A bank robber goes to war against a syndicate that wronged him in John Flynn’s 1973 The Outfit, based on the Parker book series by Donald E. Westlake.
The Film
John Flynn’s The Outfit, from 1973 and unrelated to the Mark Rylance-led film of a few years back, is one of the multitude of adaptations of Donald E. Westlake’s cool crime character of Parker, written under the pseudonym of Richard Stark. The recently passed Robert Duvall (in his second Arrow release this month, after Falling Down) plays Earl Marcklin, who is Parker in all but name. He’s fantastic, grizzled and pointed, leading a series of amazing performances from 70s just-on-the-edge mainstays like Joe Don Baker (he may be in two Bond movies or Walking Tall’s Buford Pusser to many, but he’ll always be Mystery Science Theatre 3000’s hard-drinking Mitchell ot me) and genre starlet Karen Black. The Outfit is a crime movie with a slight smirk, a little man taking down big ones, knowing exactly what it is. On one level, it’s a small film, but that’s just fine; it’s intimate and thrilling, working in a positioned slice of devilish crime.
Westlake loved his tales of desperate men, fighting against the odds of their lives, chipping away at the powerful and those who abuse it. Whether it be the Parker flicks, such as Payback and John Boorman’s Point Blank, non-Parker stories like last winter’s No Other Choice (adapted from The Axe) or The Grifters (a stand-alone screenplay like his not-crime action Stepfather), it’s a common theme. But it’s one he was damned good at. And it shows in the intricate plotting of The Outfit, taken from the 3rd Parker novel.
Robert Duvall’s Macklin is just released from prison after a few-year stint for robbing a bank. Just as he’s out, his brother, who committed the initial crime with him, is murdered in cold blood. He’s in the crosshairs next. Why? Turns out they robbed from a local syndicate known as, you guessed it, the Outfit. Robbed of his brother and what he owes, he decides to turn the tables and take them for what he believes will set them even. His personal trail of vengeance brings in his girlfriend Bett Harrow, Karen Black, who, as always, is impossible to look away from, and fellow down-and-out criminal Jack Cody, played with the greasy likability of Joe Don Baker.
It’s a gripping little film, perfectly suited for what it is. Perhaps not as outright cool as Point Blank, or devil-may-care like Payback, it has considerable charm. The workaday efficiency Flynn gives the film works exceedingly well. The cat-and-mouse of the Outfit and the trio, along with run-ins with hitmen and his brother’s widow, and other crime folks, gets a nice beat, pulling in with simplicity. It has an easy classiness in the endeavor, moving through the increasingly large set pieces with John Flynn’s steady hand. The Outfit may not be as well-known as other 70s crime flicks (perhaps the best decade of it, or any film really), but it deserves to be seen as an unsung gem.
The Package
Arrow outfits The Outfit on a single-disc Blu-ray with a close-up of Tony Stella’s new art. It fits in a standard Blu-ray case with a reversible sleeve. One side is the original art with the new art on the flip. A booklet fits in. A cardboard O-sleeve slip cover features Stella’s art.
The Presentation
Arrow restores The Outfit from the original 35mm, and it looks great. Bruce Surtees shot the film in the glorious dark grit of the 70s, lived in with a texture. It’s a film that takes place so much at night, and nothing is lost. Nothing bleeds; the colors – what they are in the darker palette – pop. The audio is the original lossless mono. In English with English subtitles
The Features
Arrow gathers a nice collection of appreciations for The Outfit and Weslake on the whole, looking at the man’s work. I like that wide view, giving a bunch of different facets to approach the film. All but the Walter Hill interview are new.
Commentary
Critics Jedidah Aryes and Mike White have a deep and lively discussion of this film, in how it was adapted from Parker novels and differs, getting in well on the character in this and other films. A buffet of film history. Dig it.
The Man with the Getaway Face
Levi Stahl, a Westlake expert, gives everything you’d ever want to know about Donald Westerlake, his books, and his films. Quite interesting, quite detailed (27m)
Paths Not Taken
Shifting gears, Walter Chaw gives a wonderful appreciation of Outfit itself and the director John Flynn (10m)
Tapping into the Outsider
Another appreciation, here again of this film and the character of Parker, how he’s used and adapted. Alisa Marmol-Cernat and Shay Dennis, the fantastic commentators, run a Parker website. (11m)
Walter Hill (archival, 2013)
The legendary gritty director gives his appreciation of Flynn (13m)
Trailer
Image Gallery
12 promotional images
87 Color production
54 black and white
Booklet
A bound 36-page booklet. Along with the normal cast/crew/photos, it contains a few pieces. “On Parker: The Last of the Goddamned Independents” by Priscilla Page, which talks about the character, how he’s been adapted, and how it’s both timely and a throwback. A good look at the guy. “Getting the Feeling Right: The Stark World of John Flynn’s The Outfit” by Glenn Kenny gets more into the character and how this film especially gets him right. “Richard Stark’s The Outfit” by Chris D. sees how Parker falls into Westlake’s canon.
Final Thoughts
Arrow’s new release can do well to put a mostly forgotten flick in front of new eyes (like mine). Damned fine that it did. I loved this quick and dirty, no frills crime drama. Duvall is fantastic (and Westlake’s favorite Parker) and, with Baker and Black, sets a great, thrilling push. The features give a real appreciation of the character and his adaptations.