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Step 1
Buy "The Story of GI Joe" (United Artists, 1945), the movie which launched Mitchum from B movies. The film was based on the World War II correspondence of Ernie Pyle, and starred Mitchum as the tragic Capt. Bill Walker. He received an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor. (No luck.) Dwight D. Eisenhower called it the greatest war film he had seen, and Mitchum's portrayal brought audiences to tears (See Reference 1).
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Step 2
Buy his film noir bookends, "Night of the Hunter" (United Artists, 1955) and "Cape Fear" (Universal, 1962). "Hunter" was directed by Charles Laughton, with Mitchum as the homicidal Reverend Harry Palmer. His agents advised him against the film, advice which Mitchum ignored. "Cape Fear" was a chilling psychosexual drama, racy stuff for 1962. "It's Bob's picture," said co-star and producer Gregory Peck. "Best performance he ever gave."
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Step 3
Buy "The Winds of War" (ABC, 1983), the epic television miniseries based on the Herman Wouk novel of the same title. The film revived Mitchum's career, leading to a guest-hosting gig on NBC-TV's "Saturday Night Live." Wouk at first disliked the casting--Mitchum in his 70s was too old for the character of Pug Henry in his 50s---but eulogized Mitchum in "TV Guide," saying the actor rose to "Brilliant professionalism and stunning authority." (See Resource 2.)
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Step 4
Buy his great performances (which had gaps of several years between them).
Buy "River of No Return" (20th Century Fox, 1954) in which he played loner Matt Calder opposite saloon singer Kay Weston, played by Marilyn Monroe. Mitchum was arrested for possession of marijuana during the filming of "River," which should have ruined his career, but which paved the way for his bad-boy films (like "Night of the Hunter").
Buy "The Friends of Eddy Coyle" (Paramount, 1973). "It's a grubby, violent, dangerous world. But it's the only world they know," read the tagline. Mitchum was the grand old man in a potboiler starring such young heavies as Peter Boyle.
Buy "Track of the Cat" (Warner Bros., 1954). The tagline of that film read "Human Emotion Stripped Raw!" It was a personal favorite of Mitchum's, but a personal favorite of no one else.
Buy "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" (20th Century Fox, 1954), directed by John Huston, co-starring Deborah Kerr. Supposedly Mitchum's favorite role. As tender and sentimental a role as he ever played, Mitchum is a Marine corporal stranded on a South Sea island with a nun, whom he grows to love.
Buy "El Dorado" (1967, Paramount Pictures), his most significant western (despite the Hopalong Cassidy films in which he premiered). He played boozy sheriff J.P. Harrah (a role John Wayne wanted) opposite John Wayne and James Caan. Directed by Howard Hawks.
