The Outlaw

That's the only reason it gets 3 stars. It's pretty ok for what it was. I'll never understand why these old westerns had to be so bad though. I mean, they were made so much closer to the times when these actual people lived. You would think maybe a slight trace of understanding of the way the west actually was might have carried over. But no - in the 30's/40's/50's they mostly made movies that could only make sense in the 30's/40's/50's. There were exceptions...but this isn't one of them. For crying out loud, some of the random props on the set probably dated back to the time period they were trying to represent. There were actual people, still alive in 1943 who might have MET these characters. But no one who made that movie had ever seen a picture of Doc Holliday or William Bonney? Where did this bizarre perception of the American west ever come from? I get it, this was supposed to be a light-hearted fantasy flick that was mostly there to showcase a hot girl, not a serious historical recreation. I get that the names of these famous (REAL) people were just slapped in there for marketing purposes. But its just so dang hokey...sigh.

It's reputation precedes its importance. The Outlaw is more about infamy than good solid story telling. There's no truth here - the screenplay taking real characters from the old west and applying the plug n' play philosophy for a totally fabricated story. Why not Doc Holliday and the Moon Monsters, for all Howard Hughes cared?!? Jane Russell isn't nearly as sultry in the movie as its poster art would suggest. Walter Huston and Thomas Mitchell - both superb actors whom I otherwise adore, are waaaaay too old for their characters. Headliner, Jack Buetel is a pubescent Billy the Kid, thoroughly out of his depth. The story is a mess.Kino's Blu transfer is not much better - faded, careworn, full of dirt and scratches and blown out contrast levels. Let's get serious here - the myth of The Outlaw has a reputation that the actual movie never lives up to.

A lot of humor, a lot of cleavage, a lot gunsmoke, and an interestingly twisty ending in one of the iconic classics of the silver screen make for a quite enjoyable movie! It's a shame that the film was ravage by time before it could be digitally remasted, but great that "The Outlaw" is here for us to watch at all.There are a lot humorous gags in a story that otherwise would be rather heavy, invariably punctuated by the wa-wa of a horn. Of course, a film couldn't get away with such broad humor today, but this movie was made 78 years ago in an entirely different era, a time when theatres were showing a different film every week and the studios had to keep cranking them out every week to meet the demand.

The movie itself is probably a 3 1/2 star film. However, the print that is being shown on prime as of December 2019, supposedly "remastered" is a joke. It is so dark that you can hardly see anything. The original was a very clearly shot film but this print makes it almost unwatchable. There is a colorized version on Prime now as well. That one is nice and clear, although obviously the original was in black and white. Have to search for "the outlaw colorized" to find that one.

This movie was so bad it was hilarious! The music was a character all of its own! Soaring crescendos! Guttural growls telegraphing and emphasizing every emotional plot point! Jane Russell was terrible. The guys' relationships were the only interesting things about the movie. Pat Garrett "jealous" of his old friend Doc's and Billy's relationship! That final scene in the cabin where he practically cried when he blamed the rift between them on Billy. BROMANCES all around! Between Billy and Doc, between Doc and Pat and then Pat and Billy (sorta) in the end. Jane was a waste...even the décolletage wasn't all that.

This DVD was advertised on Amazon.com and labelled on the outside case slipcover as a disc containing the title "The Outlaw". However, the actual disc label inside the DVD case lists the following five movies: "The Outlaw"; "Tulsa"; "Fair Play" (or "Fairplay"); "Mohawk" and "The Young Land". I confirmed this by playing the DVD. The five movies were poor transfers (vintage films, of course), but all crammed onto one DVD. The DVD only cost me $3.99, so I will give it one star.

Being able to buy this in a factory-original colorized DVD is a fantastic experience. This was a great movie made even better by the very high-quality conversion effort to make it into a fabulous colorized DVD edition! The colorization matches that of the few other rare DVDs that are being released in colorization today such as "Suddenly", "Its a Wonderful Life". "Our Man Godfrey" and "The Mark of Zorrro".Only the factory-original colorizations are worth buying. A few individuals have been attempting to sell very poor quality conversions of TV and VHS colorized movies to DVD mode. Unless you buy a rare original colorized VHS yourself to watch and/or convert it yourself, you need to avoid buying any from the rascals selling low-quality conversions not worth watching. If you know what you are doing you can convert a VHS for your own personal enjoyment--just need to buy the software and hardware and a rare out-of-print colorized VHS tape. Lets hope for more factory-original conversions made available commercially which are so wonderful to watch.

This 1943 film was not worth restoring. The only reason for its restoration is because it has the sex bomb Jane Russell.The opening options of the film are chaotic and confusing, as they are in German. I found the colour option, and the film started, but with German dialogue. I closed it down and started again, finding the English hyperlink. But the film rolled in black and white. I closed it down again and started once more, choosing English, but it was impossible to select the colour option, so I allowed it to roll. However, the scriptwriting is appalling and Howard Hughes’ direction is abominable and really amateurish; it was painful to continue watching and listening, so I closed it down after ten minutes. The DVD is not worth keeping! I have dumped it in the black refuse trash bag for local collection and disposal.

DISREGARD all you may have heard about sex, nudity, exploitation, scandal, lust and half naked scenes associated with this movie. It is NOT one of the most controversial movies of all time. It's all nonsense. The movie includes a VERY short scene (blink and you will miss it) where Jane Russell leans over a bed towards Billy the Kid and shows a little cleavage. That is it.The very clever business man - Howard Hughes- did all he could to make this movie into a notorious scandal by holding back release of the film and then spending a great deal of time and money over many months promoting the movie with the most alluring and suggestive photos (for the time) of Jane Russell which he could get away with, none of which are from actual scenes in the movie. And it worked. A master stroke publicity stunt! When it was finally released people of course flocked to see it and probably wondered to themselves afterwards what had happened to all the bare flesh!So forget the nonsense and view it for what it is - a quite good and interesting B western, though one which probably has no historical accuracy. But that does not matter.Miss Russell's performance seems awkward and inexperienced, but she does look stunning and sexy. Jack Buetel is very good as Billy - cool and afraid of no one, but the acting honours must go to polished veteran Walter Houston who steals the movie as Doc Holiday.If you really want to see the movie AT ITS BEST see the COLORIZED version by Legend Films. There are some available on Amazon. The colour raises it another star! KAN

The Outlaw was recently viewable on BBC I-player and was of reasonable picture quality. I enjoyed the film and ordered a secondhand copy of this (Edition 30 Oct 2006). The picture quality looked worse than an average VHS dupe tape...very lacking in sharpness and contrast...no subtitles either. Avoid

As the saying goes, there are two good reasons for watching this film: Jane Russell! ;-)I've seen numerous bad reviews of this film but I find it most enjoyable with may good points. It clearly sets out to be a comedy Western but fortunately avoids the inclusion of an unfunny comedy sidekick character who so often mars supposed comedies of this period. All the lead characters (including Rio's aunt) are immensly likeable and in particular Walter Huston has some good dialogue and is a pleasure to watch. This film is unusual for a Western in that it has no real "baddie" charaters (other than a few indians who appear only briefly and in the distance).There are numerous poor copies of this film around, by far the best B&W version appears to be that released by the Roan group. However there is now available a remastered and colourised version which has excellent picture quality. The colouring has been masterfully done and is muted and appropriate and significantly benefits the film since unlike film noir which work well in B&W most of this film is shot in harsh outdoor lighting conditions.Highly recommended.

Extremely Dated Film.Only for hardcore Howard Hughes Fans.