The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes

Hollywood of the 1950s and 1960s was not an especially diverse place. The film delves into the psychology of how childhood trauma can impact people well into adulthood. Drug use and mental health are seen as often interrelated.

There are theories about whether Marilyn's death was a suicide, an accidental overdose, or a murder. Archive footage shows her dead body where they found her (face down in bed) and covered by a blanket on a stretcher going into an ambulance. Interviewees talk about a lot of potentially disturbing topics, including child molestation, domestic violence, mob threats, and miscarriages. Old TV images show Cold War footage involving the threat of nuclear war; the FBI had a file on Marilyn in part because of her affiliation with known Communists and her stance on atomic testing. Discussion of men grabbing women's breasts and treating women like "pieces of meat."

Marilyn was considered a "sex symbol." Scenes emphasize this image, including the iconic scene of air from a subway grate lifting up her skirt. She's seen kissing her past husbands, and there's discussion of jealousies, abuse, and affairs. Recordings were made of her "lovemaking." Subjects interviewed talk about film producers in the past having little black books about "who could be laid" among young wannabe actresses. There's talk about the role of the "sugar daddy," indiscretions, "pimping," men grabbing women's breasts and treating women like "pieces of meat." Kennedy family patriarch Joe Kennedy is said to have told his sons, "Get laid as often as you can with as many women as you want."

"F--k," "s--t," "bulls--t," "goddamn," "smart-ass," "whore," "SOB," "for Chrissakes."

Marilyn died of a drug overdose. People recall her past difficulties with drugs and alcohol, especially toward the end of her life and seen in erratic behavior on the shoot of her last movie. Historical images and reenactments show people drinking alcohol and smoking cigars and cigarettes.