Man Outside

Award winning documentarian Mark Stouffer's feature debut is a beautifully photographed, solidly told tale of a broken man who escapes into the woods to heal, only to be forced out of his solace by a sheriff who believes he is responsible for a missing child. Stouffer's portrayal of life in the wilderness and his obvious fondness and knowledge of it, is inspiring. Robert Logan and Kathleen Quinlan turn out fine performances as the high-powered lawyer turned hermit turned suspect, and the professor of anthropology who helps him find the truth.

This is a terrible, pointless movie, that no doubt will mostly be checked out by fans of "The Band" the great rock group. It looks to me like Levon Helm, cast in a stereotypical role of a redneck sheriff, got his buddies(sans Robbie Robertson, who had long since stopped performing with the combo) involved.

This leads to one hilarious mishap, Garth Hudson not only isn't much of an actor, but he plays one of the few Vietnam Vet with a thick Canadian accent! Now there's a guy who believed in the war. Richard Manuel, who would tragicly kill himself not long after this, gets off the easiest with a very small role.

Bradford Dillman, a fine actor, has a really degrading role and has to wear an Elmer Fudd hat. Nice to see that things have gone well lately for Kathleen Quinlian, who really suffers for her art here.

A pretty standard thriller, what sets Man Outside apart is the appearance of every member of The Band, except Robbie Robertson. I'm not sure how this came about, but they mostly all give fine performances (Rick Danko going perhaps a little to far over the top as the father of a kidnapped boy).

I was living in northwest Arkansas at the time this was filmed there, working for a radio station called "Kisser 93," and you can hear one of our DJs briefly in the first couple of minutes of the film. A couple of other area TV/radio guys (Pat Porta & Tom Earnhart) give a good account of themselves in small roles.

I'm glad this is out on DVD. While I very much enjoyed looking back on that place in that time, this isn't exactly a classic. I found Bradford Dillman's work quite good, other than his final scene; he had made a career as a TV guest star playing the handsome but often undependable middle-class guy, and in this film with his bottle-cap glasses he totally got lost in the character. Kathleen Quinlan is always good too.

Other than those performances, however, the quality is very uneven. One of the supporting characters is a (to put it nicely) husky young nerdy college student played by Andrew Barach. It's easy to see why his career in movies was brief; his comedy relief isn't much, although he does have one GREAT scene toward the end that involves the line I chose for the title of this review.

I shouldn't single out Mr. Barach; there were plenty of amateurish performances to go around, and lead actor Robert Logan frequently shows all the expression of a block of wood, while former Band member and ex-Coal Miner's Daughter's dad Levon Helm shows that only Michael Apted could direct him into looking comfortable on camera. The script itself, about a man escaping his past while living alone (other than his dog) in the wild, isn't too badly written, but has a few "huh?" moments as well.

Still, for the level of production this was, the end product is watchable and entertaining enough for a rental. You can get it through Netflix; I did.

'Man Outside' (aka 'Hidden Fear') is quite the odd duck, mixing drama with a bit of romance before ultimately venturing into thriller territory. It tells the story of a man (who used to be a lawyer) living like a hermit in the woods (following the unexpected death of his wife). A female anthropologist takes an interest in the man, and the feelings seem mutual. Around the same time, kids are being abducted by a nerdy pervert with some serious mommy-issues. The local sheriff suspects our friendly hermit being the culprit, so him and his new-found love-interest must now flee from the authorities while at the same time trying to catch up with our nerdy villain. Somehow this all turns into a pretty okay movie. The opening sequence with the car is quite unique and a fine way to start the movie (since you don't really have an idea what's going on yet). All things considered, it's a little tame for its own good, but worth a watch nonetheless.