How others will see it. The Misfits is tailor-made for classic film fans. The five leads are all well known, and even the cameos are interesting: Monroe's husband, Kevin McCarthy, was the lead in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Rex Bell, then the Lt. Governor of Nevada and the husband of silent actress Clara Bow, plays an old cowboy, as does James Barton. Within two years, Bell and Barton would be dead, along with the film's two leads, Gable and Monroe. Clift's career fell apart after The Misfits, and he too would die within five years.
These facts, plus the failing marriage of Monroe to the screenwriter, Arthur Miller (famous for the play "The Death of a Salesman"), and the film's mournful score, gives The Misfits an air of desperation. Happy moments, such as Monroe winning a bar bet, are only an interlude before the next disappointment. Clift is out of the money at the rodeo, a rabbit eats the lettuce, there are only five wild horses left in Nevada, and Monroe can't stand to see animals suffer.
Since the film was in black and white, as were most quality movies in 1961, it looks antiquated to modern eyes. Wallach's primitive plane only adds to this effect. Still, even the young viewer who believes cinema began with Star Wars should find the characters compelling. And Monroe's presence as a late cultural icon, like James Dean or Elvis Presley, provides interest for the curious.
How I felt about it. Lovely, lost, childlike, and empathetic Monroe is the central character. Wallach and Gable respectively covet her body and presence, and waste little time setting her up in Wallach's neglected house, which Gable fixes up. Monroe's new mentor, Ritter, for some reason approves all this, perhaps because she suspects Gable's interest in Monroe is partly paternal, or perhaps she likes being included in the gang, and knows Monroe's living arrangement is part of the bargain.
Wallach cagily bides his time, hoping to move in on Monroe once Gable has drifted on. Clift's addition to the party threatens Gable's hold on Monroe, since Clift is younger and has the lost puppy dog look that Monroe clearly has a weakness for. Clift even releases the mustangs to please Monroe, since he surely wouldn't have done so if she weren't there. But since Clift is the biggest misfit of all, he has to move on. Monroe's tenuous hold on Nevada depends on what Gable will do with her, and whether she will have any of it.
What Gable, Clift, and Wallach have in common is an aversion to "wages." It's not the income they mind, it's having to answer to a boss who will tell them what to do. They will suffer no end of hard labor, physical risk, and poverty to avoid having to say, "Yes, sir." But opportunities are fading for the independent cowboy to eke out a subsistence. Even Gable realizes, at the end, that he's washed up.