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Sorry, this movie sucks

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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.

They may have changed his name to Macklin, but he's Parker all the way (Parker of Donald Westlake's crime novels). And Robert Duvall plays him as a real son-of-a-"b"; cold as ice, calculating and wielding the massive cojones to go against the mob for revenge. He's like a shark, unwavering in his determination. He's not the face I conjure for this character, but hell if he doesn't pull it off. Overall, THE OUTFIT is a rock-solid crime movie. Love the bass groove score, the gorgeous Joanna Cassidy, and the presence of Joe Don Baker, who makes an ace wingman. He's twice offered a pass on Parker's scheme, but he still stays with the plan. I really like him in this movie. And what really surprised me is the smile on my face as the end credits rolled. It's not every day (ever) you see that kind of ending on such a hard-boiled tough bastard movie. 8/10

Compact and minimalist in its execution, all the style here is in the dilapidated decor that permeates the proceedings. It has the look of things fallen and past their prime, inhabited by trapped melancholic Men and Women that also have seen better days. This is a showcase of 1970's grit and the then trend of unfettered realism.There is no aggrandizement or formulated Film stuff here. What you see is exactly what it is and what you get. John Flynn, a very underrated Director is on hand to deliver a pantheon of Noir icons and sensibilities. The Movie is deliciously drab.The bits of Action come fast and furious and there are virtually no set ups. It is a rapid-fire display of excessive restraint, but it all works as inglorious Genre bending to fit the new aesthetic. There is a post-censorship edge in the bursts of violence, but the Dialog is straight out of Film-Noir that was straight out of the Paperbacks and Pulps. This one also belongs in the stable of the Hard-Boiled Richard Stark novels featuring his Parker Character. Only Jim Thompson seems to have a bigger Cult following among the post War Crime Novelists.

So says Mailer (Ryan), head of the Syndicate when he meets Macklin (Duvall) in a horse auction. Macklin has been robbing Mailer's operations, to make him pay compensation for the death of his brother, who the Syndicate had killed, because he and Macklin inadvertently hit a Syndicate owned bank. Mailer carries on " We take in $250 grand by noon on a good day" trying to make Macklin feel small and put his compensation demand into some perspective. "I don't care" shoots back Macklin "As long as you pay". Mailer doesn't pay of course, and sends hit men instead to kill Macklin, his partner in crime Cody (Joe Don Baker)and Macklin's moll, Bett (Karen Black). This movie is one of a series of great heist / mob / thriller movies that came out in the early seventies, and reminded me a lot of other classics such as Point Blank or Charley Varrick (incidentally another great role for Baker in that movie.)There are no over the top action scenes, rather everything is cut to the bare essentials. The scene where Macklin and Cody buy a car from hick brothers Chemey (Richard Jaeckel)and Buck (the wonderful Bill McKinney)is superb, with early seventies stalwart Sheree North accusing Cody of trying to rape her when he rebuffs her advances, in such a cool and laconic way I laughed out loud. There are guilty pleasures to be had too, when Cody lays out a female telephone operator with a single vicious punch. All the heists are carefully planned and executed and Macklin and Cody are the ultimate professionals, working calmly and coolly under fire, while Bett drives the getaway car. The movie culminates in an assault on Mailer's home, which is better protected than any bank. "Getting out's gonna be a bitch" observes Cody as they plan their next move. Duvall and Baker really play off each other well in this movie, and their camaraderie and banter is a pleasure to watch, and one of the reasons the film is so enjoyable. Macklin offers Cody the chance to cut and run before the final show-down, as a thank you for his support up to that point,and a recognition that neither of them might make it out alive. "Nah! Think I'll stick around. See how this thing turns out!" he replies without even thinking about it. A tough thriller / heist movie with some eminently quotable dialogue,two great leads, a fine supporting cast that includes a young Joanna Cassidy as Mailer's young squeeze, and a simple plot line, that most movie goers will recognise has been re-made several times under different names: see Point Blank(Lee Marvin) or Payback (Mel Gibson)for example. This film can easily stand alongside those movies, and in many ways might even be superior, as it manages to deliver all of the thrills without any of the violence of Payback, or the voyeurism of Point Blank. Hard to believe this movie will be forty years old next year, as it still stands up as a great thriller.