betty dalton This is true heroic gentleman gangster stuff. An eye for an eye. You mess with them, they will mess with you, no matter who you are. It has great guts and glory. Although I am certainly not a fan of supporting violence in movies, Robert Duvall and Joe Don Baker play gentleman gangsters, which make the portrayed violence look almost heroic. They only kill when they have to. And so they do in this story where Robert Duvall's brother got killed by a mob boss. The revenge for his brother's death is what this movie is all about. Honor his brother by killing the crime gang responsible.Has Tarantino influences written all over it and he enjoyed it alot being a kid, so he sayed. Especially one scene reminded me of "Pulp Fiction". At Imdb "The Outfit" is listed as one of 10 forgotten classics of the seventies. If one looks at what others who saw this flick liked too, then you are in for a real treat:"Charley Varrick" is mentioned, which is another Tarantino favorite. "Prime Cut" and "Point Blank" are mentioned too. These are all true macho crime classics, wherein men are real MEN. Either this gun stomping flick has got everything in it others have copied since, or it is a copycat itself. Anyhow, lots of scenes do bring to mind so many other crime classics made since then...Acting, Story and Supense are just Excellent ! This is how crime flicks aught to be made. Robert Duvall and Joe Don Baker carry this movie with bravoure and machismo. They are true modern cowboys. Their way of life is the way of the GUN. Their guns are sacred: "Dont ever touch my gun.." screams Robert Duvall to his girlfriend, the ONLY time in the movie he raises his voice. Mr. Cool himself.At a trivia end note: Sound quality is pretty horrific. But so was sound in almost all early seventies movies. Bass sound basically just didnt excist back then. Unless you can see a remastered pumped up blu ray version with enhanced sound and picture quality, you will have to settle with rather meager quality of picture and sound. That reminds me of the following: once "The Godfather" was restored, director Francis Ford Coppola was astounded by the gorgeous sound and picture quality, it was better then he could have ever imagined.The original Godfather was really in terrible shape technically speaking. But all of this is just a long introduction to explain the only fault with "The Outfit": it's picture and sound quality. Maybe you wont even notice it, if you dont care about that. It is rather superficial and doesnt really matter though, because the core of this movie is rock solid.

Spikeopath The Outfit is directed by John Flynn and Flynn adapts the screenplay from the novel written by Richard Stark (AKA: Donald E. Westlake). It stars Robert Duvall, Joe Don Baker, Karen Black and Robert Ryan. Music is by Jerry Fielding and cinematography by Bruce Surtees.It arguably took a further decade to pass before the 1970s would be revealed as a superb decade for neo-noir. For where the 60s purveyors cribbed close to the stylistics of the 40s and 50s, the 70s operators often saw a shift in emphasis on noir plotting over stylistics, using their own ideas on style to befit tone of plot. One such case is The Outfit, a cunningly moody piece that's at times brutal and at others a wry revenger pumped full of dialogue barbs.Nobody's luck holds forever.Plot finds Duvall as Earl Macklin, who upon being released from prison finds his brother has been murdered by "The Outfit" and he himself is on the hit-list as well. It transpires that Earl and his brother knocked off a bank that "The Outfit" had serious ties to, and the rub-out is on. Only thing is, Earl isn't about to put on a concrete overcoat any time soon and turns the tables on his pursuers.Macklin's mission of revenge and financial rewards is filtered through a world populated by unsavoury characters in unsavoury period suits, the locations frequented often drab and colourless so as to sidle up with the narrative drive. At Earl's side is Cody (Baker), a cool bad ass who fears no one and can spot a femme fatale from a mile off. Also along for the journey is Bett (Black), she's Earl's squeeze, an unmeaning fatale who is quickly thrust into the bloody tale to play an active part.In the villain corner overseeing quiet menace is Mailer (Ryan). In one of his last films released in the year of his death, Ryan leaves noir lovers a character whose every word is to hang on, while his spousal relationship with Rita (Cassidy) is amusingly tender yet cold. The rest of the heavies are by-the-numbers, but they are really only serving purpose as fodder for Earl and Cody's machismo fuelled spree, with the dialogue exchanges a thing of caustic beauty.Baker and Duvall are excellent, and they are backed up by a brilliant support cast, it's a roll call of film noir heroes, villains and dupes. In fact the noir credentials are incredibly high here, from source writer Stark (Point Blank/The Grifters) and director Flynn (Rolling Thunder), to the cast list, it's noir nirvana. Sure we hanker for more from the likes of Elisha Cook and Marie Windsor etc, but Flynn makes his point and ensures lovers of the noir form can feel his love as well.Problems? Well yes of course there's the issue of not having some true nighttime noir photography, and in truth Black is quite simply miscast but gets away with it since the makers offer her up for a narrative sting. Elsewhere, the treatment of women will annoy some, but tonally speaking you have to say it sits well in the world the story exists in. Then there's the ending! I haven't seen the TV version of the pic, but have to say the one offered up there is surely (in the noir universe) far greater than the one we have in the official release, and certainly more befitting what has preceded it.Niggles apart, The Outfit is a cracker and well worth seeking out. 8.5/10

filton A terrific post-heist, hoodlum v mob, revenge flick that resembles in plot 'Point Blank'.As other reviewers have said, the performances are all really fine, the music perfectly understated, and (here I disagree with Ricky Grove - top review as at 17/07/16) each scene is as tight as a drum.From the hit on Macklin's brother early on, to Karen Black's phone call home (notice the truck reflected in the phone booth, the logo on the side of it forming a target on Karen's face - foreshadowing her death a scene or two later), to Joe Don Baker getting a visit from the hit men at his diner (notice the low camera angles - built-in tension right there), to the purchase in the car of hot weaponry, to the negotiations between Roberts Duvall and Ryan at a horse auction with a ball game going on in the background, to the purchase of a getaway car from rednecks (one of the most eventful sequences in cinema - how many stories are told within the space of about five minutes!?).It's fine craftsmanship from director (and writer) John Flynn, who can only be faulted for an extremely disappointing ending. If it had been something like the ending of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', that might have worked, but it's a poor 'meh' moment at the end of a brilliant, brilliant film.9/10

Wizard-8 "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.