The Outlaw

Starring: Jack Beutel, Jane Russell Director: Howard Hawks, Howard Hughes Dvd Release: 26th October, 1999 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Black & White, NTSC, Region 0 Encoding

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The Outlaw is a 1943 Western movie, starring Jack Buetel & Jane Russell, directed by Howard Hughes. Buetel plays Billy the Kid in a classic western story. Although the movie was completed in 1941, it was only released to a limited showing two years later. It didnt see a general release until 1946. The delay was a result of Hughes defying the Hays Code, which set the standard of morally acceptable content in motion pictures. By showcasing Jane Russells ample cleavage in both the movie & the poster artwork, The Outlaw became one of the most controversial pictures of its time. The Outlaw on imdb .com   Posters Of The Outlaw

Having recently seen the 2004 film THE AVIATOR about millionaire aircraft designer Howard Hughes, I was compelled to see THE OUTLAW, a major motion picture directed by Hughes in 1941. My interest was purely intellectual, mind you. It had nothing to do with the directors fixation on the cleavage & opulent ... well, you know ... of its 19-year old starlet, Jane Russell, which sparked a spirited battle between Hughes & the censors of the Production Code Administration, delayed the films release until 1943 , & resulted in subsequent edits & re-releases in 1946 & 1950. Hughes should have stuck with building airplanes.

THE OUTLAW may be a classic, but that doesnt prevent it from also being patently ridiculous. It brings together the outlaw/bad boy Billy the Kid , lawman Pat Garrett , & dentist/gambler/gunfighter Doc Holliday in New Mexico in the summer of 1881. Here, the Kid & Holliday get chummy despite quarreling over a horse & Docs petulant girlfriend, Rio . In the meantime, Sheriff Pat becomes jealous that his heretofore good friend Holliday is spending so much time with the notorious outlaw Billy, whom Garrett would just as soon arrest or shoot dead for fames sake. After being chased by the de rigueur band of hostile Native Americans, the four principals - six, if you count Janes ... well, you know - gather round for a final confrontation. Here, Garretts attempt to disarm Billy is so dopey & so awkwardly choreographed with unbelievably bad dialogue that it virtually reduces this sagebrush drama to farce. It doesnt help that Buetels the Kid occasionally comes across as a young & sweet tempered Jimmy Stewart - someone youd be thrilled to have your teenage daughter marry.

Hollywood never shirks from playing fast & loose with historical fact. So, while viewing THE OUTLAW, one should keep in mind that:

1. Pat Garrett did indeed gun down Billy the Kid in July 1881. 2. Theres no evidence that either Garrett or Billy ever met Doc Holliday. 3. Holliday died in his bed of tuberculosis in Glenwood Springs, CO on November 8, 1887.

After seeing this film, I was amazed that Hughes managed to squeeze perhaps 30 minutes of substance into 1 hour & 58 minutes, & that Janes ... well, you know ... caused such a scandal in shots that were positively innocuous by todays standards. At one point, after Rio falls into a pond, Hughes declined the opportunity to display Russell in full-frontal, wet T-shirt glory. I was crushed, but believe in my heart that Howard considered the option for a brief moment at least.

If I had to do it all over again, I wouldnt waste my time with this nonsense. I am, however, awarding two stars - one to each of Janes ... well, you know.

Jane Russell in the 1940s Jane Russell is an American actress. She was born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell in Bemidji, Minnesota, the only daughter of Roy William Russell & Geraldine Jacobi. Her four younger brothers are Thomas Ferris Russell, Kenneth Steven Russell, James Hyatt Russell & Wallace Jay Russell. Her parents were both born in North Dakota. Three of her grandparents were born in Canada, while her paternal grandmother was born in Germany. Her parents married in 1917. Her father was a former commissioned 1st Lieutenant in the US Army & her mother was a former actress with a road troupe. When Jane was a child they moved temporarily to Canada, then moved to the San Fernando Valley of Southern California. They lived in Burbank in 1930 & her father worked as an office manager at a soap manufacturing plant. Janes mother arranged for her to take piano lessons. In addition to music, she was interested in drama & participated in stage productions at Van Nuys High School. Her early ambition was to be a designer of some kind. Posters Of Jane Russell

Editors Choice: Johnny Reno, The Outlaw, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Western, View DVDology

Howard Hawks was one of the more critically acclaimed directors of the Classic Hollywood Era. Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday - screwball comedy film. Hawks also produced The Thing From Another World, considered as one of the best science fiction films from the 1950s. It is also widely thought that he actually directed it, although the sole directors credit went to Christian Nyby. Hawks was notorious for fabricating stories about the movie business, usually in a way which inflated his already considerable contributions to it. One such story has it that Hawks told Ernest Hemingway that he could make a good movie out of the worst thing that Hemingway had ever written, at which point Hemingway challenged him to make a movie out of To Have & Have Not. Hawks film, which used a screenplay adapted by William Faulkner, may not be a classic, but it includes a number of memorable scenes, including Bacall s exercise in teaching Bogart how to whistle. Posters Of Rio Lobo

Editors Choice: Rio Lobo, El Dorado, His Girl Friday, Marilyn Monroe, Rio Bravo, The Outlaw, I Was A Male War Bride, Red River, View DVDology

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