''The Outfit'' is a 1973

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by John Flynn.''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' film review; October 24, 1973, page 16. It stars

Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career spans more than seven decades and he is considered one of the greatest American actors of all time. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, four Gold ...

Karen Black Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portrayi ...

Joe Don Baker Joe Don Baker (born February 12, 1936) is an American character actor and a life member of the Actors Studio. He established himself as an action star with supporting roles as a mysterious cowboy drifter in '' Guns of the Magnificent Seven'' (19 ...

and

Robert Ryan Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an American actor and activist. Known for his portrayals of hardened cops and ruthless villains, Ryan performed for over three decades. He was nominated for the Academy Award for ...

. Flynn's screenplay is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by

Richard Stark Donald Edwin Westlake (July 12, 1933 – December 31, 2008) was an American writer, with more than a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into ...

, pseudonym of

Donald E. Westlake Donald Edwin Westlake (July 12, 1933 – December 31, 2008) was an American writer, with more than a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into ...

. It features a character modeled on Stark's fictional character

Parker Parker may refer to: Persons * Parker (given name) * Parker (surname) Places Place names in the United States *Parker, Arizona *Parker, Colorado * Parker, Florida * Parker, Idaho * Parker, Kansas * Parker, Missouri * Parker, North Carolina *Park ...

, who was introduced in '' The Hunter''.

Plot

A pair of hitmen (one dressed as a priest) drive to Eddie Macklin's house and kill him as he builds a brick wall in his backyard. Eddie's brother Earl is released from prison in Illinois after a 27-month term for carrying a concealed weapon. His girlfriend Bett picks him up and takes him to a motel. She informs Earl of his brother's execution by the Outfit. Earl realises that the motel stay is a setup, and when one of the hitmen who killed his brother bursts into the room, Earl ambushes him and tortures him for information. Macklin lets the hitman live and sends him back to Chicago as a warning. Bett confesses that the Outfit tortured her and threatened to cut her face up if she didn't lure Earl to the motel. His next move is to rob a poker game where Outfit member Jake Menner is playing. Menner explains that the bank that Eddie and Earl robbed together was an Outfit cover, so the contract on the two of them is simple retribution. Macklin calculates that the Outfit owes him $250,000 for the trouble it has caused him. He says whatever he earns by ripping off the Outfit's operations in the meantime is just gravy. Then, he shoots Menner in the hand as revenge for the treatment of Bett. Menner tells his boss Mailer that the Outfit has a problem, but Mailer insists that it is Menner's problem to solve. The hitmen who killed Eddie are sent to kill Macklin's old partner Cody at a diner that he owns. Cody gets them to leave by pointing out that the town sheriff is there; then he and Macklin hatch a plan to keep robbing the Outfit, using Bett as a driver. Their next target is a dive restaurant that does not even have a safe. On their way out with the money, the cook throws his cleaver at Cody and three gunmen lie in wait outside the restaurant. Bett mows two of them down and the trio escapes. Macklin and Cody go to Chemey to get a new car, since theirs has been made. Chemey's sister-in-law makes a pass at Cody. When he turns her down, she claims that he tried to rape her. That causes a physical confrontation that Chemey manages to deflate, allowing Cody and Macklin to leave in their new car. Their next target is a much bigger operation. Cody poses as a mailman, and Macklin as a maintenance man. They knock out a secretary and make their way into a warren of back rooms where they rob the safe. Macklin and Cody then corner Mailer at a horse auction. He amiably agrees to pay the $250,000, but he warns Macklin to stop knocking off his businesses. Mailer is furious that Macklin was able to be "close enough to touch" him. He orders him killed. At the payoff, Macklin quickly realizes it is a setup and that the briefcase is filled with newspaper instead of money. He and Cody manage to escape by tripping a fire alarm, enraging Mailer further. Cody and Macklin plan an assault on Mailer's well-guarded home. Cody warns that it will be easy to get in but nearly impossible to get out. They hijack one of the Outfit's cars and use it to get past the gates. Inside the house, Cody plants a bomb under a table. The duo goes upstairs to hunt for Mailer, who spies Cody in his shaving mirror. He manages to ambush Cody, shooting him in the gut. Macklin is waiting for Mailer in the hallway—the still-conscious Cody shoots Mailer in the back, then Macklin finishes Mailer. Once the bomb goes off, Macklin puts on a white medical coat and helps Cody out of the house. The police, fire department, and an ambulance have arrived. Posing as a medic, Macklin puts Cody into the back of an ambulance, and they laugh about how easy it was to escape.

Cast

as Earl Macklin *

as Bett Harrow *

as Cody *

as Mailer *

Timothy Carey Timothy Agoglia Carey (March 11, 1929 – May 11, 1994) was an American film and television character actor. Carey was best known for portraying manic or violent characters who are driven to extremes. Career He made his screen debut with a ...

as Menner *

Richard Jaeckel Richard Hanley Jaeckel (October 10, 1926 – June 14, 1997) was an American actor of film and television. Jaeckel became a well-known character actor in his career, which spanned six decades. He received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominatio ...

as Chemey *

Sheree North Sheree North (born Dawn Shirley Crang; January 17, 1932 – November 5, 2005) was an American actress, dancer, and singer, known for being one of 20th Century-Fox's intended successors to Marilyn Monroe. Early life North was born Dawn Shirley ...

as Buck's Wife *

Tom Reese Thomas Wilson Reese (29 September 1867 – 13 April 1949) was a New Zealand first-class cricketer who played for Canterbury from 1888 to 1918, and later wrote a two-volume history of New Zealand cricket. Life and career Reese was one of the fir ...

as Hit Man *

Felice Orlandi Felice Orlandi (18 September 1925 – 21 May 2003) was an Italian-born American actor, known for roles in films such as ''The Pusher (film), The Pusher'' (1960), ''Bullitt'' (1968), ''Catch-22 (film), Catch-22'' (1970) and ''The Driver'' (1978). ...

as Frank Orlandi *

Marie Windsor Marie Windsor (born Emily Marie Bertelsen; December 11, 1919 – December 10, 2000) was an American actress known for her femme fatale characters in the classic film noir features ''Force of Evil'', ''The Narrow Margin'' and '' The Killing''. Wi ...

as Madge Coyle *

Jane Greer Jane Greer (born Bettejane Greer; September 9, 1924 – August 24, 2001) was an American film and television actress best known for her role as ''femme fatale'' Kathie Moffat in the 1947 film noir '' Out of the Past''. In 2009, ''The Guardian'' ...

as Alma * Henry Jones as Doctor *

Joanna Cassidy Joanna Cassidy (born Joanna Virginia Caskey, August 2, 1945 Brady, James"In Step With: Joanna Cassidy" ''Miami Herald'', November 25, 1990. Accessed March 14, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Born: Aug.2, 1944, in Camden, N.J.") is an American actress. ...

as Rita *

Elisha Cook Elisha Vanslyck Cook Jr. (December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995) was an American character actor famed for his work in films noir. According to Bill Georgaris of TSPDT: They Shoot Pictures, Don't They, Cook appeared in a total of 21 film ...

as Carl

Production

John Flynn had been a long time fan of the Parker novels. Contrary to rumors, Flynn claimed the film was always intended to be set in the present day and not in the 1940s. Despite the fact that

James T. Aubrey James Thomas Aubrey Jr. (December 14, 1918 – September 3, 1994) was an American television and film executive. As president of the CBS television network from 1959 to 1965, with his "smell for the blue-collar," he produced some of televi ...

, head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer wanted the ending changed to make it more upbeat, Flynn remained very fond of the movie.Harvey Chartand, "Interview with John Flynn", ''Shock Cinema'' 2005
accessed 16 February 2015

Reception

Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and praised it as "a classy action picture, very well directed and acted." However, ''Time'' wrote "Director Flynn makes a movie that has been seen before, without either the skill or spirit that distinguished such excellent predecessors as ''

Point Blank Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm can hit a target without the need to compensate for bullet drop, and can be adjusted over a wide range of distances by sighting in the firearm. If the bullet leaves the barrel paral ...

'' and ''

Get Carter ''Get Carter'' is a 1971 British crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detecti ...

''." In his review for ''The New York Times'',

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

wrote "''The Outfit'' is not really a bad movie. It doesn't fail in an attempt to do something beyond its means. It doesn't attempt to do anything except pass the time, which simply isn't good enough when most of us have access to television." ''The Outfit'' (much like ''

The Friends of Eddie Coyle ''The Friends of Eddie Coyle'' is a 1973 American neo-noir crime film starring Robert Mitchum and Peter Boyle and directed by Peter Yates. The screenplay by Paul Monash was adapted from the 1970 novel '' The Friends of Eddie Coyle'' by George ...

'' and other crime films of this period) has been included on many lists of lesser known films recommended by 21st century film analysts.

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

has a chapter on the movie in his 2022 book '' Cinema Speculation''.

References

External links