willyjg Review of The Outsider

The Outsider (1979)

A real SLEEPER. It's the BLADE RUNNER meets the I.R.A!!!

[9 September 1999]

This is a real sleeper about an Irish-American vet who, on returning to the USA after Viet Nam, decides to go to Ireland and fight for the IRA. His desire to do so is based on the stories told to him by his grandfather (Stirling Hayden) about fighting the Brits. The magic of this film is its realism. I swear you can feel the damp chill of a overcast Dublin day as you watch this movie! It reminds me of THE BLADE RUNNER in its darkness, however THE BLADE RUNNER is a fictional setting and THE OUTSIDER isn't, unless you've never been to that area of the world. I've been to Scotland and I'm telling you I don't know how they bottled that climate and make you feel you're there. I have gotten off on the realism and I've almost forgotten, this film has one of the most heart wrenching endings I've ever seen. Craig Wasson who stars has done some other films that have great plots and endings. Remember THE BODY DOUBLE? Same surprises as that and this too, is believable. It's not the cheap pulp writing trick of sneaking someone in at the last minute that you've never heard of or has never been revealed by the plot, some presumed long dead uncle that saves the day at the last minute. Although, it would be very difficult to predict this ending the plot does give you all the information and fore-shadowing you need to embrace it in the end. Good Movie!