The Outside Man (1972) Un homme est mort (original title)

Director:

Jacques Deray

Writers:

Jean-Claude Carrière (original scenario) &
Jacques Deray (original scenario) ...
(more)

Release Date:

January 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Jean-Louis Trintignant plays a French contract assassin hired by a Los Angeles crime family, ostensibly to perform a hit on some other mafia target...

Plot Keywords:

Mob | Assassin | Culver City California | Hitman | Coin Operated Television Set

Cast

Jean-Louis Trintignant	...	Lucien Bellon
Ann-Margret	...	Nancy Robson
Roy Scheider	...	Lenny
Angie Dickinson	...	Jackie Kovacs
Georgia Engel	...	Mrs. Barnes
Felice Orlandi	...	Anderson
Carlo De Mejo	...	Karl
Michel Constantin	...	Antoine
Umberto Orsini	...	Alex
Carmen Argenziano	...	Second Hawk
Rico Cattani	...	Butler
Ted de Corsia	...	Victor
Edward Greenberg	...	Hitchhiker
Philippa Harris	...	Salesgirl
Jackie Earle Haley	...	Eric
John Hillerman	...	Department store manager
Jon Korkes	...	First Hawk
Connie Kreski	...	Rosie
Ben Piazza	...	Desk clerk
Alex Rocco	...	Miller
Talia Shire	...	Make-up girl
Lionel Vitrant	...	Paul
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hank Stohl	...	Detective (uncredited)

Directed by
Jacques Deray

Writing credits
Jean-Claude Carrière		(original scenario) &
Jacques Deray		(original scenario) &
Ian McLellan Hunter		(original scenario)

Produced by
Jacques Bar	....	producer

Original Music by
Michel Legrand

Cinematography by
Silvano Ippoliti
Terry K. Meade

Film Editing by
William K. Chulack
Henri Lanoë

Casting by
Mike Fenton
Fred Roos

Production Design by
Harold Michelson

Art Direction by
Kenneth A. Reid

Makeup Department
Cherie	....	hair stylist
Robert Norin	....	makeup supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert Enrietto	....	assistant director
Georges Pellegrin	....	assistant director
R. Robert Rosenbaum	....	assistant director

Art Department
Marvin March	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Jacques Maumont	....	sound
Richard Raguse	....	sound

Stunts
Fred Carson	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Jean Chiabaut	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Gérald H. Alpert	....	costume supervisor
Eilish Zebrasky	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Monique André	....	assistant: editor

Other crew
Marie-Noëlle Barre	....	script supervisor
Frawley Becker	....	dialogue coach
Marc Monnet	....	production assistant
Annie Rozier	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Cité Films
• General Production Company
• Les Productions Artistes Associés
• Mondial Televisione Film

Distributors

• United Artists (1973) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Divisa Home Video (2007) (Spain) (DVD)
• KinoVista (2007) (Russia) (TV)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1993) (USA) (VHS) (as "The Outside Man")
• Warner Home Video (198?) (Germany) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Un homme est mort" - Italy (original title)
"A Man Is Dead" - International (English title) (literal title)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

Italy | France | USA

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Beverly Hilton Hotel - 9876 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, California, USA

Company:

Cité Films

Trivia:

According to Jackie Earle Haley, when Jean-Louis Trintignant slaps him in the face, Trintignant really slapped him hard. Two takes were filmed and Trintignant slapped for real both times.

Movie Connections:

Features "Star Trek: Tomorrow Is Yesterday (#1.19)" (1967)

Ann-Margret in a plunging neckline--need I say more?

"The Outside Man" is one of those films that I would classify as a "guilty pleasure." I first saw it as a child of eleven on the second half of a double bill with "Little Big Man" at a retro drive-in in 1974. This is exactly the type of film my parents would have walked out on in fifteen minutes, since my Dad is a strict law-and-order type and likes films where there are good guys and bad guys and the good guys win. Lucky for me, this film played FIRST, so they were stuck sitting through it. I, for one, loved it because it was fast-paced and action-packed (and very violent) and couldn't have cared less that everyone in it was a crook. (I still don't.) It's one of my favorite films of the '70's and remains one I watch again and again.

"The Outside Man"'s plot is simple: A French hit man (Jean-Louis Trantignant) travels to Los Angeles to kill a mobster. Upon completion of his assignment, he returns to his hotel to find he has been checked out and that his belongings (wallet and passport included) are gone. Upon leaving the hotel, he is ambushed by an American assassin (played with icy menace by Roy Scheider, a million miles from his "Jaws" sheriff), who has obviously been hired to kill him. After an exciting chase through the streets of L.A., and a brief respite in the apartment of a dippy widow and her smart-aleck son ("The Mary Tyler Moore Show"'s Georgia Engel and a very young Jackie Earle Haley), he contacts his boss and is told to find the boss's ex-moll Nancy Robson (Ann-Margret). He meets her in a topless bar and she agrees to help him get the hell out of Dodge. This sets up a series of chases and shootouts as she tries to help him leave town while he dodges Scheider's bullets.

Sure, this film is at times as trashy as it sounds. But it's also highly entertaining and has a top cast which also includes Angie Dickinson in the small role of the gangster's widow. In spite of the fact that he's playing a cold-blooded killer, Trantignant actually elicits a certain amount of audience sympathy and the mostly silent Scheider (who probably has five lines of dialog, total) is a hair-raising villain. Dickinson is appropriately shady and Engel at times very funny (and touching) as the victimized housewife. And then there's the eye-popping Ann-Margret, who I believe filmed this before her near-fatal Vegas accident: Her plunging neckline, blond wig and mini-dresses alone are worth the price of rental. Add at least two exciting extended chase sequences and a uniquely filmed shootout in a mortuary (where the mobster has been embalmed in a sitting position, cigar in hand) and you have a highly entertaining melodrama in which everyone eventually gets their comeuppance.

All-in-all, "The Outside Man" is a highly entertaining film lark from an era where films were actually distinguishable from each other, and didn't all look like yesterday's recycled trash. *** (out of *****)