Let's be realistic.

Just what I expected

Good movie but grossly overrated

Better Late Then Never

Although director Martin Ritt and actor Paul Newman had collaborated successfully on "Hud," "Hombre," and several earlier films, their ill-advised remake of Kurosawa's classic, "Rashomon," misfired. Michael Kanin's screenplay retained the outline of the Japanese film, but moved the locale to the American Old West. Three men at a deserted railroad station discuss a recent incident between a Mexican outlaw and a genteel Southern couple, while they await a late-arriving train. A rape and a death had occurred, but the facts differ vastly among the four versions told by the participants and an observer.Ritt assembled a stellar cast that included not only Newman, but Claire Bloom, Laurence Harvey, Edward G. Robinson, William Shatner, Howard Da Silva, and Paul Fix. Unfortunately, only Robinson excels as a con man waiting with Shatner and Da Silva for the train. A hammy Newman overplays the outlaw, Carrasco, with a thick Frito-Bandito accent in a role better suited for Anthony Quinn. Claire Bloom, whose perfect make-up never fails her in the desert heat, gives a stagy performance as though auditioning for the part of Blanche DuBois. Harvey and Shatner are, well, Harvey and Shatner, wooden. Shatner in particular, plays the preacher, who intones every line as though imparting Great Words of Wisdom from on high. Aided in no small part by Shatner, "The Outrage" plods along sluggishly and makes the relatively short running time seem endless.The film's greatest asset is James Wong Howe's elegant Oscar-worthy black-and-white cinematography. Howe's carefully composed shots of landscapes, textures, and faces are worthy of being framed and hung alongside the work of great Western photographers. However, beyond the cinematography, a spare score by Alex North, and Robinson's lively performance, "The Outrage" is slow ponderous going. Die-hard Newman fans will want to make a campy double feature of this with "The Silver Chalice," but serious students of Kurosawa best return to the original masterpiece.

A disillusioned preacher (William Shatner) is abandoning Silver Gulch after a trial of a despicable crime. A scruffy prospector (Howard Da Silva) finds him waiting at train station. A con man (Edward G. Robinson) sleeping there join them at recounting the events leading to the trial. Mexican bandit Juan Carrasco (Paul Newman)'s encounter with husband Wakefield (Laurence Harvey) and wife Nina (Claire Bloom) had ended with the husband's death and the raping of the wife. The couple was leaving the post war south. An old Indian shaman (Paul Fix) performs a séance at the trial using the spirit of the dead man.It's a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa's iconic Rashômon in the old west. This is definitely not the traditional western which probably confused some people at the time. It just happens to take place in the old west. Paul Newman is almost unrecognizable as a Mexican bandit. He's pushed to the limit with such a vast range of an unlikely role. The acting is all first rate. This is an engaging film throughout. The slapstick humor and the mannerisms in the last act doesn't quite fit. Overall, it's a good attempt at a remake. Even Newman's brownface didn't put me off.

Talky, Claustrophobic, Message Western, a Who-Done-It that is a Remake of a Kurosawa Film from 1950 (Rashomon). If you haven't seen it, don't Fret, only Film School Geeks and Residents of Japan have had the Pleasure. It is said that it is one of the All-Time Greats.That will Never be said of this one. An Intellectual's Movie that is Thoughtful, but Plodding, and by the time the Same Story is told for the Fourth Time, you may want some Relief. You get it here by turning a Rape/Murder Story into Something of a Slapstick Ending.Another Thing much Talked About, from those who Talk About such Things, is the Debatable Miscasting of Paul Newman as a Bandido. An Argument could be made either way. This is just too Stagy to Matter that much and there is Dialog and more Dialog and still more Dialog, all essentially telling the same Thing from a Different Perspective. That's the Whole Point of the Movie. In case you didn't Get It the first two Times the Scenario is Replayed.The Film has a Dark and Brooding look and the Actors all turn things Up a Notch, and some say Newman turns it up more than one. Overall it is Certainly Off-Beat, and Finely Made, but has a few Missteps that Add to the Delirium and at Times the Movie moves with too much Weight and Drags. Interesting, to say the Least, but Occasionally Boring and the Ending is a Letdown, although it does have a Baby(?).

Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" Americanized and moved to the Old West. A preacher, a con-man, and an old-timer rehash the recent conviction of a notorious Mexican bandit, deemed guilty of killing a newlywed traveler and raping his wife. Gimmick of the differing accounts preceding the crime provides the only interest; the characters, the literate but prosy dialogue, and the over-worked performance of a miscast Paul Newman as the mustachioed bandito are each in their own way utterly false. James Wong Howe's striking black-and-white cinematography provides an appropriately moody feel, and Alex North delivers yet another of his fabulous music scores, but the picture isn't intrinsically exciting--it alienates the audience. The various brutalities are gripping, though rather uncomfortable to watch (due to director Martin Ritt's sensationalist staging), while the final summation is muddled and unsatisfying. *1/2 from ****