‘New Life’. While much of the score accents the character’s emotional lives, the fifteen minute ‘Round Up Suite’ provides a welcome taste of the film’s ranching backdrop in ‘The Chase’ and ‘Tension’ segments. Meanwhile, rock ‘n roll number, ‘Paddleball’ and the spirited ‘Reno Bar Dance’ are light and melodic without being lightweight. Highly recommended.
The Misfits Movie Soundtrack. Review: Tim Mowbray.
Track Listing:
1. Main Theme
2. Rendezvous
3. New Life
4. Roslyn (Misfits Theme)
5. Love’s Reverie
6. Love Idyll
7. Paddleball
8. Reno Bar Dance
9. Compassion/Compassion for Guido
10. Help
11. Round up Suite: Disagreement/Round-Up/Chase/Tension
12. Trying for Freedom
13. Resolved, Pt. 1
14. Resolved (End Title)
Sorry, no high quality YouTube clip exists. Will attempt to track one down.
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