FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

sol- Tensions between Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett and Doc Holliday reach boiling point as they vie for the affections of a voluptuous young woman in this western drama from Howard Hughes. The film is best known for being banned upon initial release due to the size of Jane Russell's bust, and many have denigrated it over the years, citing its historical inaccuracy, the admittedly poor music choices and Jack Buetel's bland performance as the Kid. All things considered though, 'The Outlaw' is a surprisingly decent motion picture. Russell brings a lot of zest and charisma to her role, cleavage aside, and the film is excellently visualised by the dynamite combination of Gregg Toland and Lucien Ballard. Interesting shots include Russell throwing a pitchfork towards the camera and gradual zooms in towards her eyes and lips at pivotal points. Academy Award winners Thomas Mitchell and Walter Huston also give it their all as Garrett and Holliday respectively, even if the script does not give them that much to do (it is more geared towards Buetel romancing Russell than Buetel squaring off with his co-stars). Whatever the case, this is a film worth a look for more than just Russell's bust.

hall895 Here we have a movie about Jane Russell's breasts. Well, there is some sort of plot about some Western gunslingers and the sheriff who chases them. But really the only reason the movie exists is to show off Russell's cleavage. She certainly looks great and director Howard Hughes is more than happy to let the camera linger on her fine female form. But breasts can only take a movie so far. It's not worth sitting through 2 hours of absolute dreck to sneak a few peeks of a babe in a low-cut blouse.The story in this movie never grabs your interest, it's a dull movie pretty much beginning to end. Matters are not helped by some truly wretched acting. Jack Buetel, playing famed outlaw Billy the Kid, is just terrible. He's stiff, unnatural and has all the personality of a block of wood. Meanwhile Russell has little to offer besides her ample bosom. She may have gone on to a respectable acting career but here, in the movie which made her a star, it is safe to say she had not yet honed her craft. The movie relies on there being some kind of spark between Russell's character, Rio, and Billy the Kid. Sadly two rather inept performances mean there is no spark at all. That relationship falls flat, the whole movie follows suit. Reliable Hollywood veterans Walter Huston, playing Doc Holliday, and Thomas Mitchell who plays Sheriff Pat Garrett come off better than Buetel and Russell. But even they can't really make much of what is a rather lousy script. The movie takes real-life characters and tosses them into a completely made-up story. You'd think if you were going to make up a story you would at least make up an interesting one. No such luck. The movie is a real snoozer. Anytime there threatens to be even a little bit of heat between Rio and Billy censorship standards of the 1940s dictate an awkward cut away before we actually see anything. The story and the acting are laughable throughout which means the absurdly cartoonish score fits right in. Hard to take anything seriously with that absurd music blaring the whole time. It all leads up to a conclusion which is just impossibly bad, by this point you're definitely laughing at the movie, not with it. Howard Hughes fought so hard to be able to show the world Jane Russell's breasts. Unfortunately those breasts did not have a movie to support them.

tigersharkp40 My oh my, I've seen some butt ugly films in 67 years but I must say that this piece of junk was the worst. A two hour monstrosity that took me a half a day to plow through. I picked this film up at a thrift store for 50 cents and now I know why. I thought it would be a classic, but I should have known better when I saw Howard Hughes on the box. The dialog was idiotic at best and the story was totally absurd and boring to tears. The three male main characters came right out of a bath house for sure. Sorry I had to give this abortion a 1 as I had no choice of a zero. Thank God for Jane Russells magnificent breasts.....all was not lost.

MartinHafer Seems like boobs were the stars--writing and characters FAR less important. Back when "The Outlaw" was completed, the film sat on the shelf for two years because it was considered unacceptable for the public. The Production Code was pretty much ignored and theater after theater either refused to show it or the local legal authorities threatened to jail the owners of the theaters. What was so indecent about this film? Apparently Jane Russell's breasts--and the many cleavage shots you see of her. However, you never see her breasts and by today's standards, it's actually a pretty tame film. Unfortunately, all this controversy made this film famous. I say unfortunately because after finally getting around to seeing it, it's a terrible movie! It seems that although the producer, Howard Hughes, took TONS of efforts to film the breast just right, no effort was made to get a script worth filming. The dialog is terrible, the film amazingly talky (VERY VERY VERY talky) and dull and historically speaking, it's even worse than the usual western about the semi-mythical heroes of the west.Speaking of getting the history wrong, there is no concrete evidence that Billy the Kid (a rather minor outlaw, by the way) knew or met Doc Holliday. But, what we DO know is that Holliday was NOT killed by Pat Garrett like he was in this film. He died in a sanitarium in Colorado of Tuberculosis!! In fact, most of the film is just made up junk--much of which was deliberately peppered with sexual innuendo. In one scene, it appears as if Billy the Kid rapes a lady (Russell) and she later falls in love with him (a VILE cliché to say the least)! There are also scenes between them where she needs to cut off his clothes to save his life and it's STRONGLY implied she got naked with him to keep him warm! Pretty spicy stuff for 1941 (when the film was completed) but the rest of the film is so dumb and flat that the ONLY thing of interest is all the innuendo!I will point out that the acting was generally pretty bad. Walter Huston was such a good actor that in spite of everything, his scenes were decent. As for newcomers Jack Buetel and Jane Russell, they were simply awful--and the director did nothing to pull convincing performances from them. But the worst actor in this one was Thomas Mitchell, as he was a very experienced actor and STILL did a bunch of crappy scenes (especially near the end). Overall, there's NOTHING to like about this film aside from Russell's pulchritude.By the way, didn't anyone think to tell Russell that she kept BADLY mispronouncing 'Guadalupe' throughout the film--even though the lady was supposed to be her aunt?Also, if you go to New Mexico, you can visit Billy's graves. Yes, I say graveS because there's one near the roadway that is for tourists and the REAL one nearby. And yes, in real life Pat Garrett DEFINITELY killed Billy in the end--but not in this dopey film.