"The Outfit" is a pretty dumb title for a decent gangster flick about heists, murder, and revenge. It was released in 1974, part of a spate of at least semi-realistic movies about small-time crooks, something like "The Getaway" and, before that, "The Asphalt Jungle", and, perhaps the best of the lot, "Straight Time".
In this case, Duvall's brother is knocked off by the evil Mr. Big, Robert Ryan. Duvall enlists the help of his friend, Joe Don Baker, in a fine performance, in an attempt to get some money out of Ryan. But Ryan and his mob set up Duvall. There is a shoot out, of course, and Duvall and Baker then set out to exterminate Ryan in his mansion.
There are many smaller roles in which the actors were probably called in for a day or two of work. Among them are familiar names and faces -- Bill McKinney, Sheree North, Jane Greer, Henry Jones. Richard Jaekel shows up too, as an expert car mechanic and reliable provider of hot cars who just can't make a souped-up VW Beetle sound like anything other than a turbo jet. I don't recall any high speed pursuits or vesuvian fireballs. There IS an explosion, staged to divert attention, but it only goes BANG and a door flies open. That's it. How nice.
Not a masterpiece, but a diverting piece of film making. Today, that's a high compliment.
In this case, Duvall's brother is knocked off by the evil Mr. Big, Robert Ryan. Duvall enlists the help of his friend, Joe Don Baker, in a fine performance, in an attempt to get some money out of Ryan. But Ryan and his mob set up Duvall. There is a shoot out, of course, and Duvall and Baker then set out to exterminate Ryan in his mansion.
There are many smaller roles in which the actors were probably called in for a day or two of work. Among them are familiar names and faces -- Bill McKinney, Sheree North, Jane Greer, Henry Jones. Richard Jaekel shows up too, as an expert car mechanic and reliable provider of hot cars who just can't make a souped-up VW Beetle sound like anything other than a turbo jet. I don't recall any high speed pursuits or vesuvian fireballs. There IS an explosion, staged to divert attention, but it only goes BANG and a door flies open. That's it. How nice.
Not a masterpiece, but a diverting piece of film making. Today, that's a high compliment.