Victor Mature would be one of the least highly regarded stars of Hollywood's golden era - far too many musicals and costume pictures, with that haughty air of self satisfaction and muscular physique. But a closer look at his output reveals a surprising range: swashbucklers, westerns, musicals, Biblical epics, film noir, comedies, war flicks; he worked with filmmakers as capable as Hal Roach, Henry Hathaway, John Ford, Frank Borzage, Albert Broccoli, Neil Simon, and Cecil B de Mille, and featured in several classics, some camp (One Million Years BC) but others legitimate (Kiss of Death, My Darling Clementine) and a large number of "hidden gems".
Mature was also very endearing, extremely self deprecating about his abilities, funny and wry, with a good head on his shoulders: he enjoyed making money and hooking up with women, and was very skilled at both, although all those marriages dented his earnings; he managed to retire on his own terms a wealthy man and enjoyed a long retirement.
He actually deserves a full biography but until that comes along this isn't a bad substitute. McKay is a big Mature fan, and his work is very uncritical, but he at least has done some research and I enjoyed his passion. There is a solid biographical entry at the beginning and the fact that this is a film by film analysis mean some lesser known Mature works like Stella and Gambling House get some attention.
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