So you could say, it was a marvel or miracle of the modern age Facebook which brought me face-to-face with Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach and of course Marilyn Monroe. "Misfits" did not even crack the American Film Institutes top 100 films of the 20th century. So maybe moviegoers should give "Misfits" a second look. What are the elements of a motion picture which make it a classic? What do "Citizen Kane," "Casablanca," "Gone With the Wind," "Spartacus" and the original "Godfather" have in common that sets them apart from the rest? Certainly an original screenplay, a talented troupe of actors, costume design, and cinematography are all important. If it all comes together to create a truly great cinematographic, the performance leaves a lasting impression on its audience. The "Misfits" is just such a film. Since its release in February 1961 it has been overlooked for its timeless theme of lonely human beings, outcasts searching for meaning in a modern society that had seemingly passed them by. The star power of its cast and their on-screen performances alone is of superior quality. Headliners Clark Gable in the part of Gay Langland, a man as tough as saddle leather, opposite Marilyn Monroe an exotic dancer and divorcee Roslyn Tabor; Montgomery Clift as rodeo cowboy Perce Howland; supporting actress Thelma Ritter as the feisty Isabelle Steers. Add Eli Wallach as Guido Racanelli a World War II pilot down on his luck, and you can make a convincing case for adding "The Misfits" to your “A” list of classic motion pictures. In the plot Gay, Perce and Guido all fall for Roslyn, understandable given Marilyn Monroe’s child-like innocence and charm showcased in Arthur Miller’s screenplay. The sub-plot and drama at the time in Miller’s personal life is a story all unto itself. He is better know for his Broadway plays "Death of a Salesman" and "The Crucible," a parody of McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare during the 1950s. Miller composed his script in a hotel room in Reno, passing the finished pages he drafted on the fly to the film set on the desert location near Dayton, Nevada. Miller’s inspiration was his wife Marilyn Monroe and he wrote even as his marriage to her disintegrated during the filming that summer of 1960. And the tension in the film is palpable. As the temperature that summer on the Nevada desert reached the 100 degree mark, his relationship with the mercurial actress cooled. Before 1961 was over, the couple had divorced. Somehow despite Monroe’s insomnia and arriving late on the set and a script which changed daily, director John Huston managed to pull cast and crew together and produce a film of superior quality. This despite Huston’s drinking and gambling which nearly bankrupt the project. The climatic scene is the kind of drama which inspire Hollywood lore and legend. Gay Langland convinces Guido and Perce to go “Mustangin” in the Nevada desert. There wild horses roam free a part of the public domain; the money earned for their capture and kill is paid by slaughter houses which produce dog food. Guido, a superb pilot, is the spotter and locates the herd; he then forces them toward the lariat ropes of Gay and Perce in a three-quarter ton truck. Chase scenes are a Hollywood standard and this one is superb. Once the horses are roped and hobbled, the film switches to Roslyn who, along for the ride and appalled at the mustang’s fate, persuades the cowboys to set them free. Then there is fate itself. Five days after the film wrapped in the Nevada desert, Clark Gable suffered a severe heart attack. Eleven days later he was dead. Eighteen months later Marilyn Monroe too would be dead, a victim of a broken heart, barbiturate and alcohol abuse and the image Hollywood had created which she could no longer live with. Five years after the film wrapped Montgomery Clift died in his New York City apartment, a victim of celebrity, too much booze and too many pills. Longevity was on Eli Wallach’s side. The Broadway actor would go on to fame in film as Mexican bandito Tuco Ramirez playing opposite Lee Van Cleef and Clint Eastwood in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, the final installment of the Dollars Trilogy. This too adds to the "Misfits" mystique as a classic. In "Misfits" we see modern life in a complex society broken down into its simplest terms. A good argument can be made the film at the time represents a new genre in film: the modern western. From a movie aficionado’s point-of-view, stylistically, "Misfits" is reminiscent of "The Wild One" and "Rebel Without a Cause," the latter released one month after the death of the film’s star James Dean. As a source of social commentary one only need visit Sturgis, South Dakota in the third week of the month of August to see the personas of Gay, Perce, Guido and Roslyn multiplied; people alive and well enjoying life living it for the moment with no regard for what tomorrow may bring. That same hedonism would be seen again in the streets of the Haight Ashbury district in San Francisco during the Summer of Love and in New York’s Greenwich Village during the 1950s late 1960s. Significantly, The film would come to symbolize an entire generation during the Sixties, a generation looking for direction, purpose and the meaning of life. For it is Gable’s character Gay Langland whose lines say it best with Roslyn resting her head on his shoulder as he drives toward an unknown destination and an uncertain future: she asks, “How do you find your way back in the dark?” Gay replies, “Just head for that big star straight on. The highway's under it. It'll take us right home.” Jean W. Griffith is an author and college educator. He lives in Carthage.