Some classic movies are important, sure, but not necessarily enjoyable to modern audiences. But these Marilyn Monroe movies remain a total pleasure to watch.
The films catch her in all her greatness, and showcase her underrated acting skills, as well. Think we missed one? Let us know in the comments.
And now, some of our favorite Marilyn Monroe movies.
All About Eve (1950)
Marilyn Monroe, who was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926, has a small but crucial role in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s brilliant showbiz satire.
Bette Davis plays a Broadway star who won’t give up the spotlight, and Anne Baxter is Eve Harrington, a shrewd manipulator ready to take her place.
Monroe only appears in a couple of scenes as Claudia Casswell, but her luminescence is impossible to miss. Mankiewicz said in the 1972 book More About All About Eve that Monroe was cast because of a “a breathlessness and sort-of glued on innocence about her that I found appealing.”
When the great Marilyn Monroe isn’t the best part of a movie, you know you’re watching a classic.
Niagara (1953)
Though Monroe would come to be known for a whispery comic persona, Niagara, one of the first films in which she was the lead, showcased her dramatic skills.
Monroe holds the camera like few performers before or since in this curious noir about a woman (Monroe) plotting to murder her husband so she can run away with her lover.
Unlike most noirs of the era, notable for slinky black and white, Niagara was shot in three-strip Technicolor. The glorious color makes Monroe’s radiance pop all the more, and provides a disquieting disconnect with the dark subject matter.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
In a very different performance than the one she delivers in Niagara, Monroe is at perhaps her most iconic: Her performance of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” in an elegant pink dress has been often imitated, including by Madonna in her “Material Girl” video.
Directed by Howard Hawks, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes finds Monroe showcasing not only her comic timing, but ability to truly sell a song.
Her character, Lorelei Lee, is very stereotypical, sure. But Monroe plays her with a wink, imbuing the entire film with an added layer of wit and charm.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Some Like It Hot is not only one of the best Marilyn Monroe movies, but one of the best films of all time.
Monroe’s success onscreen often depended on her collaborators, and she was working with the best on Some Like It Hot. Billy Wilder produced, co-wrote and directed the film, and Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon starred opposite Monroe who disguise themselves as women to escape Chicago mobsters.
The juxtaposition of Monroe’s inimitable feminine wiles and Curtis and Lemmon’s misfired attempts at playing women raises the comic stakes considerably.
The American Film Institute ranks it as the greatest comedy movie of all time.
The Misfits (1961)
The final film that Monroe completed is also, for our money, her best.
The actress exudes decency and vulnerability in The Misfits, written by her then-husband, Arthur Miller, and directed by John Huston.
Monroe plays Roslyn Taber, a recently divorced woman who gets entangled with aging cowboy Gaylord Langland (Clark Gable), rodeo rider Perce Howland (Montgomery Clift) and mechanic Guido (Eli Wallach) while staying in Reno.
The film was not just the last one Monroe finished — she died in 1962, while working on Something’s Got to Give — but also the last for Gable. (He had seen footage of the film, and agreed with people who said it was his best work.)
The Misfits was released on February 1, 1961, on what would have been Gable’s 60th birthday. It was initially a box office disappointment, but soon proved to a classic. And it is monument to the talent and potential of Monroe, who was just 36 when she died.
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