The Misfits is a 1961 American contemporary Western film directed by John Huston and written by Arthur Miller, who adapted his own 1957 short story.

It stars Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift, alongside Thelma Ritter and Eli Wallach.

In Reno, Nevada, 30-year-old Roslyn Tabor files for a quickie six-week residency divorce from her inattentive husband, Raymond.

They meet an aging cowboy named Gaylord Langland, and his tow truck driver best friend, Guido.

At the rodeo, Roslyn becomes somewhat upset when Guido tells her how the horses are made to buck with an irritating flank strap.

A drunken Gaylord then fetches Roslyn, telling her that he wants her to meet his kids, claiming he unexpectedly ran into them.

Later on, during the drive home, a drunken Guido asks if Roslyn has left Gaylord and offers to take his place.

The making of The Misfits was troublesome on several accounts, not the least of which was the sometimes 100 °F (38 °C) heat[4] of the northern Nevada desert and the breakdown of Monroe's marriage to writer Arthur Miller.

According to Huston in a 1981 retrospective interview, he felt "absolutely certain that she was doomed," a conclusion he reached while working on the film:[5] "There was evidence right before me almost every day.

Monroe's confidant and masseur, Ralph Roberts, was cast as an ambulance attendant in the film's rodeo scene.

Gable reminisced with The Making of the Misfits author James Goode saying, "Long ago, if an actor was late, they were fired.

"[citation needed] Clark Gable insisted on doing some of his own stunts, but not the scene of being dragged 400 feet (120 m) across the dry lake bed at more than 30 miles per hour (48 km/h).

[citation needed] Veteran B-movie Western actor Rex Bell, who had been married to Clara Bow, made his final film appearance in a brief cameo as an amusing elderly cowboy.

Magnum Photos had numerous staff photographers, including Ernst Haas, Inge Morath, and Eve Arnold assigned to document the making of The Misfits.

Film locations included the Washoe County Court House on Virginia Street, and Quail Canyon, near Pyramid Lake.

The climax of the film takes place during wrangling scenes on a Nevada dry lake twelve miles[7] east of Dayton,[8] near Stagecoach.

[2] Despite on-set difficulties, Gable, Monroe, Clift and Wallach delivered performances that modern critics consider superb.

[14] Monroe received the 1961 Golden Globe Award as "World Film Favorite" in March 1962, five months before her death.

Misfits premiered at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, UK in 1996, directed by Hersov and starring Lisa Eichhorn as Marilyn Monroe.

[19] Arthur Miller's last play Finishing the Picture (2004), although fiction, was based on the events involved in the making of The Misfits.

In August 2018, an unreleased nude scene where Marilyn Monroe exposes herself while making love with Clark Gable's character, and which was thought to have been lost, was discovered.