ROBERT MITCHUM AND JANE RUSSELL IN 'HIS KIND OF WOMAN'

Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell in HIS KIND OF WOMAN Year: 1951 Rating: ***1/2

Legendary eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, after buying RKO Pictures, exploited discovered leading lady Jane Russell's ample bosom in THE OUTLAW while, almost a decade later, he put even more time and money into Robert Mitchum's handsome, slow-burn cool for HIS KIND OF WOMAN...

Despite Russell's character being part of the title, she really has little to do here but hang around a plush Mexican resort where Mitchum's affable gambling loser is sent so that chief mobster Raymond Burr... who replaced original director John Farrow's original villain Lee Van Cleef followed by Robert Wilke... to be able to immigrate back to America... or something...

Raymond Burr in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Well any actual plot is pretty much non-existent... and that's okay since Mitchum and Russell have enough chemistry to carry through various scenes with an assortment of sordid gangsters from Charles McGraw... who re-shoots/replacement director Richard Fleischer used for the previous years' smash-hit NARROW MARGIN... and ASPHALT JUNGLE safe-cracker Anthony Caruso, turning up with Burr on a yacht: a location replacing the resort in an action-packed third-act finale...

Where deliberate scene-stealer Vincent Price becomes the main character after Mitchum's tied up and beaten... a flamboyant Errol Flynn-style actor who decides to risk his actual life in semi-comedic scenes that, had he and Mitchum been equally paired throughout (and younger side-starlet Leslye Banning was given more scenes), THIS KIND OF WOMAN could have not only better than the fun crime-flick it is, but would have an actual purpose and destination beyond the overpriced excuse for sizzling Russell/Mitchum-paired posters and lobby cards.

Vincent Price and Robert Mitchum in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Leslye Banning in HIS KIND OF WOMAN with Robert Mitchum

Robert Mitchum in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Stacy Harris in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Leslye Banning in HIS KIND OF WOMAN with Robert Mitchum

Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Robert Mitchum and Tim Holt in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Robert Mitchum and Tim Holt in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

 Jane Russell in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Leslye Banning in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Leslye Banning in HIS KIND OF WOMAN with Robert Mitchum

Tim Holt in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Charles McGraw in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Charles McGraw and Robert Mitchum in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Robert Mitchum in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Charles McGraw and Robert Mitchum in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Vincent Price in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

From HIS KIND OF WOMAN

From HIS KIND OF WOMAN

From HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Raymond Burr in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Vincent Price in HIS KIND OF WOMAN with Marjorie Reynolds

Raymond Burr and Robert Mitchum in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Raymond Burr and Robert Mitchum in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Raymond Burr in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

From HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Anthony Caruso in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Raymond Burr in HIS KIND OF WOMAN

Robert Mitchum in HIS KIND OF WOMAN with Joel Fluellen

Robert Mitchum in HIS KIND OF WOMAN with Paul Frees