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His Kind of Woman is a 1951 film noir starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. The film features supporting performances by Vincent Price, Raymond Burr and Charles McGraw. The direction of the film, which was based on the unpublished story "Star Sapphire" by Gerald Drayson, is credited to John Farrow. After Farrow had turned in what he thought was the finished film, RKO studio boss Howard Hughes intervened and caused extensive re-writes, re-casting, and re-shooting under the supervision of Richard Fleischer, whom Hughes coerced into cooperation by threatening not to release The Narrow Margin, a film that Fleischer had just finished for RKO. This post-production process took a great deal of time and money, costing about the same amount – $850,000 – as the film lost at the box office in its initial release. Plot Down on his luck, professional gambler Dan Milner accepts a mysterious job that will take him out of the country for a year but pays $50,000. He accepts a $5,000 advance and tickets that will take him to an isolated Mexican resort, Morro's Lodge, where he will receive further instructions. Milner is attracted to the only other passenger on his chartered flight to the resort, Lenore Brent. When he arrives, Milner finds that several guests at the luxurious Baja California resort have hidden agendas. He is disappointed to find that Lenore is the girlfriend of famous movie actor Mark Cardigan. Milner overhears two guests, self-proclaimed author Martin Krafft and a man named Thompson, planning something which he suspects involves him. When Milner confronts them, he is given $10,000 and told that someone is on his way to Baja to see him. Seemingly drunk Bill Lusk flies in, despite warnings of very dangerous storm conditions. Milner thinks he must be the contact but when the two are alone, Lusk says he is an undercover agent for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He tells Milner that the U.S. government suspects that underworld boss Nick Ferraro, deported to Italy four years earlier, is scheming to get back into the country posing as Milner. The two men are a close physical match and Milner is a loner, so no one is likely to miss him. Krafft turns out to be a plastic surgeon. Cardigan's wife Helen and his personal manager Gerald Hobson show up. She had gone to Reno to get a divorce, though not really intending to go through with it, as she is still fond of her husband. Hobson also thinks it is a poor idea because Cardigan's film contract is expiring and the bad publicity would make it hard to get a new one. With her own plans ruined, Lenore confesses to Milner that she is really just a singer looking to hook a wealthy spouse. Milner shows his softer side when he helps unhappy newlywed Jennie Stone by cheating at poker to win back her husband's gambling losses from investment broker Myron Winton. Lusk sneaks into Thompson's room but is caught and killed. Milner and Lenore stumble upon his body dumped on the beach; Milner is convinced that the dead man must have been telling the truth. That night, Thompson and his men take Milner to a yacht, recently arrived in the bay. Milner is able to pass along a veiled plea for help to Lenore. She persuades Cardigan, who is tired of just pretending to be a hero, to help out. While the actor keeps the mobsters pinned down with his hunting rifle, Milner sneaks back onto the boat, knowing that the only way out of his mess is to deal with Ferraro once and for all. He is caught and brought to the crime lord. After killing two of the thugs and wounding and capturing Thompson, Cardigan mounts a rescue with the reluctant assistance of the Mexican police and a couple of the more adventurous guests. A gunfight breaks out aboard the boat, followed by a melee. Milner manages to break free and shoot Ferraro dead. Cardigan and his wife are reconciled. Milner and Lenore end the film in a clinch. Cast Cast notes: Robert Mitchum, who referred to himself as "The Tall Dog", called Jane Russell "Hard John" because of her strict, straitlaced religious beliefs. When a male reporter questioned these in light of her image, she told the reporter, "Christians can have big breasts too." Whatever sexual chemistry Mitchum and Russell had onscreen, the two performers were never more than friends. The film was a rare RKO role outside of Westerns for Tim Holt. Vincent Price threw a party on the set celebrating his one-year anniversary working on His Kind of Woman. Mitchum had been patient for over a year, during the multiple rewrites and reshoots. However, he snapped on the penultimate day of shooting during a fight scene, and started fighting for real with the stunt men who were manhandling him. He destroyed the set and all the lighting and sound equipment on the stage, all the while cursing at everyone involved with the production. One modern source claims that in Mitchum's fight scene with Raymond Burr, Burr actually knocked out Mitchum. Vincent Price, a gourmet cook, prepares to cook a duck, and Raymond Burr, an orchid fancier, tends orchids. Jane Russell, who was a singer as well as an actor, sings two songs. Production The film – which was at one stage known as Star Sapphire, the title of the unpublished story by Gerald Drayson it was based on – was announced in July 1949 with Jane Russell and Robert Mitchum already attached. For Howard Hughes, who owned RKO and acted as its executive producer, Mitchum and Russell were the epitome of sexual chemistry. Robert Sparks was to produce and John Farrow to direct. Farrow had directed Mitchum in Where Danger Lives the year before, and the two had gotten along well. They expected His Kind of Woman to be a similar experience, shooting a straightforward adventure thriller. However, Frank Fenton and Jack Leonard, who co-wrote the screenplay, intended the film to be a send-up of the dark film noir crime movies which were popular at the time. The primary conduit of the comedy of the film was the character of the ham Shakespearean actor Mark Cardigan, played by Vincent Price. Filming took place in November 1950. In December the production was doing retakes. Russell and Mitchum were promptly re-teamed in the 1951 film Macao. RKO were so pleased with Price's performance in His Kind of Woman that they signed him to a non-exclusive contract as a writer and director. In May 1951 it was announced further retakes would be done for the film. Howard Hughes, the Texas billionaire who had bought RKO Pictures in 1948, loved Vincent Price's character, and demanded of director John Farrow that it be expanded. Farrow, however, had delivered a film he believed to be finished, and refused to make Hughes' changes, leaving the production. Hughes then asked Richard Fleischer to change and reshoot the ending, estimating that the reshoot would take ten days or two weeks. Fleischer had just finished making a B movie for RKO, The Narrow Margin. Hughes and other RKO executives thought this was something special, which was why that.... Discover the Milner Jane popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Milner Jane books.