FuzzyTagz
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Bea Swanson
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
betty dalton
This is true heroic gentleman gangster stuff. An eye for an eye. You mess with them, they will mess with you, no matter who you are. It has great guts and glory. Although I am certainly not a fan of supporting violence in movies, Robert Duvall and Joe Don Baker play gentleman gangsters, which make the portrayed violence look almost heroic. They only kill when they have to. And so they do in this story where Robert Duvall's brother got killed by a mob boss. The revenge for his brother's death is what this movie is all about. Honor his brother by killing the crime gang responsible.Has Tarantino influences written all over it and he enjoyed it alot being a kid, so he sayed. Especially one scene reminded me of "Pulp Fiction". At Imdb "The Outfit" is listed as one of 10 forgotten classics of the seventies. If one looks at what others who saw this flick liked too, then you are in for a real treat:"Charley Varrick" is mentioned, which is another Tarantino favorite. "Prime Cut" and "Point Blank" are mentioned too. These are all true macho crime classics, wherein men are real MEN. Either this gun stomping flick has got everything in it others have copied since, or it is a copycat itself. Anyhow, lots of scenes do bring to mind so many other crime classics made since then...Acting, Story and Supense are just Excellent ! This is how crime flicks aught to be made. Robert Duvall and Joe Don Baker carry this movie with bravoure and machismo. They are true modern cowboys. Their way of life is the way of the GUN. Their guns are sacred: "Dont ever touch my gun.." screams Robert Duvall to his girlfriend, the ONLY time in the movie he raises his voice. Mr. Cool himself.At a trivia end note: Sound quality is pretty horrific. But so was sound in almost all early seventies movies. Bass sound basically just didnt excist back then. Unless you can see a remastered pumped up blu ray version with enhanced sound and picture quality, you will have to settle with rather meager quality of picture and sound. That reminds me of the following: once "The Godfather" was restored, director Francis Ford Coppola was astounded by the gorgeous sound and picture quality, it was better then he could have ever imagined.The original Godfather was really in terrible shape technically speaking. But all of this is just a long introduction to explain the only fault with "The Outfit": it's picture and sound quality. Maybe you wont even notice it, if you dont care about that. It is rather superficial and doesnt really matter though, because the core of this movie is rock solid.
Spikeopath
The Outfit is directed by John Flynn and Flynn adapts the screenplay from the novel written by Richard Stark (AKA: Donald E. Westlake). It stars Robert Duvall, Joe Don Baker, Karen Black and Robert Ryan. Music is by Jerry Fielding and cinematography by Bruce Surtees.It arguably took a further decade to pass before the 1970s would be revealed as a superb decade for neo-noir. For where the 60s purveyors cribbed close to the stylistics of the 40s and 50s, the 70s operators often saw a shift in emphasis on noir plotting over stylistics, using their own ideas on style to befit tone of plot. One such case is The Outfit, a cunningly moody piece that's at times brutal and at others a wry revenger pumped full of dialogue barbs.Nobody's luck holds forever.Plot finds Duvall as Earl Macklin, who upon being released from prison finds his brother has been murdered by "The Outfit" and he himself is on the hit-list as well. It transpires that Earl and his brother knocked off a bank that "The Outfit" had serious ties to, and the rub-out is on. Only thing is, Earl isn't about to put on a concrete overcoat any time soon and turns the tables on his pursuers.Macklin's mission of revenge and financial rewards is filtered through a world populated by unsavoury characters in unsavoury period suits, the locations frequented often drab and colourless so as to sidle up with the narrative drive. At Earl's side is Cody (Baker), a cool bad ass who fears no one and can spot a femme fatale from a mile off. Also along for the journey is Bett (Black), she's Earl's squeeze, an unmeaning fatale who is quickly thrust into the bloody tale to play an active part.In the villain corner overseeing quiet menace is Mailer (Ryan). In one of his last films released in the year of his death, Ryan leaves noir lovers a character whose every word is to hang on, while his spousal relationship with Rita (Cassidy) is amusingly tender yet cold. The rest of the heavies are by-the-numbers, but they are really only serving purpose as fodder for Earl and Cody's machismo fuelled spree, with the dialogue exchanges a thing of caustic beauty.Baker and Duvall are excellent, and they are backed up by a brilliant support cast, it's a roll call of film noir heroes, villains and dupes. In fact the noir credentials are incredibly high here, from source writer Stark (Point Blank/The Grifters) and director Flynn (Rolling Thunder), to the cast list, it's noir nirvana. Sure we hanker for more from the likes of Elisha Cook and Marie Windsor etc, but Flynn makes his point and ensures lovers of the noir form can feel his love as well.Problems? Well yes of course there's the issue of not having some true nighttime noir photography, and in truth Black is quite simply miscast but gets away with it since the makers offer her up for a narrative sting. Elsewhere, the treatment of women will annoy some, but tonally speaking you have to say it sits well in the world the story exists in. Then there's the ending! I haven't seen the TV version of the pic, but have to say the one offered up there is surely (in the noir universe) far greater than the one we have in the official release, and certainly more befitting what has preceded it.Niggles apart, The Outfit is a cracker and well worth seeking out. 8.5/10
LeonLouisRicci
Compact and minimalist in its execution, all the style here is in the dilapidated decor that permeates the proceedings. It has the look of things fallen and past their prime, inhabited by trapped melancholic Men and Women that also have seen better days. This is a showcase of 1970's grit and the then trend of unfettered realism.There is no aggrandizement or formulated Film stuff here. What you see is exactly what it is and what you get. John Flynn, a very underrated Director is on hand to deliver a pantheon of Noir icons and sensibilities. The Movie is deliciously drab.The bits of Action come fast and furious and there are virtually no set ups. It is a rapid-fire display of excessive restraint, but it all works as inglorious Genre bending to fit the new aesthetic. There is a post-censorship edge in the bursts of violence, but the Dialog is straight out of Film-Noir that was straight out of the Paperbacks and Pulps. This one also belongs in the stable of the Hard-Boiled Richard Stark novels featuring his Parker Character. Only Jim Thompson seems to have a bigger Cult following among the post War Crime Novelists.
Robert J. Maxwell
"The Outfit" is a pretty dumb title for a decent gangster flick about heists, murder, and revenge. It was released in 1974, part of a spate of at least semi-realistic movies about small-time crooks, something like "The Getaway" and, before that, "The Asphalt Jungle", and, perhaps the best of the lot, "Straight Time".In this case, Duvall's brother is knocked off by the evil Mr. Big, Robert Ryan. Duvall enlists the help of his friend, Joe Don Baker, in a fine performance, in an attempt to get some money out of Ryan. But Ryan and his mob set up Duvall. There is a shoot out, of course, and Duvall and Baker then set out to exterminate Ryan in his mansion.There are many smaller roles in which the actors were probably called in for a day or two of work. Among them are familiar names and faces -- Bill McKinney, Sheree North, Jane Greer, Henry Jones. Richard Jaekel shows up too, as an expert car mechanic and reliable provider of hot cars who just can't make a souped-up VW Beetle sound like anything other than a turbo jet. I don't recall any high speed pursuits or vesuvian fireballs. There IS an explosion, staged to divert attention, but it only goes BANG and a door flies open. That's it. How nice.Not a masterpiece, but a diverting piece of film making. Today, that's a high compliment.
