The Outfit (1973)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

John Flynn

Writers:

Donald E. Westlake (novel)
John Flynn (writer)

Release Date:

October 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

Nobody plays rougher than The Outfit...

Plot:

When the small criminal Macklin is released from prison, he learns that shortly before his brother was shot by two killers...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Revenge | Watch | Mafia | Chase

Cast

Robert Duvall	...	Macklin
Karen Black	...	Bett Harrow
Joe Don Baker	...	Cody
Robert Ryan	...	Mailer
Timothy Carey	...	Menner
Richard Jaeckel	...	Chemey
Sheree North	...	Buck's Wife
Felice Orlandi	...	Frank Orlandi
Marie Windsor	...	Madge Coyle
Jane Greer	...	Alma
Henry Jones	...	Doctor
Joanna Cassidy	...	Rita
Tom Reese	...	First Man
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Carl (as Elisha Cook)
Bill McKinney	...	Buck

Runtime:

Germany:105 min | USA:103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:16 | UK:AA (original rating) | France:U | Finland:K-18 | Norway:16 (video rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:18 | Norway:(Banned) (1973-2003) (cinema release)

Filming Locations:

Biltmore Hotel - 506 S. Grand Avenue, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Selected by Quentin Tarantino for the First Quentin Tarantino Film Fest in Austin, TX, 1996.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Hunter: A Conversation with Author Donald E. Westlake (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

I Concentrate On You

Well-made crime drama that honors the Richard Stark novel

Everyone else has covered this movie well. It is indeed a tight, well-made crime drama with an excellent under-played central performance by Duval along with many very good scenes by classic character actors like Richard Jaeckel, Joanna Cassidy (who should have starred in Jim Thompson's "Hell of a Woman"), Marie Windsor, Henry Jones and many others. But the real stand-out (to my mind) is Karen Black. In the kind of roll that is generally reduced to an over-sexed gun-moll, Karen gives her character a real humanity. In one scene during a shoot out, she saves Duval and Baker by driving into and pinning against the wall the two mob men who are just about to take down our two guys. And in another scene she calls home on a pay-phone and is very chilly with her mother, but just about breaks down in asking her father if she can "come home for a while". She has never looked better in a film.

Having read all of the Richard Stark books (Richard Stark is a pseudonym for Donald Westlake), the film catches the stripped-down, hard-boiled tone of the novels and it's central character who is on a controlled journey into vengeance. In fact the film is very much like many of the great Gold Medal paperback originals published in the 1950's and 1960's. If you like this kind of story, look for authors like Peter Rabe, Charles Williams, Milton Ozaki, Lionel White and many others. "Hard-Boiled America" by Geoffrey O'Brien (recently reprinted) covers the genre and it's authors very well and is highly recommended.

I have to comment on the music and sound in the film - absolutely top notch! Many other crime films of the period would fill scenes with unnecessary music to amp up the suspense. "The Outfit" is very restrained and the music is used mostly to accent scenes and help transitions. Excellent score by Jerry Fielding. The sound work is great as well. The guns have a meaty sound without being to loud and dry. In one surprising scene, Joe Don Baker punches out a female receptionist and you hear her intake of breath, his fist whacking her jaw and the sound of her falling on the chair. All done with great finesse despite the brutality.

One previous reviewer got it right when he talked about the last part of the film descending into a Quinn/Martin television style. I think the director, John Flynn, is responsible. "The Outfit" seemed to me to be a lot like TV - with the old, wide master shoot to establish, cut to over-the-shoulder, back to the other close-up and end with the master. The director didn't have a real sense of the style of the film. I disagree that his work is like a "shaker chair". I think John Flynn directed it blandly, not simply, because he has a limited imagination. So many scenes could have benefited from a moving camera or more imaginative lighting. Flynn's work just didn't measure up to the excellent script and the great performances. Still, he didn't kill the film and even today (2004) it remains a little gem of the seventies that deserves a DVD release with extras.