Rating: 
Summary: The enigmatic Mitchum remains elusive
Review: This book purports to be the definitive Mitchum biography, but that's difficult to do when you have not interviewed his widow or any of his sons. Other people important to the Mitchum legend are absent in the narrative and list of interviews. Bob was a cantankerous, enigmatic, distant man and he was extremely difficult to know. Cutting through the layers of insecurity and Mitchum's deliberate obfuscation is a daunting prospect, but this biograpy fails at its fundamental purpose: to explain the subject to its readers.The strong area os the book is in describing (sometimes in minute detail), Mitchum's various screen performances. These desciptions are interesting but devoid of many human interactions. I would have been interested to know about Mitchum's off-screen relationships with his co-stars: how did he and Deborah Kerr get along, or Polly Bergen? Unless Mitchum had an affair with a co-star, there isn't much about them within these pages and that was disappointing. There is a similar lack of material on his male co-stars, with the exception of John Wayne. As for the gossip angle, forget it. Much of what's here we already knew: the pot bust, the booze binges, the hell-raiser lifestyle and the endless array of women. Mitchum was gorgeous, sexy and as masculine as they come, but why did his affairs always end up badly and why were they usually so short in duration? Answers to these types of questions aren't to be found. If you want a fairly clinical disection of Mitchum with an emphasis on his acting ability, then you will savor this effort. But if you want a more personal revelation, look elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible, Absolutely Horrible
Review: This is a terrible book. The author does a terrible job of making anything about Robert Mitchum's life seem interesting or worth reading. And whoever edited this book should immediately be fired. For instance, Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola, FL is not spelled "Egland" - I know because I was born there. There are many other errors of this kind throughout the book (for instance when the author calls Mitchum's son "Josh" instead of "Jim") that totally detract from the readibility and smoothness and veracity of the book. And it's one boring page after another of movie details that have no releveance to Mitchum's life. Check it out from the library if you must read it but definitly DON"T BUY IT! Better yet, just go rent some of his movies - you'll see that Robert Mitchum truly was one of the greatest actors of all time.
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