The Outside Man (1972)

French hitman Bellon (Trintignant) has been hired by mobsters to kill Victor, a rival mobster. Bellon travels to Victor's home in Los Angeles and shoots him. When Bellon tries to flee the ... See full summary »

Director:

Jacques Deray

Writers:

Jean-Claude Carrière (screenplay), Jacques Deray (screenplay)

Stars:

Jean-Louis Trintignant, Ann-Margret, Roy Scheider

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

French hitman Bellon (Trintignant) has been hired by mobsters to kill Victor, a rival mobster. Bellon travels to Victor's home in Los Angeles and shoots him. When Bellon tries to flee the country, he discovers that his passport and luggage have been stolen, and that another hit man named Lenny (Scheider) has been hired to kill him.

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Plot Keywords:

pool table | campari | cigar smoking | mob | assassin | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

Italy France USA

Language:

French English

Release Date:

January 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Outside Man

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cité Films,General Production Company,Les Productions Artistes Associés

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

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.

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Alternate Versions

An "X" Rated addition used for European release contains 10 additional minutes, most notably in the scene where Jean Louis Trintignant meets Ann Margret at the downtown LA nightclub. The European version contains full frontal nudity throughout the scene. This "X" rated version screened in Los Angeles at the American Cinematheque in 1998 and was mistakenly screened as the "PG" version on Showtime Networks in 2001.

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Connections

Features Star Trek: Tomorrow Is Yesterday (1967)

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Soundtracks

Onyx Bar
Written and Performed by Michel Legrand Et Ses Rythmes

User Reviews

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 *****)