Revolte in der Unterwelt

Jerry Fielding was a great composer. The edgy sense that follows "The Outfit" from scene to scene is helped immeasurably by his soundtrack. The music builds up, adding a lot to the tension factor. The music is economical, not flashy at all. It has a very close to the bone quality to it. So why do I start by talking about the music? Because it's just so rare that a soundtrack adds so much, it actually makes a better film.

Robert Duvall and Joe Don Baker have a very natural interplay, a sort of grimy half-drunk friendship that feels immediately true to life. Karen Black is very good as well. The plot itself is basic, with shades of "Point Blank" and various other revenge-oriented films. John Flynn is not the most imaginative director, so it's a little low on the style end of things visually. Somehow, it all comes together. Good acting, really great soundtrack, and a fast pace. You'll get into this one.

A man called Ed Macklin (Edward Ness) is murdered at home by two hitmen from the mobster organization The Outfit. Soon his brother Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall) is released from prison and while in a motel with his girlfriend Bett Harrow (Karen Black), is shot by a hitman. He escapes and Bett discloses that she was tortured by The Outfit that wants to kill him since he robbed a bank owned by the mobsters with his brother and his friend Jack Cody (Joe Don Baker). Earl decides to revenge his brother and meets Cody to rob The Outfit members. When The Outfit leader Mailer (Robert Ryan) promises a reparation but double-crosses Earl, he decides to go further in his payback time.

"The Outfit" is a crime movie from the 70´s that has not aged. The suspenseful plot of revenge is simple but full of action with great performances of the cast. The film has no surprises or plot points but it is highly entertaining and worthwhile watching. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Quadrilha" ("The Outfit")

The first hour is dazzling: Robert Duvall, a bank-heist guy screwed over by the mob, decides he wants $250,000 as recompense. And like Lee Marvin in POINT BLANK, he doesn't take no for an answer. The director, John Flynn, is one of the most underrated in crime cinema on the basis of this picture and ROLLING THUNDER alone: he takes a pretty familiar man-against-the-syndicate story and shoots it with a plainness so eloquent the movie takes on the dignity of a Shaker chair. Duvall is an extraordinarily expressive hard case, especially in his brutally unsentimental scenes with his uncertain moll (a lyrical and volcanic Karen Black). Maybe it's the Donald Westlake source novel, but all the bit parts are beautifully, almost journalistically characterized (with none of the cutesy color of Elmore Leonard). The last act detours into Quinn-Martin territory, but that's not the worst thing in the world, is it? Almost everything in this movie is just incredibly articulate: check out the scene between Robert Ryan, an aging, cock-of-the-walk, but rather insecure mob boss, and the beautiful, put-together young wife (Joanna Cassidy) whom he loves but treats like dirt. A single argument about listening to a Rams game on a car radio speaks novels about their relationship in four terse lines. Flynn could give today's neo-noir directors seminars in the beauties of haiku-like plainspokenness.

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.

"The Outfit" was forgotten for years after its theatrical release, though in recent years it seems to have been revived and starting to find an audience. For the most part, it does deserve its rediscovery. It's directed in an engaging '70s style that sets it apart from many other man against the mob movies. The style is not polished, and gives the movie a rough and dirty feeling that makes what happens on screen seem more realistic. The violence doesn't come constantly, but when it does happen it gives the movie a serious kick, despite the movie in the end earning just a PG rating. Duvall does well, not making his character a superman, but someone who is (believably) well skilled and crafty. Baker makes a good sidekick. If I have any complaints about the movie, they are that there isn't a terrible amount of plot, and that Robert Ryan's character doesn't get quite enough footage. But despite those problems, the movie works well, and is a must for those who are fans of cynical '70s movies.