Andrei Sakharov Marilyn may represent some unique alchemy of sex, talent and Technicolor. She is pure movies. The film is an ideal mating of star and role, as Marilyn deliriously embodies author Anita Loos' seminal, shame-free gold digger. She is the absolute triumph of political incorrectness. Her wit completes her cosmic victory, particularly in her facial expression of painful, soul-wrenching yearning when gazing upon a diamond tiara, a trinket she initially attempts to wear around her neck.
Movies can offer a very specific bliss, the gorgeousness of a perfectly lighted fairy tale.
Watching Marilyn operate her lips and eyebrows while breathlessly seducing an elderly millionaire is like experiencing the invention of ice cream. If I'm going to be a symbol of something I'd rather have it sex than some other things we've got symbols of. Visit the Barnes and Noble's TIME 100 bookstore.