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The Outfit (1973 film)
Encyclopedia
The Outfit is a 1973 film
directed by John Flynn
. It stars Robert Duvall
, Karen Black
, Joe Don Baker
and Robert Ryan
. The film is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Richard Stark and features a character modeled on Parker
, who was introduced in The Hunter.
after serving 2 years and 3 months for carrying a concealed weapon, professional thief and bank robber Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall
) is told by his girlfriend Bett (Karen Black
) of his brother's execution by the Outfit
. It seems a bank Earl and his brother robbed was a "front" for the Outfit, who, having killed Earl's brother, now want to kill him. Earl teams up with old partner Cody (Joe Don Baker
) and starts to hit the Outfit to accrue $250,000 compensation he feels he's due for his brother's murder. Promised the pay-off, but then double crossed by the Outfit's Godfather figure (Robert Ryan
), Macklin and Cody decide to topple the whole organisation.
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 and Get Carter
". In his review for The New York Times
, Vincent Canby
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".
1973 in film
The year 1973 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces his second wife, Barbara Blakely. Blakely would later marry actor/singer Frank Sinatra....
directed by John Flynn
John Flynn (director)
John Flynn was an American film director and screenwriter known for making efficient, no-nonsense crime-thrillers The Outfit and Rolling Thunder....
. It stars Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
, Karen Black
Karen Black
Karen Black is an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She is noted for appearing in such films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, Rhinoceros, The Day of the Locust, Nashville, Airport 1975, and Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot...
, Joe Don Baker
Joe Don Baker
Joe Don Baker is an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as a Mafia hitman in Charley Varrick, deputy sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III in Final Justice, real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, brute force with a badge detective Mitchell in Mitchell, James...
and Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
. The film is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Richard Stark and features a character modeled on Parker
Parker (fictional criminal)
Parker is a fictional character created by Donald E. Westlake. He is the main protagonist of 24 of the 28 novels Westlake wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark.-Character overview:...
, who was introduced in The Hunter.
Plot
Released from prison In IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
after serving 2 years and 3 months for carrying a concealed weapon, professional thief and bank robber Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
) is told by his girlfriend Bett (Karen Black
Karen Black
Karen Black is an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She is noted for appearing in such films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, Rhinoceros, The Day of the Locust, Nashville, Airport 1975, and Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot...
) of his brother's execution by the Outfit
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
. It seems a bank Earl and his brother robbed was a "front" for the Outfit, who, having killed Earl's brother, now want to kill him. Earl teams up with old partner Cody (Joe Don Baker
Joe Don Baker
Joe Don Baker is an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as a Mafia hitman in Charley Varrick, deputy sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III in Final Justice, real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, brute force with a badge detective Mitchell in Mitchell, James...
) and starts to hit the Outfit to accrue $250,000 compensation he feels he's due for his brother's murder. Promised the pay-off, but then double crossed by the Outfit's Godfather figure (Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
), Macklin and Cody decide to topple the whole organisation.
Cast
- Robert DuvallRobert DuvallRobert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
as Macklin - Karen BlackKaren BlackKaren Black is an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She is noted for appearing in such films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, Rhinoceros, The Day of the Locust, Nashville, Airport 1975, and Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot...
as Bett Harrow - Joe Don BakerJoe Don BakerJoe Don Baker is an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as a Mafia hitman in Charley Varrick, deputy sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III in Final Justice, real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, brute force with a badge detective Mitchell in Mitchell, James...
as Cody - Robert RyanRobert RyanRobert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
as Mailer - Timothy CareyTimothy CareyTimothy Agoglia Carey was an American film and television actor....
as Menner - Richard JaeckelRichard JaeckelRichard Hanley Jaeckel was an American actor of film and television.-Life and career:Jaeckel was born in Long Beach, New York. A short, but tough guy, he played a variety of characters during his fifty years in movies & television and became one of Hollywood's best known character actors...
as Chemey - Sheree NorthSheree NorthSheree North was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She was known for being 20th Century Fox's answer to Marilyn Monroe from 1954 to 1956...
as Buck's Wife - Felice Orlandi as Frank Orlandi
- Marie WindsorMarie WindsorMarie Windsor . Born as Emily Marie Bertelson in Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, Windsor was an actress known as "The Queen of the Bs" because she appeared in so many film noirs and B-movies like Cat-Women of the Moon...
as Madge Coyle - Jane GreerJane GreerJane Greer was a film and television actress who was perhaps best known for her role as femme fatale Kathie Moffat in the 1947 film noir Out of the Past.-Career:...
as Alma - Henry JonesHenry Jones (actor)Henry Burk Jones was an American actor of stage, film and television.Jones was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Helen and John Francis Xavier Jones. He was the grandson of Pennsylvania Representative Henry Burk...
as Doctor - Joanna CassidyJoanna CassidyJoanna Cassidy is an American film and television actress. She is known for her role as the replicant Zhora in the Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner...
as Rita - Tom Reese as First Man
- Elisha Cook Jr.Elisha Cook Jr.Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. was an American character actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and weedy neurotics in dozens of films...
as Carl (as Elisha Cook) - Bill McKinneyBill McKinneyBill McKinney is an American character actor whose most famous role was the sadistic mountain man in the movie Deliverance...
as Buck
Reception
Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
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
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
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 and Get Carter
Get Carter
Get Carter is a 1971 British crime film directed by Mike Hodges and starring Michael Caine as Jack Carter, a gangster who sets out to avenge the death of his brother in a series of unrelenting and brutal killings played out against the grim background of derelict urban housing in the city of...
". In his review for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
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".