It is a performances centric movie

Best movie of this year hands down!

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This is true heroic gentleman gangster stuff. An eye for an eye. You mess with them, they will mess with you, no matter who you are. It has great guts and glory. Although I am certainly not a fan of supporting violence in movies, Robert Duvall and Joe Don Baker play gentleman gangsters, which make the portrayed violence look almost heroic. They only kill when they have to. And so they do in this story where Robert Duvall's brother got killed by a mob boss. The revenge for his brother's death is what this movie is all about. Honor his brother by killing the crime gang responsible.Has Tarantino influences written all over it and he enjoyed it alot being a kid, so he sayed. Especially one scene reminded me of "Pulp Fiction". At Imdb "The Outfit" is listed as one of 10 forgotten classics of the seventies. If one looks at what others who saw this flick liked too, then you are in for a real treat:"Charley Varrick" is mentioned, which is another Tarantino favorite. "Prime Cut" and "Point Blank" are mentioned too. These are all true macho crime classics, wherein men are real MEN. Either this gun stomping flick has got everything in it others have copied since, or it is a copycat itself. Anyhow, lots of scenes do bring to mind so many other crime classics made since then...Acting, Story and Supense are just Excellent ! This is how crime flicks aught to be made. Robert Duvall and Joe Don Baker carry this movie with bravoure and machismo. They are true modern cowboys. Their way of life is the way of the GUN. Their guns are sacred: "Dont ever touch my gun.." screams Robert Duvall to his girlfriend, the ONLY time in the movie he raises his voice. Mr. Cool himself.At a trivia end note: Sound quality is pretty horrific. But so was sound in almost all early seventies movies. Bass sound basically just didnt excist back then. Unless you can see a remastered pumped up blu ray version with enhanced sound and picture quality, you will have to settle with rather meager quality of picture and sound. That reminds me of the following: once "The Godfather" was restored, director Francis Ford Coppola was astounded by the gorgeous sound and picture quality, it was better then he could have ever imagined.The original Godfather was really in terrible shape technically speaking. But all of this is just a long introduction to explain the only fault with "The Outfit": it's picture and sound quality. Maybe you wont even notice it, if you dont care about that. It is rather superficial and doesnt really matter though, because the core of this movie is rock solid.

They may have changed his name to Macklin, but he's Parker all the way (Parker of Donald Westlake's crime novels). And Robert Duvall plays him as a real son-of-a-"b"; cold as ice, calculating and wielding the massive cojones to go against the mob for revenge. He's like a shark, unwavering in his determination. He's not the face I conjure for this character, but hell if he doesn't pull it off. Overall, THE OUTFIT is a rock-solid crime movie. Love the bass groove score, the gorgeous Joanna Cassidy, and the presence of Joe Don Baker, who makes an ace wingman. He's twice offered a pass on Parker's scheme, but he still stays with the plan. I really like him in this movie. And what really surprised me is the smile on my face as the end credits rolled. It's not every day (ever) you see that kind of ending on such a hard-boiled tough bastard movie. 8/10

Outfit, The (1973) *** (out of 4) Nice crime-thriller has Robert Duvall playing the small-time criminal Macklin (Robert Duvall) who is released from prison and learns that his brother has been killed by an outfit. Macklin just avoids being killed by a hit but learns that a bank he, his brother and another man (Joe Don Baker) robbed was owned by this outfit. It turns out one (Robert Ryan) put a hit out on all of them so Duvall and Baker decide to rob them until the outfit agrees to pay them $250,000 to leave them alone. THE OUTFIT certainly doesn't offer anything we haven't seen in countless crime pictures but at the same time it's simply so exciting that you can't help not to enjoy it. Of course the main draw to a crime picture like this is for the performances of both Duvall and Baker. In a lot of ways this is a buddy picture since the two men obviously care a lot for one another and it's always fun for the viewing when our two heroes are kicking back and enjoying all the damage that they're doing. There are several heist scenes in the picture where Duvall and Baker must enter all sorts of dangerous situations to try and walk away with cash. I think a lot of people are going to be reminded of THE GETAWAY and this here is just as gritty and rough. The violence in the film is pretty graphic but it still remains within that 70s PG limit. We get countless shootings, a few broken bottles to faces and of course we have the at the type familiar scene of women getting knocked out by men. As you'd expect, Duvall turns in a wonderful performance simply because he really isn't the action or anti-hero type. When you think of Duvall you certainly don't picture him in a movie like this but he exploits every bit of energy out of the screenplay and in the end he's quite believable in the role. Baker is a lot fun as well as it's obvious he's having a blast playing this tough role as he always does. Karen Black plays Duvall's girl and she too delivers the same type of winning performance you expect from her. RObert Ryan is delightfully evil as the main gangster who double crosses the boys and becomes their main target. The supporting cast includes familiar faces like Jane Geer, Elisha Cook, Timothy Carey and Marie Windsor. The screenplay is pretty simple in terms of story structure but it's still good enough to create some great atmosphere and it certainly lets the actors do their thing. The movie is pretty much what you'd expect out of the good 70s crime flick so fans of the genre will certainly want to check it out.

Upon reading the popular novel " The Outfit " by Don Westlake, one can well imagine how a movie of the same name would look like. That book later became the foundation for a movie directed by John Flynn. With a cast which includes Robert Duvall and Joe Don Baker, the film is a great adaptation of the novel, so much so it's made for several remakes. The last one was with Mel Gibson and 'Payback.' Duvall plays Macklin one of two brothers who unwittingly rob a small town bank belonging to the Mob or Outfit. He goes to prison for 2 years, while the outfit presided by Mr. Mailer (Robert Ryan) kills Duvall's brother. Released from prison, Macklin vows revenge and is though insane for thinking he can go up against the outfit and win. However, the movie is interesting to watch as each dramatic scene develops into a more intense and exciting story. A fine supporting cast helps to insure it's success. Members included Richard Jaeckel, Elisha Cook Jr., Roy Jenson, Henry Jones and Karen Black. This is one of those movies which mirrors the novel and improves with age. Easilly recommended for Duvall and Baker fans as the two make for a rough and tumble team. ****