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| Images courtesy of Arrow Video |
Years before getting mixed up with Sylvester Stallone’s prison
actioner Lock Up, the Steven Seagal vehicle Out for Justice and
even the videogame horror slasher Brainscan, director John Flynn started
out as a former assistant to director Robert Wise including but not limited to
script supervision on West Side Story before taking up the job of
directing The Sergeant in 1968 with Rod Steiger. His 1972 film The Jerusalem File shot
in Israel didn’t fare as well at the box office and has since been lost to time
save for media archivists who uploaded it to YouTube. But a year later he picked up an adaptation
of Donald E. Westlake’s 1963 novel The Outfit co-written by Flynn with
uncredited rewrites by Walter Hill, a film which all but helped but launch the
director’s career as a low-key New Hollywood neo-noir filmmaker.
A star-studded neo-noir crime road movie prominently
featuring Robert Duvall, Karen Black, Joe Don Baker, Robert Ryan, Joanna
Cassidy and even Timothy Carey, it was a breakout success critically as well as
commercially for its director and even garnered praise from Westlake as one of
his favorite adaptations of his works.
Following the recent loss of Robert Duvall, it was only natural this
cult favorite preceding the director’s most well-known film Rolling Thunder would
receive the royal Arrow Video treatment in a new digital restoration by Arrow
Films made from the original 35mm camera negative. A grim, violent crime saga spoken of the same
breath as John Milius’ Dillinger or Sam Peckinpah’s Bring Me the Head
of Alfredo Garcia, it presents Duvall in a rare action role as a bank
robber backed into a corner.
Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall) is a master thief who
previously robbed a bank with his brother Eddie which, as it turns out, was
owned by a powerful crime syndicate simply known as The Outfit. On the cusp of being released from prison,
Earl learns The Outfit has whacked Eddie and that he himself is next on
the chopping block. Determined to get
even, he enlists his girlfriend Bett (Karen Black) and best buddy Cody (Joe Don
Baker) on a secret mission to wage a private war against The Outfit and
its hired guns spearheaded by Mailer (Robert Ryan) and Menner (Timothy
Carey). In addition to being
relentlessly pursued by The Outfit wherever they go, now it seems law
enforcement is also on their tail with the pressure and crimson soaked body
count rising amid intense gun battles.
A taut, stylish and riveting master class thriller featuring
a spectacular Robert Duvall, an equally strong Karen Black fresh off of Five
Easy Pieces, Joe Don Baker flexing his action heavy muscles and a murderer’s
row of a supporting cast including Peckinpah regular Robert Ryan and Stanley
Kubrick’s The Killing and Paths of Glory actor Timothy Carey, The
Outfit pretty much is a cinematic home run.
Despite a somewhat compromised ending (offered in original shortened
form as an alternative in the extras), this pretty much is a hard-boiled neo-noir
that doesn’t let anyone off the hook or spare characters from brutal
violence. Featuring a rousing, jazzy
score by recurring Peckinpah collaborator Jerry Fielding and robust, dynamic
1.85:1 cinematography by Clint Eastwood’s cameraman Bruce Surtees, technically
speaking it is top notch filmmaking. Duvall,
it goes without saying, was one of the greatest actors of his generation and
was on his way towards peaking when he did The Outfit.
Released in October of 1973 through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, The
Outfit was a critical and commercial hit and further helped usher director
John Flynn’s career into the forefront of mainstream film discourse. A solid action oriented neo-noir with many Old
Hollywood players on display, the film comes to Arrow Video on Blu-ray disc in
a new limited edition featuring numerous extras including a video appreciation
by the legendary Walter Chaw, an essay on Westlake expert Levi Stahl, new
running audio commentary with film critics Jedidiah Ayres and Mike White, an
archival interview with Walter Hill on working with director John Flynn and
much more. The package itself comes
housed with reversible sleeve art and a collector’s booklet featuring numerous
essay writings. For someone keen on the
highs and lows of seventies New Hollywood intermingling with Old Hollywood, The
Outfit proved to be a pitch perfect marriage of the young and the veteran
players. Robert Duvall fans as well as
John Flynn fans will have a blast with this!
--Andrew Kotwicki
