DVD/Movie Review: The Outlaw

 

The Outlaw is a 1943 western directed by Howard Hughes and starring Jane Russell, Jack Buetel, Walter Huston, and Thomas Mitchell. The movie is what passes for a comedy in the 1940s. It is a fictional story involving the character of Billy The Kid, played by Jack Buetel. He is being pursued by lawman Pat Garrett, played by Thomas Mitchell, and Doc Holliday (played by Huston) but ends up shacking up with Garrett's girlfriend, Rio, played by Jane Russell. Russell, who grew up in the Midwest (in a very small town in Minnesota), was passed off as being Mexican in the movie. The comedy (I guess) comes in when pretty much all the male characters are much more interested in a horse than they are in Jane Russell. Of course, the movie starred Russell in her heyday, and the movie was, in its time, a bit controversial in the outfits that they put her in to show off how insanely hot she was back then. Of course, by today's standards, it is nothing, but back in 1943, it was a bit risque (although they never showed as much of her in the actual movie as they did on the posters for the movie). 

Overall, it was probably a decent movie for its time, but it definitely does not hold up well nearly 80 years later. There are several versions of the movie on DVD and even a Blu-Ray copy. The one I have just has the black-and-white version with no extras. There are colorized versions out there, as well as some that have a commentary track by Russell, so you have to pay attention to what version you are getting if you are looking for the extras.