User reviews

A man called Ed Macklin (Edward Ness) is murdered at home by two hitmen from the mobster organization The Outfit. Soon his brother Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall) is released from prison and while in a motel with his girlfriend Bett Harrow (Karen Black), is shot by a hitman. He escapes and Bett discloses that she was tortured by The Outfit that wants to kill him since he robbed a bank owned by the mobsters with his brother and his friend Jack Cody (Joe Don Baker). Earl decides to revenge his brother and meets Cody to rob The Outfit members. When The Outfit leader Mailer (Robert Ryan) promises a reparation but double-crosses Earl, he decides to go further in his payback time.

"The Outfit" is a crime movie from the 70´s that has not aged. The suspenseful plot of revenge is simple but full of action with great performances of the cast. The film has no surprises or plot points but it is highly entertaining and worthwhile watching. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Quadrilha" ("The Outfit")

Years later his imprisonment, ex-con (Robert Duvall)named Macklin is released from jail. He aware his brother has been justly murdered by two inquisitive hit men under orders of crime syndicate, but they robbed a bank was owned by the mobsters. The outsider ex-con reluctantly gets involved and seeks revenge and battles corrupts killers. Then, he visits to mobster Mailer(Robert Ryan), responsible for his brother's death. Macklin is only helped by a tough thief(Joe Don Baker )and his fiancée(Karen Black), thirsting for vengeance.

This is a tough , action filled, suspenseful, and violent thriller. It's a tense and engagingly movie , ignored in 1974, but now regarded as a top film of the decade of the 70s. Solid main cast, Robert Duval, Karen Black and Joe Don Baker; furthermore veteran supporting cast helps with several known secondaries, such as Elisha Cook, Timothy Carey, Marie Windsor, Shree North, Henry Jones, Jane Greer, among others . This well directed motion picture is based upon a novel by Donald E Westlake, writing credits as Richard Stark. Atmospheric cinematography by Bruce Surtees, son of Robert Surtees, and usual cameraman of Clint Eastwood. Stirring musical score by Jerry Fielding, Sam Peckinpah's habitual. Director John Flynn who gave magnificent performances to Tommy Lee Jones (Rolling Thunder), Jan Michael Vincent , James Woods (Bestseller), here gave immense credibility to Robert Duvall . Rating : Good, the result is a strong outing of action thriller.

Jerry Fielding was a great composer. The edgy sense that follows "The Outfit" from scene to scene is helped immeasurably by his soundtrack. The music builds up, adding a lot to the tension factor. The music is economical, not flashy at all. It has a very close to the bone quality to it. So why do I start by talking about the music? Because it's just so rare that a soundtrack adds so much, it actually makes a better film.

Robert Duvall and Joe Don Baker have a very natural interplay, a sort of grimy half-drunk friendship that feels immediately true to life. Karen Black is very good as well. The plot itself is basic, with shades of "Point Blank" and various other revenge-oriented films. John Flynn is not the most imaginative director, so it's a little low on the style end of things visually. Somehow, it all comes together. Good acting, really great soundtrack, and a fast pace. You'll get into this one.

Everyone else has covered this movie well. It is indeed a tight, well-made crime drama with an excellent under-played central performance by Duval along with many very good scenes by classic character actors like Richard Jaeckel, Joanna Cassidy (who should have starred in Jim Thompson's "Hell of a Woman"), Marie Windsor, Henry Jones and many others. But the real stand-out (to my mind) is Karen Black. In the kind of roll that is generally reduced to an over-sexed gun-moll, Karen gives her character a real humanity. In one scene during a shoot out, she saves Duval and Baker by driving into and pinning against the wall the two mob men who are just about to take down our two guys. And in another scene she calls home on a pay-phone and is very chilly with her mother, but just about breaks down in asking her father if she can "come home for a while". She has never looked better in a film.

Having read all of the Richard Stark books (Richard Stark is a pseudonym for Donald Westlake), the film catches the stripped-down, hard-boiled tone of the novels and it's central character who is on a controlled journey into vengeance. In fact the film is very much like many of the great Gold Medal paperback originals published in the 1950's and 1960's. If you like this kind of story, look for authors like Peter Rabe, Charles Williams, Milton Ozaki, Lionel White and many others. "Hard-Boiled America" by Geoffrey O'Brien (recently reprinted) covers the genre and it's authors very well and is highly recommended.

I have to comment on the music and sound in the film - absolutely top notch! Many other crime films of the period would fill scenes with unnecessary music to amp up the suspense. "The Outfit" is very restrained and the music is used mostly to accent scenes and help transitions. Excellent score by Jerry Fielding. The sound work is great as well. The guns have a meaty sound without being to loud and dry. In one surprising scene, Joe Don Baker punches out a female receptionist and you hear her intake of breath, his fist whacking her jaw and the sound of her falling on the chair. All done with great finesse despite the brutality.

One previous reviewer got it right when he talked about the last part of the film descending into a Quinn/Martin television style. I think the director, John Flynn, is responsible. "The Outfit" seemed to me to be a lot like TV - with the old, wide master shoot to establish, cut to over-the-shoulder, back to the other close-up and end with the master. The director didn't have a real sense of the style of the film. I disagree that his work is like a "shaker chair". I think John Flynn directed it blandly, not simply, because he has a limited imagination. So many scenes could have benefited from a moving camera or more imaginative lighting. Flynn's work just didn't measure up to the excellent script and the great performances. Still, he didn't kill the film and even today (2004) it remains a little gem of the seventies that deserves a DVD release with extras.

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. ****

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed The outfit. Robert Duvall is great in his role as the not so likable ex con Earl Maclin, on a revenge mission against the outfit(sort of a non Italian mafia) for killing his brother. The film does this in a very different way, in that Maclin, doesn't go about the clichéd "Kill everyone" approach. Instead he demands monetary compensation and warns the outfit that he'll bleed them dry until he gets it. I really enjoyed the first two thirds of the film that deal with Maclin and his accomplice Cody(Joe Don Baker(who was also great in his role)) and how they go about robbing the outfits operations. The finale goes a bit too exploitation and OTT for my liking, which is something of a disappointments. The other problem I had was Maclins relationship with his moll(who only seems to make about 2 major appearances in the film) which i felt was underdeveloped. Overall, The Outfit is a nice little film, that deserves a bit more attention than it got.

Robert Duvall is as cool as can be in this well-shot, efficiently paced production adapted by director John Flynn from the Richard Stark (a.k.a. Donald E. Westlake) novel. Duvall plays Earl Macklin, who's just getting out of prison after having robbed a Mafia (or "Outfit") controlled bank. The Outfit has already knocked off Earls' brother Eddie (Edward Ness), so he's ripe for revenge. Hooking up with another cohort from the robbery (Joe Don Baker), he makes a nuisance of himself until The Outfit is forced to deal with him.

Under-rated action filmmaker Flynn, whose other credits include "Rolling Thunder", "Defiance", "Lock Up, "Out for Justice", and "Brainscan", keeps things moving along nicely, telling an entertaining (if familiar) story in fine fashion. The film is effectively violent without going overboard on the gore, so less squeamish viewers shouldn't be bothered. Overall, the film is fun, in the tradition of tales about bad guys who are up against WORSE guys. Of course, with this narrative, you're never in much doubt that our protagonists will manage to keep their heads and take on all comers.

Duvall and Baker make a good team, sharing a relaxed chemistry as they work to stay one step ahead of The Outfit. The always welcome Karen Black is engaging as Duvalls' lady friend, who doesn't find it that easy to stand by her man. (For one thing, in order to stay ahead, she, Baker, and Duvall have to keep moving from hotel to hotel.) But what's truly nice is that so much of the supporting cast is occupied with known actors. One might argue that some of these people don't get enough to do, but it's a joy to see them just the same: Robert Ryan as the top-dog mobster, as well as Joanna Cassidy, Timothy Carey, Richard Jaeckel, Sheree North, Marie Windsor, Jane Greer, Henry Jones, Elisha Cook Jr., Bill McKinney, Archie Moore, Roy Roberts, Emile Meyer, Roy Jenson, John Steadman, and Francis De Sales.

Flynn keeps the tale gritty and reasonably realistic, aiming it towards an effectively action and suspense packed finale. If the prospective viewer is a fan of this genre, this is a film worth catching.

Seven out of 10.

A nicely drawn revenge piece starring Robert Duvall and Joe Don Baker. The script is by the renowned Donald E. Westlake adapting one of his own "Richard Stark" novels. If you've ever read a Richard Stark novel featuring the character "Parker" then The Outfit, even though i do not think its an actual "Parker" story will seem familiar: Cool Professional thief gets the shaft from old associates and then sets about rectifying the problem. The books are intriguing for being very consistent: Westlake's protagonists aren't kill crazy revenge machines; they always want the money owed to them and in todays world of millions, billions and more, their demands often seem very reasonable; here Robert Duvall demands only $250,000. But schmucks and wise-guys are always trying to play it cheap in these novels and the films that they often become, leading to much enjoyable mayhem.

I'm also of the opinion that John Flynn had an effective no-frills directorial style. This film, along with Rolling Thunder and Best Seller, showcases his quiet formalism and knack for using simple set-ups and long takes to achieve a realistic, down to earth grit and everyday realism that works well for sleazy crime thrillers and revenge melodramas. I suppose now that he has recently passed away, his critical standing will only improve. Cheers to him. RIP John Flynn

This is a pretty awesome, simplistic '70's revenge flick, that because of its simplicity is so pleasant and cool to watch.

Guess that the movie can be described as a more serious version of the movie "Payback", in which Robert Duvall takes revenge after his brother got killed by hit-man. He decides to steal money from the mafia as a compensation and take out the persons who also put a contract on his head and that of his former partner in crime, played by Joe Don Baker. That its not as fun of course doesn't mean that the movie is worse as well. It's just different and because of that also still quite original, though no real surprises ever occur in the movie. It's mostly a formulaic genre movie but who's really complaining, since it was such a great genre and especially also those movies made in the '70's.

The movie definitely profits from the fact that it was made in the '70's; the ultimate time period for these sort of straight-forward crime movies and action-flicks. But even though its a pretty straight-forward and raw movie, it doesn't really feel as a tough one. Guess they could have made the main character do some more 'cool' and violent things, to give the movie that typical tough '70's feeling. The movie now feels more like a 'light-version', even though by every other time period standards, the movie would still be considered as a tough and bold violent movie.

The movie obviously didn't had one of the highest budgets but the movie doesn't really suffer from this. The movie is so pleasant to watch because of its simplicity and limited resources. No big explosions or chase sequences here, just some good old fashioned payback time with guns and fists. The rest of the movie looks like its supposed to. A gritty typical atmosphere, '70's camera-work from Bruce Surtees and a good balanced and flowing story.

As you would expect from a role such as this one, Robert Duvall is great. Joe Don Baker also plays a good role. I don't believe I ever saw him in a '70's flick before. It's was pretty refreshing to see him in a 'young' role. You perhaps would expect that Robert Duvall totally plays him off the screen but the two of them are a pretty good match for each other. The female character of the movie, played by Karen Black, is pretty redundant one but at least they tried something different for the genre, that just didn't worked out as it was quite supposed to.

An enjoyable typical genre-piece, with great actors in it as well.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

It is a while since I have seen this film and it might be a while till I can see it again as it is not available in the UK in any format. Nevertheless I cannot recommend it too highly to any crime film buff who enjoys the work of Don Seigel or films such as the original "Getaway" or "killing of a Chinese Bookie". If you can get it on VHS where you live or it is shown on television late at night then try and see it.

This film is from a golden era of the crime thriller. This was a never to be repeated halcyon era. Crime films were no longer saddled with worthy "crime does not pay" messages and directors were given free rein on plot. Censors were no longer cutting out sex and violence from films. But on the other hand directors had not yet broken the sex and violence volume control knob then and saturated films in them till more definitely became less ( See Kill Bill 1 & 2 ). Realism and grittiness ruled the roost. There was none of the irony and knowing attitude along with the allusions and references and homages to other films which burden contemporary thriller films.

Of course one director in particular is responsible for this trend. Tarantino has made some great films but I feel his legacy seems to have permanently hobbled the crime film genre ever since. Any good crime films made since "Reservoir Dogs" are made despite his influence not because of it.

The Outfit is so fresh in comparison with the mannerised offerings that have dominated the crime genre for the last ten years. When you watch this film you willingly suspend belief. It is a film about a not very nice person doing not very nice things to some other people who are not very nice. This does not sound very involving but the protagonist played by Robert Duval pulls you into the film with his thirst for revenge and you identify with him although he is neither a hero nor a anti-hero but just a guy trying to get back at the Outfit.

There is no glamour in this film and it is not slick and the direction is flat but these are all good things. It is not saddled with "auteurism". Perhaps this is simplistic but auteurism seems to be a process where by some French critics looked at American films, made a theory from what they had seen and then it got sold back to the Americans. In the process they unfortunately changed American directors from craftsmen into artists and the change was not all for the good.

This is a film made by a craftsman. It is not trying to scream out the director's identity with every shot. Good directors like Hitchcock have their own style in a film such that most or all of their films belong to them. Nowadays every director seems to want to be Hitchcock. Unfortunately not every director can be a Hitchcock, so the film going public have to suffer all these films where the medium suffocates the message as the director expends all his or her energies stamping their identity on the film and meanwhile plot and character development and atmosphere go to the wall.

This is not a film like that. It is bare and unadorned and low key and almost documentary in style. But these things are what makes it good. The people and the situations and the locations look real. The characters exist in a milieu of grasping little guys trying to chisel each other on the next deal. Everything is about money or personal esteem or revenge in a twilight world of losers who do not realise they are losers because they are too busy ripping off the other guy to notice. Even if this world never existed this film makes it real but it feels like a glimpse into a forgotten era.

It features a compelling central performance from Robert Duval who has complete conviction in his role. Robert Duval was never going to be a top grossing actor most likely for the silly reason he is bald but he offers total believability in this part as he does in most of his performances. He is assisted by a panoply of great character actors such as the greatly underrated Robert Ryan.

The plot is from a book by Donald Westlake who is probably second only to the great Jim Thompson as a chronicler of American pond life. It moves along at a brisk pace to an inevitable denouement but it carries you along with it. It does not digress to consider aspects of popular culture or introduce preposterous sub plots or an irrelevant back story to make the film more complex it just gets on with it.

See it if you can.

The first hour is dazzling: Robert Duvall, a bank-heist guy screwed over by the mob, decides he wants $250,000 as recompense. And like Lee Marvin in POINT BLANK, he doesn't take no for an answer. The director, John Flynn, is one of the most underrated in crime cinema on the basis of this picture and ROLLING THUNDER alone: he takes a pretty familiar man-against-the-syndicate story and shoots it with a plainness so eloquent the movie takes on the dignity of a Shaker chair. Duvall is an extraordinarily expressive hard case, especially in his brutally unsentimental scenes with his uncertain moll (a lyrical and volcanic Karen Black). Maybe it's the Donald Westlake source novel, but all the bit parts are beautifully, almost journalistically characterized (with none of the cutesy color of Elmore Leonard). The last act detours into Quinn-Martin territory, but that's not the worst thing in the world, is it? Almost everything in this movie is just incredibly articulate: check out the scene between Robert Ryan, an aging, cock-of-the-walk, but rather insecure mob boss, and the beautiful, put-together young wife (Joanna Cassidy) whom he loves but treats like dirt. A single argument about listening to a Rams game on a car radio speaks novels about their relationship in four terse lines. Flynn could give today's neo-noir directors seminars in the beauties of haiku-like plainspokenness.

The movie is good proof that even a simple gangster-movie from the 70:s is often better than most of the thrillers done today. Like so many movies from that decade, it focuses on the persons and the plot rather than the pure action. The plot in this movie is too simple and the characters are too one-dimensioned, but the movie is nicely shot and the action-parts are short and powerful. It's great to find these forgotten thrillers from the my favorite movie-decade. And then there is the actors. The cool Robert Duvall plays his character so well so I don't know if I like or dislike him. And last but not least, Jon Don Baker. He should be recognized for his work.

The immense success of "The Godfather" in 1972 brought the gangster thriller back to life with a vengeance. Previously crime thrillers had mostly been told from the perspective of the victim or the detective; those like "Double Indemnity" which presented the viewpoint of the criminals themselves had to have a moralising, "crime doesn't pay" ending. In the seventies, however, censorship was relaxed enabling films to be made which showed crime from a much more amoral position.

"The Outfit" begins with the murder of Eddie Macklin, a small-time crook. It appears that this is the payback for an incident in which Eddie, together with his brother Earl and an accomplice, Cody, robbed a bank belonging to a powerful criminal organisation known as "The Outfit". (This is presumably a reference to the Mafia, but the words "Mafia" and "Cosa Nostra" are never used; possibly this was in deference to the sensibilities of Italian-Americans, who often resented being shown as the villains in Hollywood films. Only one of the characters has an Italian surname). Earl swears revenge on the Outfit and teams up with Cody and his girlfriend, Bett, to try and relieve them of $250,000, carrying out a series of raids on the gang's operations.

The film is not a large-scale epic like "The Godfather", but rather a slick, fast-moving thriller. Thematically it has much in common with two other gangster films from the early seventies, the influential British thriller "Get Carter" from two years earlier and "The Sting" which was also made in 1973. Like "Get Carter" it deals with a gangster out to avenge the death of his brother, and like "The Sting" it deals with two minor criminals hoping for revenge against a powerful gangland boss who has murdered a friend. Its tone, however, is very different to that of "The Sting". That film was a light-hearted, highly stylised comedy in which two con-men relieve the gangster of a large sum of money by relying on their wits alone without ever resorting to violence.

Stylistically "The Outfit" owes much more to the gritty realism of "Get Carter". In my view it is not such a good film; the British film, despite its graphic depictions of violence, is unsparingly honest in its condemnation of the criminal way of life. Michael Caine's Jack Carter, for all his air of sophistication, is a poor boy made bad, morally no better than those against whom he has sworn vengeance. Robert Duvall and Joe Don Baker make Earl and Cody convincingly ruthless, but at times I felt that they came across as too sympathetic and that the film was half in love with the lifestyle it portrayed. The best character was Karen Black's Bett, a loyal young woman caught between her love for Earl and her fears for her own safety. This is not the best of the seventies crime thrillers, but it is always watchable and far from being the worst. 6/10

My old dad and I were talking about that fine actor Robert Ryan when he recommended I track down this 70's buddy / gangster / road / heist movie which contained one of Ryan's last performances as the crime boss whom Robert Duvall and his cohort Joe Don Baker take up against on account of Ryan's ordered hit on Duvall's retired brother, which clinical execution we see carried out in the opening scenes. The fact of the matter is that my father is seldom wrong with his assessment of old films and I'm pleased but not surprised to say that he got this one right too.

The reason for the murder is that said brother and Duvall previously robbed a bank in the ownership of Ryan, triggering the kingpin's wrath but while brother number one made for an easy victim, the revenge-inspired other brother Duvall, himself just out of jail, proves a harder target to hit and indeed audaciously hits back at Ryan's operations. Accompanied by old partner Baker and girlfriend Karen Black, the three employ smart hit and run tactics to needle Ryan and initially their plan is to extort $250000 from him but when Ryan welches on the deal, tries to ambush the two but in the process makes it personal by accidentally killing Black in the crossfire, it's inevitable that a final violent showdown will climax the film.

There's nothing flashy about the direction or the acting here. The action moves forward episodically as we follow Duvall and Baker on their merry, scary way and the acting is as tough and gritty as you'd expect from such an experienced cast, especially old stone-face Duvall, surely second only to Buster Keaton in that regard, saving his closest thing to a grin for the very last shot.

Uncompromising and violent it may be but although I could have done without the scenes where Duvall slaps his nervous girl friend around to cool her down, or punch an innocent shop-lady right in the face, this was a tough and compelling crime drama, one that deserves to be better known. Just ask old Bill, he won't see you wrong.

Compact and minimalist in its execution, all the style here is in the dilapidated decor that permeates the proceedings. It has the look of things fallen and past their prime, inhabited by trapped melancholic Men and Women that also have seen better days. This is a showcase of 1970's grit and the then trend of unfettered realism.

There is no aggrandizement or formulated Film stuff here. What you see is exactly what it is and what you get. John Flynn, a very underrated Director is on hand to deliver a pantheon of Noir icons and sensibilities. The Movie is deliciously drab.

The bits of Action come fast and furious and there are virtually no set ups. It is a rapid-fire display of excessive restraint, but it all works as inglorious Genre bending to fit the new aesthetic. There is a post-censorship edge in the bursts of violence, but the Dialog is straight out of Film-Noir that was straight out of the Paperbacks and Pulps.

This one also belongs in the stable of the Hard-Boiled Richard Stark novels featuring his Parker Character. Only Jim Thompson seems to have a bigger Cult following among the post War Crime Novelists.

As previous reviewer rupie astutely noted, this neo noir/revenge/heist film is a poor man's "Charley Varick". It's watchable and, at times, quite entertaining but it does not pack the emotional punch of the Don Siegel neo noir/revenge/ heist pic, made a year earlier. Maybe that's because the writer/director of this film, John Flynn, is a poor man's Don Siegel. Or maybe it's the uncharacteristically muted performance of Robert Duval who, while not phoning it in...Duval never came close to that particular acting sin...just kind of disappears into the background so that I found myself not really giving a rat's rectum about whether he lives or dies. Joe Don Baker, (who, coincidentally, was in "Varick", playing an extremely creepy assassin), by contrast gives a most engaging performance as a redneck Everyman and the film is sprinkled with fine supporting players from noirs gone by like Robert Ryan, Marie Windsor, Timothy Carey, and Elisha Cook as well as neo noirs of the 1960s/70s, like Sheree North, Joanna Cassidy Richard Jaeckel and Karen Black. Indeed, it is the plethora of fine actors all doing solid to fine work that lifts this movie above the standardization line. B minus.

PS...Favorite scene in the film was the homage to the opening of "The Killers" (the Siodmak version, not the Siegel, ironically), when the two hit men (one of whom is very well played by the director) come to the small town diner to ask the whereabouts of their intended victim.

I don't know how this film ended up on my watchlist, but I sure am glad I got around to watching it just yesterday (Dec. 5, 2020). Most likely is I read some glowing reviews on this very site about it. I also can't remember having watched all that many films starring Robert Duvall, which may have been a reason for me to find The Outfit (1973). I do remember the classic Falling Down (1993) in which Michael Douglas stars along with Duvall.

The Outfit was directed by John Flynn, adapted from a Richard Stark novel (and I'm not familiar with either). I looked up Flynn on IMDb and I found very few titles, so I excuse myself for not being acquainted with his work. Sorry, Mr. Flynn.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by this film. There was plenty of attention to detail given, yet the movie moves well and I was thinking at a given time the ending could go some completely other way than it did. I don't do spoilers, so don't worry. The characters act well. The character of Duvall doesn't strike me as the typical hero at all, but that's the point, I guess; and is he really a hero? Well...I leave that up to you.

I found there's quite a few memorable scenes in here. I liked that a lot. The director or writer could easily have 'tidied' things up by not going in these side stories, but I appreciated the details and added depth and weight (cough cough). Eventually, this move made me think of Scarface. You know, the whole villa thing? Perhaps Scarface was paying homage?

I recommend this film. It's not your typical crime film. You'd be surprised and I hope you like it.

Robert Duvall is paroled after a stretch in the jug and goes after the leader of the local Mob syndicate who put out a hit on Duvall's brother and partner-in-crime who aided him in a Wichita bank robbery. Threadbare anti-heroes formula, a second-feature crime-drama notable mainly for grafting 1930s gangster movie artifices onto a modern-day scenario. Film opens confusingly, with Duvall's arrest and prison time not made clear; also, the women of the piece are treated alternately as saps (Karen Black), as loudmouth broads (Sheree North), or as decoration (Joanna Cassidy). Duvall exudes quiet, angry determination, and Joe Don Baker has some good moments as a new partner (watch him nonchalantly belt a telephone operator on a robbery spree). Robert Ryan is the head of syndicate, and his world-weary face and manner are incredible. Solid John Flynn direction, gritty atmospherics and terrific cinematography (by Bruce Surtees), but the plot is B-movie stuff. A decent early vehicle for Robert Duvall; he's nearly the whole show here. ** from ****