THE DIRECTOR

The Director is a big production number based on the making of the movie, The Misfits, and pity poor Gable and Monroe as portrayed by the prototypes here. But it's mainly about their director, Jock, "the kid with jock sock" Finley, out to make the picture if it kills the cast. And he hospitalizes one cameraman right away by setting him in the middle of a mustang stampede. . . then he injures himself by taking his place. In the meantime he makes love to Daisy Donnell of the "used, shabby, dirty, innocence"; reminisces about the time he had to do the same thing to the alcoholic old bag he directed in a New York play; and schemes to get a climactic performance out of aging Preston Cart. Which he does by throwing a wild, unsedated stallion at him in the film's big, final scene. It's a stunt that may or may not bring on the heart attack that kills Cart and leaves Jock permanently guilt-ridden. An exploitative extravaganza—the kind that one sadly suspects might be made into another Misfits movie.