To me, this movie is perfection.

Simply Perfect

Pretty Good

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

"His Kind of Woman" is a distinctly odd and muddled film. It starts off quite dramatically in true Farrow fashion with a striking shot, in this instance a long shot in which Raymond Burr advances quite sinisterly into the camera. This sinister mood is maintained deftly through Mitchum's opening scenes and the arrival at Morro's Lodge where Farrow gets quite a menacing portrayal out of Phil Van Zandt by shooting enormous close-ups of his face. Mitchum looks old (not inappropriately so far as the script is concerned) and Miss Russell is not all that attractively photographed either, though she wears a stunning assortment of costumes.The sinister mood at Morro's Lodge is gradually dispelled, particularly by the romantic scenes and the introduction of other characters. Our hero becomes involved in the financial problems of a pair of newly-weds when hubby is taken to the cleaners by four-flushing card sharpie, Jim Backus, - who drops out of sight as soon as the mood of the film changes back to menacing, when drunken playboy, Tim Holt (a small role but one of his most dazzling portrayals), is murdered.Farrow makes atmospheric use of the Lodge's peculiar architecture with its sliding panels and venetian blinds. There are no really long takes, but some effective ones of middling length particularly the opening tracking shot at Morro's Lodge in which the camera picks up and follows successively no less than three people before settling on Mitchum and following him to a table where he is joined by Van Zandt. And then follows the effective use of close-ups in the ensuing dialogue scene as mentioned earlier.We are obviously in for a violent climax when suddenly the film splits into two - the violent confrontation between Mitchum and Burr, with Mitchum being pursued in a real ship (something on which Farrow was an expert, having commanded one in the war), the terrifying business with the needle and the close-up of Burr's ravaged eyes and the muzzle of a pistol - but all this is intercut with scenes of high comedy when Vincent Price unexpectedly decides to do a broad skit on John Barrymore and leads a riotous expedition (with Fritz Feld as his deputy) to rescue Mitchum. Although some of these scenes are very funny (especially the boat sinking) others are as strained as Price's over-performance. Worse, they tend to dispel the mood and atmosphere of the sequences with which they are intercut, even to giving a lie to the credibility of the film as a whole. It was a noble experiment but it doesn't work, partly because it is so unexpected and we were not prepared for Price suddenly acting in this fashion beforehand.

Good performances, yes, but the plot was implausible - gangster wants to lure a guy to Mexico so he can do some sort of plastic surgery to sneak into the U.S. using the other guy's passport. Huh? And the movie turns into a mashup between film noir and crime farce, with Robert Mitchum holding up his noir end while Vincent Price hams it up while reciting Shakespeare. Very strange movie that could've been a lot better.

A down-on-his-luck Mitchum is bribed to go to Mexico where he meets an assortment of characters, including a menacing Raymond Burr.According to TMC, studio honcho Howard Hughes was greatly impressed by Vincent Price and insisted that his part be expanded. It was, in spades, resulting unfortunately in two movies in one. The first half is pretty fair noir with the two icons Mitchum and Russell traipsing around a sound-stage Mexico. The second half, however, is little short of a mess, due to Price who appears to have been ordered onto the wrong set with the wrong script. Somehow, Russell has dropped out of sight, and in her place we get a Shakespeare spouting slice of ham, Price, who I guess is supposed to be funny. The intercutting between Mitchum being tortured and Price doing slapstick is almost like sticking the Three Stooges into the middle of a Nazi interrogation. If this is supposed to be clever satire of movie heroics, as some apologists claim, then I wish I could stop cringing.It might be interesting to know what the screenwriters originally had in mind (apparently, there were six of them, probably four doing re-writes to please kingpin Hughes). But the result is near incoherence and the waste of a noir icon and an Amazon princess. More damningly, it's the best argument I've seen in awhile for keeping the suits in their offices and as far from the set as possible.

I found - then watched this movie by accident on TCM last night - and so very happy I did so. The crew and cast must have had a ball making it. I laughed several times during viewing the movie. The wonderful sinking of the 'rescue' life boat looking like Washington crossing the Deleware River gone very wrong is a classic. And that is just one of many scenes that are truly inspired. And the Mitchum and Russell banters throughout the movie were wonderful. What a great pair of actors complimented by the performances of Vincent Price, Raymond Burr and Tim Holt - among many others. Howard Hughes must be smiling "down from heaven"? at the fine movie he produced. He deserves our thanks for the final product.