His Kind of Woman is a 1951 Film Noir directed by John Farrownote and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, and Vincent Price. It starts out seeming like a typical noir before taking a Genre Shift into more of a Romantic Comedy action-adventure.
Dan Milner (Mitchum), a professional gambler who's down on his luck, is hired for a mysterious job at a resort in Mexico. There he meets the beautiful and apparently wealthy Lenore Brent (Russell) and falls in love with her, before discovering she is already in a relationship with ham actor Mark Cardigan (Price). As it turns out, Milner has been lured to the resort so that a mob boss named Nick Ferraro (Raymond Burr) can kidnap him; it seems Ferraro, who four years earlier was deported to Italy, is trying to get back into the US, and intends to get plastic surgery to disguise himself as Milner – who he physically resembles – in order to do so. And so Mark Cardigan, desperate to be a hero, sets out on a rescue mission...
The film was in fact initially written as a straight film noir, but Howard Hughes (the producer) demanded more comedy, more action, and more Vincent Price – leading to Mark Cardigan practically taking over the second half of the film and becoming a comedic action hero instead of simply the comic relief.
His Kind of Woman contains examples of:
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Lenore behaves like this at first, brushing off Milner's attempts at flirting or even conversation. Less so as the film goes on, though she remains pretty snarky.
- Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Mark Cardigan is egotistical to the point of applauding himself while watching his own films. He also knows he's not taken seriously by most people and feels like a fake, desperate to prove that he really can be brave and heroic offscreen, instead of simply a useless fop who plays the role of a hero in his films.
- Blood Knight: Mark Cardigan is extremely enthusiastic about finding himself caught up in the film's plot of murder and kidnapping and greatly enjoys the opportunity to fight real bad guys for a change. He grins more and more maniacally with every man he kills and openly admits that it feels good.Mark: Now might I drink hot blood, and do such bitter business as the day would quake to look on!
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Mark Cardigan initially seems like nothing more than an egotistical ham actor and has a tendency to make poor life choices, requiring his manager to constantly sort out the messes he gets into. He turns out to have far more genuine courage and combat skill than anyone would have expected.
- Friendly Sniper: Mark Cardigan is a friendly, outgoing guy who addresses Milner as "my bucko". He's also a seriously impressive marksman, the best in the film despite many of the other characters being gangsters or cops.
- Herr Doktor: The doctor performing the plastic surgery. He is never explicitly stated to be an ex-Nazi, but it seems very likely given his accent and sinister behaviour, and he does quite casually mention that the amnesia drug he plans to use was created by the Nazis.
- Large Ham: Mark Cardigan, both in his films (where he plays characters similar to those played by Errol Flynn), and in real life, especially when in combat. He heads into battle wearing a cape and quoting Shakespeare.
