Cheap The Outlaw (DVD) (Jack Buetel, Jane Russell, Thomas Mitchell) (Howard Hawks, Howard Hughes) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Outlaw

It's Billy, you fool
Why this movie isn't one of the top five gay/camp movies of all time I do not know. Jane Russell is window dressing for a barely sublimated love triangle of Pat Garrett, Doc Holiday, and Billy the Kid. Before Billy's horse is tied securely Doc invites Billy to spend the night with him in the Lincoln hotel. By then end of the movie Pat has killed Doc in a rage of jealousy over Billy. In between, Billy and Pat both pick the horse over Jane, and Billy ties her up s&m style, then cuts her down. Reviewers knock the acting here, but it's not bad considering the plot is totally surreal. Who could understand what was going on. Did Howard Hughes??? More likely, this movie is a gazillionaire's home movie fantasy. With all his work on the Spruce Goose, Mr. Hughes had little time in his life for Freud or Jung. Truely amazing and worth more than one watch.

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Not bad, but certainly not history, for those in doubt

This was the famous Howard Hughes's attempt to break into Hollywood. He's the guy who built The Hughes Took Company into an empire, flew air racers, built the "Spruce Goose", Hughes Air West, and a bunch of other accomplishments. He died a recluse who was obsessed with germs. He was the stuff that fables are made of. Jane Russell was one of his accomplishments.

The movie took seven years, they say, to be released--after it was completed. Hughes directed it. The male lead, Jack Beutel, who played Billy the Kid, was under contract to Hughes, where he languished. Hughes paid him, month after month, but never used him in any other film. He is somewhat reminiscent, in looks, of Audey Murphy (the most decorated soldier in WWII, who played himself in a film.) He reminds me of Murphy.

The film depicted a highly fictional relationship between Doc Holliday and Billy (The Kid) Bonney, which is the product of the writer's fevered imagination. Although they were contemporaries, there is no evidence that they ever met. The Kid was a product of the Lincoln County wars (New Mexico), while Holliday was an acquaintance of Wyatt Earp, who came West from Dodge City, Kansas, to Tombstone, Arizona. Probably Earp nor
Holliday ever met Garrett or Billy in their lives. Holliday is played by Walter Huston in the film. The part of Pat Garrett (who actually killed the Kid, and wrote Billy's life story from stories he told him around the camp fire and things they experienced together--a copy of which I have, and have reviewed here) was played by Thomas Mitchell, who, although he played the part impeccably, was perhaps the most dubious job of casting in the film. The contender for that honor would have to be Huston as Holliday. Both highly unlikely candidates for those parts if you are at all interested in historical accuracy or even slight physical resemblance.

In short, this has no resemblance to historical fact, although that is no drawback to the story's entertainment value. The only cast member to gain from the film would have to be Jane Russell, who played a few more parts before her career petered out. Nothing of consequence, I think. Huston and Mitchell were already made, and Beutel withered on the vine. Hughes' days as a director were definitely numbered.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

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Just Short of the Mark
There's no need to recap the plot's synopsis, therefore I'll focus the bulk of my review on the DVD itself, since this is the information I look for in Amazon reviews of items of this type.
This is the edition released by The Roan Group. The disk does fulfill its promise of a 117 minute running time, including credits. A running time of two hours is mentioned in the trailer, but I don't know that I'd call this an accurate indication of the existence of a more complete version; 117 minutes is awfully close to 120. I don't see any evidence of any of the extras mentioned in Amazon's editorial, including the letterboxing of credits, although I had no trouble reading them all on my TV set. I suspect the reviewer is referring to a different release, although I can't imagine which one.
Roan mastered this release from what must have been a very high-quality print because this disk shows very few signs of age. The sound is fine--very clear with no need of cranking (often the case on older films, in my experience). The movie is an entertaining male-bonding romp with great performances all around and Miss Russell looks fabulous. Frankly, there wasn't a boring moment in the whole film--no complaints there. Another nice touch is its keep case; I'm really annoyed with the cheesy snap cases in which so many new releases are packaged.
However, the lack of extras is very disappointing, even for a budget release. One has the option to view the trailer or tbe film by means of a barely-visible prompt, PERIOD. There's no menu, so one can't navigate the specific chapters (although they're numbered on the back cover of the case), and there are no subtitles ("Japanese?"). There's NOTHING but the movie and the trailer. At least one can fast-forward and reverse; I understand that one can't do this on some disks.
Despite this movie's being lots of fun, it rates fewer stars for being a little too bare-bones. 3.5 stars would be perfect but since I can't assign halves, I decided to err on the side of generosity based on its being a really good transfer of an entertaining film. A shame Roan couldn't go the extra mile; so little more is needed.