Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days (TV Movie 2001) Poster

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7/10
For film buffs
DCBlank-52 July 2001
"Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days" is an interesting look at the filming of the American icon's final and unfinished film. As a documentary, it lacks in several areas (an example - director George Cuckor is said to be angry at Monroe's frequent inability to work, but nothing is said about their on set relationship), but it includes much rare footage of Monroe and a 37-minute recreation of the film using what was shot before Monroe tragically died and the footage vaulted. It is this footage that makes "Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days" worthwhile.
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8/10
A sad but interesting look at Marilyn Monroe's last days
Lady_Targaryen15 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
'Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days' is a documentary about Marilyn Monroe's last days, telling a little bit of her life and why the movie 'Something's Gotta to Give'' never was finished: Marilyn died in the middle of the production, just after she got her contract back with Fox.(She was fired, since she was never coming to the Studios. The few times she came, she was always very late)

Showing her problems with depression, and mixing alcohol with pills (She was addicted to both of them),Marilyn was having emotional collapses, needing to take sessions with her shrink and doctors everyday,as well working under pressure. In this DVD we can see many interviews with people who knew her or was with her during the movie's production, and telling what was happening at that time.

Highly recommended for Marilyn's fans.
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9/10
Fade to black
bobvend15 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The events surrounding the sad, trouble-plagued 1962 production of Marilyn Monroe's last (and unfinished) film "Something's Got To Give" are covered in this thoughtful and reasonably balanced documentary. Regardless of whether or not the viewer is a Monroe fan- or is particularly interested in Hollywood lore- there's an undeniable pull to this offering, not unlike the interest one would experience upon learning of unearthed, previously unknown recordings by a favorite long-deceased singer. This is a rare all-too-brief glimpse of what might have been.

No one denies Monroe was a troubled individual and a difficult actress, and the frustrations of working with her were academic long before she signed to do this film. 20th Century Fox, her home studio for which she was making the film, and the film's reluctant director George Cukor, knew all too well what to expect (and what not to expect) from her. The documentary does a good job of detailing the dire financial situation Fox was in at the time, and how this served to put undue pressure on the production. Almost bankrupt due to the huge cost overruns and delays on their colossal epic "Cleopatra" (in it's third year of production by '62), the studio desperately needed a hit, and they needed it fast. But "Something's Got To Give" wouldn't be it.

The basis for this documentary stems from the painstaking restoration of the long-forgotten reels from the film that narrator James Coburn states totaled nine hours of footage. An edited "reconstruction" of "Something's Got To Give" comprises the final part of this feature, which is also its most sadly poignant. We settle into watch what amounts to a typical piece of early-1960's harmless fluff, at times clever and witty with some good comic chops. Aside from a scene where Dean Martin's character seems surprisingly unsurprised to see his "dead" wife (indicating the absence of an earlier scene), the film moves along fairly smoothly.

Lulled (as I was) into thinking that nine hours of footage is certainly enough from which to extract a coherent complete film, everything suddenly comes to an unexpected end as an off-camera Cukor says "cut!", and all too soon, there's nothing more to see. The film's reconstruction runs for only about 37 minutes, despite the fact that practically all scenes where Monroe's presence wasn't required made it onto film, as the studio worked around her frequent absences. But having continued the reconstructed film without crucial missing scenes involving Monroe would have been somewhat pointless. Fox would remake the movie with a different cast in 1963, entitled "Move Over, Darling" which would give the viewer a reasonable idea of what "Something..." might have looked like had it ever reached the screen. What precious little usable footage we saw of Monroe in the first segments of this feature is apparently all there was. This is part of what makes "Marilyn- The Final Days" so oddly compelling.
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10/10
Fascinating look at a screen icon's last days...
bmbdsm17 January 2012
Growing up, I never really knew enough about Marilyn Monroe. I saw parts of "The Seven Year Itch" on TV as a little kid, and I later saw "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Some Like It Hot" and liked them, but that was my extent of Monroe knowledge. Then, one day in college, bored out of my mind, I randomly decided to look up this documentary on YouTube. I was instantly intrigued. This caused me to realize that there was more to the beautiful woman who graced movie screens with her presence than meets the eye; it also caused me to become a fan.

"The Final Days" takes a look at the troubled production of Marilyn's last work in front of a movie camera, the romantic comedy "Something's Got to Give." From interviews from those who knew Marilyn and from those who worked on the production, it presents a day-to-day account of "Give"'s making. The most fascinating aspect of this piece to me was the footage from "Give." This documentary concludes with a reconstruction of the film from the available footage, beautifully restored and edited together, and surprisingly easy to follow, despite the fact that the film was never finished. The interviews present a balanced account of what went wrong behind the scenes and with Marilyn during this time (screenwriter Walter Bernstein's comments are extremely negative and annoyed me greatly). Despite that minor caveat, I enjoyed this look at a person who is deservedly famous and talented. Marilyn Monroe is a star. A legend. An icon. And above all... utterly human. Marilyn, we love you.
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A Brilliant Work
Emchick5 March 2002
A magnificent documentary that shows the last days of Hollywood's greatest actress. That also shows rare footage of 9 hours of Marilyn's last movie, Something's Got To Give, that AMC had restored and edited to 37 minutes showing what could have been.

Most scenes didn't have her in them, because of her absent days during filming, that lead Fox to have her fired from the film. But because of Dean Martin's contract, (saying that he wouldn't be in it if Marilyn wasn't) Fox signed her back on. Sadly, the movie was never finished, due to Marilyn's tragic death. (Suicide, I think NOT!)

Still, Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days is a beautifully pieced program that tells the ending of Marilyn Monroe's life, but there is no ending to Marilyn's legacy and the memory of her.

Marilyn Monroe 1926-1962
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8/10
the ups and downs (mostly downs) of a star's waning year
Quinoa198421 May 2010
Marilyn Monroe had it all, as a successful star really. Lots of adoring fans, movies that were pitched at a particular audience - for those who loved to see 'Marilyn' on screen, in her beauty, her charm, her humor, and on good occasions her dramatic skill - and a helluva strong studio contract for her bankability. But what she didn't have was piece of mind. She was troubled since her youth, and her "manic-depressive" nature, along with some other genuine problems, caused her to basically flunk out of her stardom in Hollywood. Of course, this is the blanket statement, as the documentary makes clear she could have come back to finish the film she was originally fired from her vehicle, Something's Got to Give. What spurred on that last night when she left the mortal coil is still speculation, some forty years on after the fact (that is when this documentary was made in 2001).

What remains fascinating throughout this look at Monroe's last days was to see how her own fragility contrasted in a similar way to the fragility of Hollywood, specifically Fox at the time, in 1962. Fox needed a solid hit to offset the production nightmare of Cleopatra, but they also had a kind of double-edged sword to yield: like Elizabeth Taylor, Monroe was unreliable as someone who could get to work on time with the schedule made out by the filmmakers, and as costs escalated Studio chiefs (as they are to do often) got uneasy. We learn that Monroe's tardiness (that is her on a good day) was already notorious. But a bad cold-cum-flu that kept her away from the shoot for almost the first three weeks of filming made things very tense on the set. And even to this day the "illness" claim has to be taken from her former doctor, or those who knew her. One of the interviewees says it best: "I could buy she was sick, up to a point - but it was also the drugs."

How ironic then that the documentary shows how in other ways the production got muddled with its organization. Take the example of when Monroe does finally get to the set to do some work, and the first thing done is a scene with a dog that doesn't bark on cue. What were they thinking, one might ask, that as soon as the big star is on set to tool around with a mangy mutt? The Final Days doc does give fans, or just curious and casual movie buffs, glimpses of what might have been of Cukor's film, including a rather infamous scene where Monroe skinny dips in a pool to distract Dean Martin's character (and, indeed, she did it for real - how "method" of her, after all), and some so-so funny scenes with the other actors.

Actually, the documentary also includes the entire 'restored' version of Cukor's film, all 37 minutes that was filmed (mostly the scenes without Monroe), though oddly enough seeing that was just OK. For a big movie buff it doesn't bring the same thrill as, say, when in the 90's Paramount released Orson Welles' complete filmed segment in It's All True. It's simply a fluffy romantic comedy that was a remake to start with and something that, perhaps throughout deep down, Monroe wasn't crazy to work on. The history and the politics of the studio, and Monroe's intentional (Kennedy birthday bash) or unintentional (getting sick, either for real or psychosomatic) means of mucking up the production, proves to be much more valuable, even when getting the stories and information from sources that could be just making stuff up. The producer Henry Weinstein might appear to be one of these at first, though he talks about how fair he really was to her, while her entourage of Strasberg (damn you, method!) and her publicist hurt, not helped, her mental state.

The documentary is shaped like a tragedy, and so there's the double-twist that Monroe was trying to get back on track before she died, that it wasn't just a two-month depression bender after she got fired (and, perhaps, this isn't unbelievable as she could pull a few good strings in Hollywood when she needed). This structure makes it conventional, but it's never really dull, and only at the end does the music and James Coburn's narration become too cheesy and melodramatic. Up until then, and before it gets to the restored Cukor footage, it's an engrossing story of stardom gone awry, and it's both beautiful and haunting to see when Monroe was "ON" on the set, it was one of the most wonderful things to see. The darker parts, however, can really only be filled in by the audience.
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7/10
Her Final Six Months
Lechuguilla9 October 2009
Archival footage and contemporary interviews provide a glimpse into the final six months of the life of Marilyn Monroe. The documentary spans the time from February, 1962, until her death in August, 1962, using benchmark dates, usually associated with the film she was making at the time: "Something's Got To Give". The film was never finished.

Interviews include Producer David Brown, Associate Producer Gene Allen, Producer Henry Weinstein, Writer Walter Bernstein, and actress Cyd Charisse. Throughout the documentary, Marilyn comes across as physically lovely, playful, emotionally insecure, a tad irresponsible, temperamental, eager to learn, vulnerable, and dependent on sleeping pills.

One segment has B&W footage of her as she shows up tardy at the May 19th birthday celebration of then President John Kennedy, just weeks before she died. When she finally appears on-stage, host Peter Lawford introduces her to the audience: "Mr. President, the late Marilyn Monroe".

The Monroe documentary runs about 77 minutes. The remainder of the film consists of pasted-together excerpts of what exists of "Something's Got To Give". It runs about 35 minutes.

The quality of the documentary is quite good, what there is of it. But I didn't really learn anything new. Some brief mention, at least, could have been made of all the conspiracy theories surrounding her death. They were not included.

Overall, this is an acceptable film, especially for anyone unfamiliar with Monroe's history. But it is a tad superficial. And I could have wished for more in-depth analysis.
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9/10
transcendent
karmacoupe30 October 2006
wow! this is a mind-blowing documentary! up with the best ever IMHO -- particularly Let It Be in its portrait of a great artist's demise; Lost In La Mancha in the disaster caught on film; Swear To Tell The Truth (about Lenny Bruce) in its common era and tragic hero; and Festival Express in its unreal footage that you never thought existed of masters in their prime. and make no mistake, this girl was still in her prime! she could be in a parka reading the newspaper with a three-ring circus beside her and Nobody would notice the circus!

how it portrayed the final hours without a conspiracy theory undertone. and Sinatra singing the theme song to her lost last movie?! huh!? and that Wally Cox shot two of the final scenes ever with Marilyn Monroe!? and that Steve Allen was also in the last movie? was there anything he didn't do!?

I remember hearing about this when it came out, and I just went, "Oh, some other stupid documentary on Marilyn," like there's been A Million of these already. but this is so serious, and real, and complete, and not just whoring her name and figure. it made me choked up in both her final performance in "Something's Got To Give" (another freakily ominous title, like that Beatles farewell), and in the recreation of her last night.

she is So transcendent! there aren't many humans captured on film as captivating as her. and What a portrait this is of her final reel!
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6/10
With Perspective.
rmax30482314 January 2016
"Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days." Sounds like something that should be on some tabloid TV show, one of those morbid sumps that blame everything on child abuse and are pregnant with lines like, "Little did she know, tragedy lay just around the corner." It's actually better than that. It's not just a roll in the hay with Schadenfreude. Instead it's an interesting, sometimes funny, and reasonably objective look at Marilyn Monroe's personality and illness, the character of those who surrounded her, and the dynamics of the movie business at Twentieth-Century Fox.

Monroe's childhood was exceptional in several ways -- bad ways -- a father who deserted the family and a mother who wound up in a psychiatric facility. Monroe herself had several miscarriages but always wanted to have children herself. It's probably by the seasonable interposition of a gracious Providence that she was unable to do so. There's a high genetic loading on schizophrenia.

What's surprising in looking at the photos from her youth is that she was not particularly attractive. She was rather plump, puffy, and ordinary in appearance. Even at the age of twenty, she was perfectly normal except for a mane of frizzly hair. Her later glamorized beauty is a monument to studio craftsmanship.

Much of the film deals with the problems she had making her last attempt at a movie, "Something's Got To Give," with Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. Of course her unreliability was already legendary but the director, George Cukor, became worried as the shoot fell farther and farther behind, costing the studio a fortune with every day missed, money they couldn't afford to lose after the four-hour and three minute egg, "Cleopatra." She complained of cold, fevers, sinusitis, and was pounding barbiturates. Cukor shot around her, filmed all the scenes that didn't require her presence, but when Monroe took off -- still claiming illness -- to attend President John F. Kennedy's gala birthday party and performed before the crowd, the consensus was that she was plagues less by illness and more by self indulgence.

It didn't help that on the few days she was available, she constantly looked to her acting coach, Paula Strassberg, for approval, without which she would demand a retake. Cukor was edged out. And Strassberg was on a five-thousand-dollar a week salary from Monroe. Nobody liked Strassberg who, regardless of the source, comes across as an expensive parasite. Her psychiatrist also claimed he could get Monroe to do whatever he wanted. We aren't informed what he was paid.

After a month of shooting, the film was one million dollars over budget. Monroe had worked only thirteen out of thirty production days, and she was officially fired, her career finished at the age of thirty-six.

There were photoshoots and an attempt to kick start "Something's Got To Give" but it didn't help her. She died of an overdose of seconal and other substances.

Most of the talking heads are reasonable in their comments. Of course, nobody says, "I wish I'd done something differently." Her personal doc, with fashionably swept back gray hair, disclaims all responsibility. And we don't have to listen to much pop psychology, although there are the usual references to "the lost little girl inside her." The last twenty minutes or so present the updated and refurbished existing footage of the original shoot. The clips are ordered along the lines of the plot and suggest that if the movie had been finished it wouldn't have been bad, although it lacks the élan of the original, "My Favorite Wife."
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10/10
Best ever
moonshiner6716 May 2022
Love the work they put into this.watch marilyn tapes 2022.and rewatch this.wow.love it.....give a 20.reason we got to watch parts of the movie and tells more about her life.
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