Geächtet

Outlaw, The (1943)

** (out of 4)

Notorious Western had to battle the Hayes Office for two years before eventually getting released where it ended up battling more censorship issues but a certain pair at least got people into the theater. Doc Holliday (Walter Huston) has a falling out with Pat Garrett (Thomas Mitchell) after he sides with Billy the Kid (Jack Buetel). Billy and Doc become friends and head off but they are soon battling over a woman (Jane Russell) as well as constantly having Garrett trying to track them down. The aspects of this that were shocking in 1943 are pretty much tame and dated by today's standards but what I found so shocking about THE OUTLAW is how poorly made it was and how many awful things here in it. I don't mind the changes in history that the film made but for the life of me I couldn't understand what Hughes was trying to do with this thing other than to show off Russell's big breasts. I found the screenplay to be a complete mess as it never seems to know what it wants to do or what type of story it wants to tell. Is it meant to be a real Western? If so why are there so many silly moments? Was it meant to be a silly comedy? Well, that's fine but if so why on Earth were there so many darker moments? The movie contains one of the worst scores in Hollywood history as the thing is embarrassingly bad. The thing is over dramatic when there's nothing going on in the scene and sometimes the score is so loud and over-the-top that you can't even hear the dialogue. The film has also become legendary due to the homosexual aspect of the story. Again, I'm not certainly a love triangle between Billy, Garrett and Holliday is what Hughes was going for but that's how it comes off. I'm going to guess this is just part of the film being poorly made because at times the three men seem to be flirting more with one another and just letting Russell be on her own. The film has some really weird and out of touch comedic moments including various sound effects that happen during times when something serious or dramatic is going on. As far as the performances go, Huston comes off the best as he at least seems to be trying to give a performance. Buetel has no personality and comes off very stiff and appears to be bored. Mitchell was a fine character actor but he's miscast here and is never believable in the part. As far as Russell goes, she certainly looks beautiful and I enjoy the fact that Hughes wanted to show off her certain parts but he didn't give her much of a chance to act as she's simply used as eye candy. Hughes direction is all over the place and in the end he delivers a pretty big turkey. I understand this movie having a cult following due to its reputation and troubled history but for the life of me I can't understand some of the positive reviews I've read.

There are films that are great, films that are not so great, films that are bad...and then there are films that are so bad, so grandly misconceived, one can only gape in wonder or roar with laughter (or both) at their foolishness. Thus an awful film can sometimes provide more entertainment than many good films. (THE DEVIL BAT, starring Bela Lugosi, comes to mind.) Watched THE OUTLAW on DVD the other night with some friends, and we were falling off the couch. I'd always heard there was a homoerotic subtext to the picture, but this was no subtext -- gay porn must be more subtle than this film! Walter Huston's Doc Holliday (or Halliday -- I've seen it spelled both ways in regard to this picture) is CLEARLY the stud, Billy is a petulant young hustler who piques his interest (despite his having stolen the older man's cherished horse!), and Thomas Mitchell's Pat Garrett (Doc's "oldest

friend") seethes with jealousy throughout until he degenerates into the very apotheosis of a passed over, frantic, shrieking old queen. "You're not going with him! Everything was fine between us till he came along!" It has to be seen to be believed. Hilarious! The film's musical score is the worst -- THE WORST -- I've ever heard. There's less Mickey-Mousing in a Three Stooges short. So I recommend this one highly for parties. I guarantee a laugh riot. The thought of the great cinemotagrapher Gregg Toland (CITIZEN KANE) laboring on such camp trash is depressing, but he did give the film a fine look.

Made with big talent and deep pockets, this movie is almost as poorly made as an amateur film made by a rookie. The camera never moves and the actors don't move either. It is also surely the most flagrantly flaming movie of the Code Era, with the possible exception of COBRA WOMAN. Let's see, there's the triangle of a literally limp-wristed Doc (Hughes shows us this about five times to make sure everyone gets it), an sputtering old rejected Pat, and an energetic hot young buck (Billy) who also has time for Jane Russell. The three men do a lot of glaring at one another while they read innuendo-ridden lines in innuendo-laden blockings. The wah-wah-wah kicks in on the soundtrack whenever there's a really smoldery glare or argument. And so on. They do everything but hold hands. Russell isn't exactly beautiful by '40s movie standards, but she certainly is ripe. Hughes had the money to ignore the Censor, and watching it you can't help but wonder if all this wasn't meant as a joke on Mr. Breen himself. This movie is a little funnier if you see THE AVIATOR first.

This famous western deals with the most noted gunslinger of the southwest , William Bonney , a juvenile tough, a teenager wanted dead or alive throughout the west . This is a fiction story of the strange teen-age desperado known to legend as Billy the Kid . Billy was said to be sympathetic , attractive and favourite with girls , these characteristics well represented by the protagonist (Jack Buetel) . He'll confront Sheriff Pat Garret (Thomas Mitchell) and Doc Holliday (Walter Huston) and falls in love for a wonderful girl (Jane Russell) . The film isn't based on real events , it's a fiction story by the prestigious screenwriter Jules Furthman with ironic dialogs and a plot with little sense. Thus , here don't appear Tunstall , Chisum , nor others roles , neither deeds (Lincoln county war or getaway from gaol) of the Billy Kid's life that have been treated in other pictures . Exception for historical character Pat Garret who has an important role , while actually Doc Holliday nothing to do with Billy . The picture is produced by RKO (Radio Pictures Inc) and Howard Hughes who at the time was Jane Russell's lover . Howard Hawks began the filming in 1941 and he shot scenes with the cameraman Lucien Ballard but had complications with Hughes and he took the direction hiring the excellent photographer Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane) . However , the censorship made him to modify numerous shots takes . At last, after three years delay , public saw a daring production exactly as it was filmed , with no a scene cut . It would become a mythical film as an erotic Western . That's why Jane Russell , as she appears moody , mean, magnificent and terrific , too startling to describe , Russell was an authentic sensation by the time , she keeps her better attributes on the bosom. Today all the fuss seem totally wrongly . The film has real sensations , thrills , pursuits , go riding , primitive love , action , but it results to be a bit boring .

In all my many years (80) on this planet, I have never seen a movie that comes close to challenging ones senses as "The Outlaw". With both Doc and Pat vying for the friendship of Billy the kid, this seems curious. Then when Doc shoots a chunk out of both Billy the kids ears, with no apparent pain or bleeding, wonderment begins as if to say, "this is really a cartoon," wherein no one really gets hurt or bleeds. Finally, at the tormented conclusion, when Billy the kid starts to ride off, stops, turns in his saddle to look back at Jane wherein she gives him a stupid look, then smiles and jumps on the back of the Kids horse and they together ride off. The end follows and not a moment too soon. What a goofy movie!