Arthur Miller on film.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Desmond Ryan

Some films get made in spite of everything _ budget overruns, star tantrums or illness, bad weather, accidents _ and go on to enduring greatness. Francis Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" (R, 4 stars ) is a prime example.

Then there are those ill-starred ventures, such as "Ishtar" (PG-13, 1 { stars) and "Heaven's Gate" (R, 2 stars), that live down to low expectations.

And dark clouds without silver linings sometimes settle over high-profile movies. That was certainly the case for "The Misfits" (unrated, 2 stars). In 1961, the press devoted endless ink to the travails of John Huston's film, and the bad publicity surrounding the production was followed by worse fortune when it wrapped.

Much of the attention focused on costar Marilyn Monroe, whose husband, playwright Arthur Miller, wrote the screenplay. Miller, who died last month at age 89, was a dramatist who allowed Hollywood to film several of his best plays but did not often take the lucrative route of writing directly for the movies.

"The Misfits" was a major exception, and the tale of maverick modern cowboys was dogged by tragedy. It was Clark Gable's last film, and some thought his fatal heart attack came from the stress of making it. Much of that stress was blamed on Monroe's frequent absences. "The Misfits" was her final film, too, and the atmosphere on the set was further poisoned by the fact that her marriage to Miller was over in all but name.

Under the circumstances, it's hardly surprising that the resulting movie, which also starred Montgomery Clift, was a dud. Miller is better represented by the screen versions of his finest dramas.