Rent The Outfit (1973)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Before he embarked on a roaring rampage of revenge with 1977's Rolling Thunder, director John Flynn made The Outfit, a hard-boiled thriller par excellence, based on a novel by Richard Stark (aka Donald E. Westlake), one of the greatest crime writers who ever lived. Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall, The Godfather) is a professional thief. Once upon a time, he and his brother Eddie robbed a bank together. Unfortunately, that bank was owned by criminal syndicate "The Outfit". Now Eddie is dead and it looks like Earl is next. But "The Outfit" hasn't counted on Earl's iron will. Released from a 27-month stretch in prison, Earl wants to get even and, with girlfriend Bett (Karen Black, Five Easy Pieces) and best friend Cody (Joe Don Baker, Walking Tall), he begins a private war to avenge the death of his brother. The entire criminal underworld is about to learn an unforgettable lesson: never mess with Earl Macklin. With a score by Peckinpah regular Jerry Fielding, gritty cinematography by Bruce Surtees (The Shootist), and a veritable rogues gallery of classic character actors including Robert Ryan (The Wild Bunch), Timothy Carey (The Killing), Richard Jaeckel (The Dirty Dozen), and Bill McKinney (Deliverance), The Outfit is as tough, taut, and relentless as its protagonist. - Actors:
- Robert Duvall, Karen Black, Joe Don Baker, Robert Ryan, Timothy Carey, Richard Jaeckel, Sheree North, Felice Orlandi, Marie Windsor, Jane Greer, Henry Jones, Joanna Cassidy, Tom Reese, Elisha Cook Jr., Bill McKinney, Anita O'Day, Archie Moore, Tony Young, Roland La Starza, Edward Ness
- Directors:
- John Flynn
- Producers:
- Carter DeHaven
- Writers:
- Donald E. Westlake, John Flynn
- Aka:
- The Good Guys Always Win
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama, Thrillers
- Collections:
- People of the Pictures, Remembering - A Special Spring Tribute: Part One
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 27/07/2026
- Run Time:
- 105 minutes
- Languages:
- English Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Brand new audio commentary by critic and author Jedidiah Ayres and film critic Mike White of The Projection Booth Podcast
- The Man With the Getaway Face, a brand new appreciation of author Donald E. Westlake (aka Richard Stark) by Westlake expert Levi Stahl
- Paths Not Taken, a brand new appreciation of the film by critic Walter Chaw
- Tapping into the Outsider, a brand new featurette on The Outfit and the Parker novels by Alissa Marmol-Cernat and Shay Dennis, creators of Tough Business: A Parker Site
- Archival interview with filmmaker Walter Hill on director John Flynn
- Theatrical trailer
- Image galleries
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Reviews (1) of The Outfit
Fit for Purpose - The Outfit review by griggs
There’s a reason they call it The Outfit. Not just the mob — the whole thing feels like a suit cut from the same cloth: functional, no-nonsense, and unlikely to turn heads at a party.
John Flynn keeps things flat and airless on purpose. Nobody talks more than they have to, nobody emotes unless cornered, and the film moves with the grim efficiency of men treating crime like shift work. Even so, it somehow feels longer than it is.
The real pleasure is the cast. Duvall leads on paper, but Robert Ryan is the noir sun around which the whole film gravitates. The supporting faces are a roll-call of classic noir, and fans will clock each arrival with quiet glee. Baker and Black bring some late-period bite, but the film belongs to an older, colder generation who knew exactly how this sort of thing was done.
Solid. Unshowy. Exactly what it says on the tin.