O Dramático Acerto de Contas

Robert Culp (they call his character "doctor"...I think he's a vet or something) and family move to an affluent, low-tax, zero-law-enforcement suburb. Lantern-jawed Culp and his dog are nearly killed when some local idiot neighbor kids get drunk and "go cruising" through his front yard at 60mph. He presses charges, which arouses the kids' ire, and suddenly him and his family are the victims of a violent and disturbing prank campaign.

Marilyn Manson, er, Marlyn Mason rather, plays his fretful, boiled-celery wife, who urges him not to use violence against his sneering nemeses, and who really just wants to move somewhere with decent public services. But The System is getting Culp nowhere, and he's not about to leave his house because of some punk kids and their crazy rock and roll music. And we all know what movie people do when The System fails...(but this is based on a true story, which makes it even better).

It should be noted that while the villainous hooligans do have convenient '70s funk-o-matic "teenage" theme music that warns us when they're up to no good, this film actually ends up treating the age brackets even-handedly (really!). It doesn't make a big generational thing out of it. Kudos for that.

Anyway, if you like dogs (or at least believe in protecting their civil rights, like me), and you like justice, and you like fire, and you like justice for dogs by way of fire, and you think people who skitter nervously out of troubled communities are "too damn soft," then this flick's ethos is up your alley. No, it's not really "good," at least not in any widely recognized sense of the word. There's nothing subtle or understated or clever about it, it's just sort of a feature-length PSA for vigilantism. It does, however, capture the feeling of some memorable scenes in other, beloved works. Remember in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns when Batman leads the Mutants on horseback to reclaim Gotham City? Remember that scene in A Christmas Story where the kid pounds the bully's face in? Remember how cool that was? Or do you just really hate being looked at funny by your neighbors? Yeah, mon.

Unfortunately, this was a 1973 made-for-TV movie that I just happened to catch at 4am on my local WB affiliate, and it's probably not destined for DVD release. But after being inspired by this film, do you think I'm gonna just sit here and take it!?!

I remember this story well was very exciting and want my dad to see it but there don't seem to be a video for sale. It's a great movie and I had hoped someone made have taped it and would sell me a copy.The story must have been a television show only but was one of the greatest examples of the rage that can be instilled in a person when several outside forces are against his way of life and no one of authority will help

Outrage (1973)

*** (out of 4)

This made-for-TV gem features Robert Culp playing Jim Kiler, a man who grows tired of the teenage punks wrecking his small town. The police can't do anything because no witnesses step forward but after being ran over, Jim decides to press charges. The trial date is three months ago so the rich teenagers decide to harass Kiler and his family in countless ways, which finally pushes the man over the edge.

OUTRAGE came a year before DEATH WISH so the entire vigilante sub-genre hadn't been beaten to death yet. A movie like this is meant to entertain you for 74 minutes and there's no question that this one does that and there's also no doubt that you're blood is going to be boiling throughout the picture. This was based on a true story but as we all know things are often blown out of proportion or made to look worse than what really happened. I really hope that's true here because it's hard to believe that what we see here actually happened in the way it did because these teenagers and the town had to be without a question some of the dumbest in history.

With such a short running time there's no time for any character development so the reasons behind the teenagers doing this is never explained. I mean, most teens cause a little trouble here and there but what we see in this film is crazy as there's attempted murder, arson, violence towards animals and countless other scenes where they break the law. You have to wonder what they were thinking but as the viewer all of this just makes your blood boil and you hate them even more. The Kiler character is someone you can certainly root for and there's no doubt that he's put up against some great villains.

Culp is certainly entertaining in his role and although he does go over-the-top at times, this here just adds to the entertainment. Marlyn Mason is good as his wife and Beah Richards is great in her small role. The actors playing the punks in the film are all good and help sell their characters. OUTRAGE features a rather wild and over-the-top ending that's not 100% satisfying but there's no question that the movie does its job in keeping you entertained throughout.

A pack of hot-rodding idiots terrorize a neighborhood, causing mayhem. When Jim and Muriel Kiler (Robert Culp and Marilyn Mason) go the legal route to stop them, it only escalates the madness.

OUTRAGE does two things very well:

#1- It shows the helplessness that innocent, law-abiding citizens experience when dealing with lawless, psychopathic thugs.

#2- It allows Jim to undergo many indignities and injuries, and to exhaust every possible means within the law, while showing great patience, before lowering the boom, and allowing him to take out the trash.

The final act is sublime!

A superb made-for-TV movie. This is the best Robert Culp movie of all time!...

I first ran across this title in the remake version, with Rob Lowe and Jennifer Gray in the roles of put-upon working class couple terrorized ruthlessly by spoiled rich punks.

Yes, it was a TV movie, and yes, many of the plot devices were over-the-top and borderline ridiculous...BUT...it was effective. The sheer evil of the torments in the '98 version were creepy (the Time Tracer phone calls...ugh) and couldn't help but put you in the place of the couple...seriously, what *would* you do? Easy to say pull out your AK, blow 'em away...another thing to do it.

My problem with that version was Rob Lowe, who I like as an actor but whom I believe was completely miscast. No, you need an actor who looks like he's going to blow at any minute. Granite-jawed Robert Culp? Yeah, that's more like it.

I got the '73 version bootlegged from a friend and was pretty shocked that the tormenting was maybe MORE vicious than the '98 version. It was just as taut with maybe more believability (odd for the era). The '73 thugs pour trash into an old lady's pool after demolishing her fencing, set fire to Culp's place, trash it with paint...it's sadistic to the nth degree. My big problem with Outrage '73 was the denouement, which I felt (though creative) didn't match up to the evil that preceded it (less the bit with the hose and living room window --- very neat!).

The '98 version was just as much about Lowe's character's problem with anger. It almost made him as much a part of the problem as the kids...and I liked that twist. I also liked that they took the '98 plot "all the way". Perhaps the "real life" incident was more like the '73 version, but the '98 film plays out more satisfyingly. The '73 version ends as more of a simplistic morality play. Still, both films will disturb you, if only for the degree of evil being played out on the screen. Both make you squirm, which, I guess is the point.