The Stalking Moon
  • The Stalking Moon
  • Cracked Leather Armchair
  • The Small Screen
  • About Me
    • Cool things About Japan
    • Travel Recollections
    • Contact me

The Outfit (1973)

6/27/2012

 
Picture

Donald E. Westlake (under the byline Richard Stark) wrote 24 novels about hard-bitten criminal Parker. Many of the Parker books have been adapted into films, but for some reason, none of these films have ever used the name "Parker" for their protagonists. In John Boorman's Point Blank (1967), Lee Marvin was called "Walker"; Jim Brown was "McClain" in The Split (1968); Peter Coyote was "Stone" in Slayground (1983), and Mel Gibson was "Porter" in Payback (1999).  There was even a female incarnation of Parker: Anna Karina played "Paula Nelson" in Jean-Luc Godard's Made in USA (1966). Who knows why the various filmmakers decided to change the main character's name from Parker; perhaps they didn't want a hint of any connection to the other (rival studio) films? Or perhaps they were just continuing the tried-and-true Hollywood policy of reckless disregard for the source material. In any case, The Outfit (based off the 3rd Parker novel) continued this trend, with Robert Duvall as Earl Macklin, fresh out of prison and targeted for a hit by the Mob.

Picture
The movie opens with Macklin's brother Ed shot down at his rural farmhouse by two Mafia hitmen. Macklin gets released from the pen and is picked up by his girlfriend, Bett Harrow (Karen Black, often wearing the sort of cap that makes her resemble Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde). Bett takes Macklin to a motel but is clearly nervous and flighty about something. She confesses to Macklin that she was tortured and strong-armed by mid-level mob boss Menner into setting Macklin up for a hit. He's able to get the jump on his would-be assassin, slamming a glass ashtray into the guy's face and demanding to know, "Who fingered me?"

Turns out that several year's back, Macklin, his brother Ed and their partner Cody (Joe Don Baker) robbed a bank that was a front for the Mob (a.k.a. "the Outfit"). Word got back to big boss Mailer (Robert Ryan) and so a contract was put out on the three men. Macklin's not happy about this and decides to squeeze the Outfit for $250,000 in damages. With Bett in tow, he gets together with Cody and they begin a systematic shake down of various Mob-owned joints, gumming up the syndicate works and stealing every Mob dollar they come across. When it becomes clear that Mailer has no intention of paying them off, Macklin and Cody decide to take it to the mat. And as Westlake fans know, it doesn't pay to piss off Parker...


Picture
Joe Don Baker as Cody
Picture
Macklin visits his brother's widow

This a stripped-down, nuts-and-bolts crime drama presented in that flat, realistic style so typical of the 1970s. No melodramatics, no flashy style, just hard, laconic men and world-weary, seen-it-all-before women scrabbling for what they can get in a grimy criminal underworld.

As far as screen depictions of Parker go, I'm partial to Payback, which is lean and mean but also full of dark humor. Point Blank is too self-consciously arty for my tastes, though Lee Marvin is great in it. The Outfit is quite a bit more low-key than either of those better known films, but is still a very respectable take on the character, and its gritty, naturalistic tone feels just right.

Robert Duvall keeps it tight and mean as Macklin. It's clear he knows his way around a score, and the movie is full of moments where he makes it clear he's sized up all the angles and is well-prepared to deal with them. Duvall portrays an interesting kind of hard-ass here; it's clear Macklin is a working-class sort of criminal, who has a certain respect for those who do the grunt work. He tries his best not to kill any of the "soldiers" if he doesn't have to (though he still clocks up a sizable body count). He's cold and efficient, and if he can get what he wants by pistol whipping or cold-cocking some goon, he'll take that route. He saves his ire for those who fingered him, the corporate bigwigs like Menner and Mailer. Duvall has given so many authentic performances in his career (none better than as Augustus "Gus" McCrea in the western miniseries Lonesome Dove), and this yet another one. Macklin is not a colorful, larger-than-life character like Gus; instead he's a stripped-down, all-business badass, serious and committed.

PictureKaren Black as the put-upon girlfriend, Bett.
Joe Don Baker lightens the mood a bit as the more gregarious, but almost as dangerous, Cody. A big bear of a man, Baker is always an equally big screen presence, and his louder, brasher persona meshes well with Duvall's quiet intensity. The two make for a fine team of revenge seekers, and more time and care is spent on their buddy relationship than the one between Macklin and Bett.

Karen Black does good work, but the focus here is on Macklin's fight against the Mob, and calling their relationship a "romance" seems a bit of a stretch. Usually, she's stuck pouting about the unenviable situation she's found herself in; since she's warned Macklin about the hit, she's also on the Outfit's rub-out list. She's forced to tag along with Macklin, and she's none too thrilled about the way things are going for her, spending most of the day holed up in some crummy motel room, wondering if Macklin's going to come back in one piece, or come back at all. Black has one standout scene, when a fed-up and distraught Bett calls her father and asks to come home. The look on her face, as daddy tells her there's no room for her there, is heartbreaking.

PictureMenner (Timothy Carey) gives Macklin the death stare.
The rest of the cast is peopled by familiar faces, many whose names people won't recognize but which have graced many a gangster or crime flick. All the mafia types are spot-on casting. As far as the name supporting cast goes, Robert Ryan brings some class as the big boss and chief bad guy. Mailer has the requisite hot young wife (JoBeth Williams) and it becomes a sort of running joke how nearly every line he says to her is "Shut up."



Richard Jaekel, Sheree North, Bill McKinney, Marie Windsor, Jane Greer, and Elisha Cook Jr. all turn up in small roles. Timothy Carey, who made a career out of playing malevolent creeps and heavies, is all gravelly-voiced, fish-eyed, baggy-faced menace as Menner. He's terrific, if underused.

Picture
Robert Ryan, old but still tough as nails, as Mailer.
Picture
Joanna Cassidy as Mailer's young trophy wife.

I'm not familiar with director John Flynn's work other than the cult revenge film Rolling Thunder (1977). His direction in The Outfit is straightforward, clean, no frills, with a bare minimum of artsy shots. Like many of these 70s crime films, The Outfit is an unpretentious thriller with greater emphasis on character, mood and story. There's some nice action here and there, but the main excitement lies in seeing how Macklin and Cody go about taking on the big guns of the syndicate. They're up against some extreme odds, and real suspense builds over whether or not they'll come out of this alive. Those who like their crime dramas spare and tough are encouraged to check this one out.
Picture
(Addendum: Hollywood finally decided to use Westlake's actual character name in 2013's Parker, starring Jason Statham).

DVD Note: As you can tell from the above screen caps, the Japanese DVD of The Outfit is fullscreen rather than the original 1:85:1. Not only is the transfer pretty murky and soft, but the Japanese subtitles are burned in. There's a Warner Archive DVD-R of the film that appears to be remastered and widescreen; that's the version to get.
Clayton link
6/26/2012 10:19:45 pm

You know what? I've read a few of those books, and though I've seen a few of the movies mentioned, I never made the connection. Then again, why would I.

Duvall is interesting; he's always good value, but back in those days he was a bit of a second-stringer; after most of the old-school stars either died or became caricatures of themselves, Duvall's solid charisma and style made him a superhero among the crappy actors from the mid-eighties onward. I'm glad to see as many of his older pictures as I can. He's good value.

Thanks for the great review!

Jeff
6/28/2012 05:40:52 pm

Cheers, man!

I had no idea there were so many movies made about the Parker character (or that there were so many Parker books...I mean 24?! Jeez...).

I see what you mean about Duvall back in the 60s and 70s. I do think he was always been good and convincing since his earliest TV and film appearances, but he certainly has grown in stature as he's aged and, as you say, the competition has lessened.

Dan
6/28/2012 05:48:25 am

OUTFIT probably has the best overall cast of any "Parker" film (though it's hard to beat Lee Marvin in the part) but the film just didn't catch fire for me.

Jeff
6/28/2012 05:36:09 pm

Dan,

Yeah, it's maybe not to everyone's tastes, it is very low key. That was part of its charm for me, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. You're right, the cast is great. Thanks for stopping by!

Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) link
6/28/2012 11:51:18 pm

Great to read in detail about this film Jeff - when I saw that it was out on DVD I was really tempted, though it's a shame it is a MOD release, but that seems inevitable for this kind of title from the majors these days. Years since I saw it though I remember liking it - it is pretty different from the book though. Flynn's best movie may be BEST SELLER, from a script by Larry Cohen (who was meant to direct originally). It appears that the name change may have been at Westlake's insistence, though Jason Statham is now appearing in an adaptation of one of the later books, pointedly entitled PARKER. Have you seen the director's cut of PAYBACK? It is a much tougher movie and quite a considerable improvement in my eyes. We'll have to agree to disagree about POINT BLANK though - yes, it is very, very artsy fartsy but is one of my favourite films as a result.

Jeff
6/29/2012 08:43:52 pm

Thanks a lot, Sergio! Yes, it is a shame that it's MOD, but at least they got the aspect ratio right this time. I remember BEST SELLER, that was a good one. Interesting what you say about Westlake not allowing the film productions use of the Parker name. Haven't yet seen the Director's Cut of PAYBACK; I've heard good things about it, but I'm worried about what might have been taken out, as I thought the original cut was pretty damn great. Will have to check it out on your recommendation.

I hear you re: POINT BLANK. I think it's a very good film, for sure, and there is a lot to love in there...but all of Boorman's "artsy fartsy" touches wore on me when I last watched it.

Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) link
6/29/2012 10:20:25 pm

The differences are radical - the narration/voiceover is gone and the final third of the film is almost completely new as the Kris Kristofferson character (and the whole subplot around his son) only added in the reshoots. Helgeland's version is tougher, meaner, darker and more violent but also truer to the original novel. The DVD and Blu-ray are remarkably candid about the differences and why they were made, with Gibson and Helgeland both coming across as basically honest and fair in the recollections. The film editor, who worked on both cuts, does the best job of analysing the differences. Gibson basically funded the director's cut, which was a pretty generous thing to do.

Jeff
6/29/2012 11:03:17 pm

Thanks for the added info, Sergio! Definitely have to see the Director's Cut now. I see that there has been an additional Blu-Ray release that features both versions...just went to the top of my Amazon wishlist!

Neil
8/19/2013 04:22:55 pm

A good flick, though I prefer the revenge scheme in the novel where Parker puts out the call to other professional thieves to take their shots at the outfit as opposed to him doing all the dirty work himself. Not very cinematic having Robert Duvall write a bunch of letters though, and then having a batch of new characters show up doing heists. A very enjoyable film, unlike "Point Blank," where at times the "artsy" level reaches insane heights, none more so than the scene at the movie house nightclub. In neither movie does "Parker" come off as brutish as in the novels, where the protagonist doesn't bat an eyelid at the violence he deals out and the "civilians" he takes advantage of to survive. And I don't think any of the actors (Statham, Gibson, Duvall, Marvin, etc.) embody Westlake's Parker: "The office women looked at him and shivered. They knew he was a bastard, they knew his big hands were born to slap with, they knew his big face would never break into a smile when he looked at a woman. They knew what he was, they thanked God for their husbands, and still they shivered. Because they knew how he would fall on a woman in the night. Like a tree." What about a 1960s Charles Bronson as Parker? A tad short perhaps...

Jeff
8/29/2013 01:54:54 am

Thanks for checking back in here with your thoughts on THE OUTFIT, Neil! Apologies for the delayed response. I think we're pretty much agreed on the overly artsy fartsy stylings of POINT BLANK, though I do think it's an interesting and worthy film in spite of that. Glad to hear you enjoyed THE OUTFIT, and thanks for the remarks on the Parker books, which I know little about (loved that excerpt). I had no idea that Parker was supposed to be such a big guy. I think a 1960s era Charlie Bronson would have been an excellent choice for a Parker film - good call!

Haven't heard much good about the recent Statham version...what's your take on it?


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Videophilia!

    Opinionated ramblings about new and old  movies (mostly old, as that's the way I like 'em!)

    Picture

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Blogs of Note

    Stuart Galbraith IV's World Cinema Paradise

    Movie Morlocks (TCM's Classic Movie Blog)

    50 Westerns from the 50s

    Riding the High Country

    Sweet Freedom

    Tipping My Fedora

    Thrilling Days of Yesteryear

    Silver Screenings


    Laura's Miscellaneous Musings

    Classic TV and Film Cafe

    Just a Cineast

    She Blogged By Night


    Chess, Comics, Crosswords, Books, Music, Cinema

    Out of the Past -
    A Classic Film Blog


    Pretty Sinister Books

    They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To

    In So Many Words...

    Greenbriar Picture Shows

    Flix Chatter

    My Love of Old Hollywood

    Tales of the Easily Distracted

    Another Old Movie Blog

    Lasso the Movies

    Kevin's Movie Corner

    Films From Beyond the Time Barrier

    Carole & Co.

    Rupert Pupkin Speaks

    Caftan Woman

    Vienna's Classic Hollywood

    The Lady Eve's Reel Life

    ClassicBecky's Brain Food

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Hey! 
    Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed below, to be informed of new postings!

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    10 Best
    1960s Sci-Fi
    1970s Sci-Fi
    20 Million Miles To Earth
    50 Years Of James Bond
    70s Crime Films
    7 Faces Of Dr. Lao
    Abbott And Costello
    Abbott & Costello
    A Boy And His Dog
    Air Force
    Alan Ladd
    Alien
    A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)
    Attack Of The Crab Monsters
    Bad Guys
    Basil Rathbone
    Beneath The 12-Mile Reef
    Bernard Herrmann
    Bite The Bullet
    Black Belt Jones
    Blade 2
    Blogathons
    Boris Karloff
    Brides Of Dracula
    British Empire In Film Blogathon
    Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter
    Carole Lombard
    Caroline Munro
    Cary Grant
    Cecil B. DeMille
    Charade
    Charles Bronson
    Charles Coburn
    Charlton Heston
    Christopher Lee
    Circus World
    Claudette Colbert
    Clint Eastwood
    Clint Walker
    Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
    Colossus: The Forbin Project
    Dark Of The Sun
    Dark Shadows
    Deadlier Than The Male
    Desk Set
    Dirty Harry
    Disaster Movies
    Dog Soldiers
    Donovan's Reef
    Dorothy Malone
    Douglas Sirk
    Dr. No
    Elmore Leonard
    Ernest Borgnine
    Fantastic Voyage
    Fast And Furious
    Fast And Loose
    Fast Company
    Four Frightened People
    From Russia With Love
    Garden Of Evil
    Gargoyles
    Gary Cooper
    George-montgomery
    Giant Of Marathon
    Gladiator
    Gordon Scott
    Gregory Peck
    Halloween
    Hammer Horror
    Hardboiled93338e779d
    Hard Times
    Has Anybody Seen My Gal
    Haywire
    Heat
    Henry Fonda
    Hold That Ghost
    Hombre
    Horror
    Horror Express
    Hot Potato
    House Of Wax
    Howard Hawks
    How The West Was Won
    I Love A Mystery
    Il Postino
    Isle Of The Dead
    It! The Terror From Beyond Space
    I Walked With A Zombie
    James Bond
    James Coburn
    James Stewart
    Jaws
    Jim Brown
    Jim Kelly
    John Carpenter
    John Cassavetes
    John Ford
    John Garfield
    John Wayne
    Katherine Hepburn
    Key Largo
    Kirk Douglas
    Lee Marvin
    Legend Of The Lost
    Lives Of A Bengal Lancer
    Love Before Breakfast
    Marilyn Monroe
    Memorable Movie Dads
    Mickey Spillane
    Mirage
    Monster On The Campus
    Musicals
    My Man Godfrey
    Mysterious Island
    My Top 25 Films
    Night Of The Grizzly
    Once Upon A Time In The West
    Only The Valiant
    Open Range
    Pandorum
    Paranoiac
    Paul Newman
    Peter Cushing
    Phase IV
    Phenomena
    Poltergeist
    Rampage
    Randolph Scott
    Raquel Welch
    Raw Meat
    Ray Harryhausen
    Ride Lonesome
    River Of No Return
    Robert Aldrich
    Robert Mitchum
    Robert Wagner
    Rock Hudson
    Rod Taylor
    Roy Scheider
    Sean Connery
    Shotgun
    Silent Running
    Sleepy Hollow
    Sophia Loren
    Soylent Green
    Spencer Tracy
    Starman
    Sterling Hayden
    Steve Mcqueen
    Steve Reeves
    Stewart Granger
    Tarzan The Magnificent
    The Abominable Dr. Phibes
    The Andromeda Strain
    The Awakening
    The Badlanders
    The Big Country
    The Birds
    The Black Scorpion
    The Black Swan
    The Blob
    The Body Snatcher
    The Cat And The Canary
    The Crawling Eye
    The Creature From The Black Lagoon
    The Dark Knight Rises
    The Devil Rides Out
    The Expendables 2
    The Face Of Fu Manchu
    The Falcon
    The Fearless Vampire Killers
    The Fog
    The Getaway
    The Ghost Breakers
    The Girl Hunters
    The Gorgon
    The Great Escape
    The Hole
    The Invisible Man
    The Last Of The Mohicans
    The Last Sunset
    The Late Show
    The Laughing Policeman
    The Leopard Man
    The Lone Gun
    The Long Goodbye
    The Man With The Golden Gun
    The Mark Of Zorro
    The Matrix
    The Mechanic
    The Monster That Challenged The World
    The Night Strangler
    The Omega Man
    The Outfit
    The Princess Comes Across
    The Shining
    The Shootist
    The Thing
    The Thing From Another World
    The Tingler
    The Uninvited
    The Wild Bunch
    The Wild North
    Thomas Mitchell
    Thunder Bay
    Tom Conway
    Tony Randall
    Trollhunter
    Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil
    Two-Minute Warning
    Tyrone Power
    Underrated Detective/Mystery Movies
    Val Lewton
    Vincent Price
    Walter Matthau
    Went The Day Well?
    Westerns
    Westworld
    William Powell
    William Wyler
    Ww2
    Yvonne De Carlo

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • The Stalking Moon
  • Cracked Leather Armchair
  • The Small Screen
  • About Me
    • Cool things About Japan
    • Travel Recollections
    • Contact me