Day of the Outlaw Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Day of the Outlaw Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 6, 2016

Andre De Toth's "Day of the Outlaw" (1959) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The only supplemental feature on the disc is a video interview with French director Bertrand Tavernier. The release also arrives with a 32-page illustrated booklet featuring a new essay by critic Glenn Kenny, a 1994 interview with director Andre De Toth, and the film's original press book, illustrated with archival imagery. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

"Please, don't kill him."

In a small town somewhere in frozen Wyoming, Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan, The Set-Up, Men in War), a tough and fearless landowner, is getting ready to kill Hal Crane (Alan Marshal), another landowner with whom he has clashed in the past. In the local saloon, Blaise meets Crane’s young and beautiful wife, Helen (Tina Louise, The Trap, The Hangman), with whom he has had an affair, and she begs him to spare her husband’s life, but he refuses to change his mind.

Before Blaise can gun down Crane, however, several outlaws enter the town and their leader, Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives, East of Eden, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), announces that they wish to spend the night and possibly even a few more days in the local saloon. He promises that his men will not cause any problems and as soon as the weather improves they will leave. After the locals are disarmed, Bruhn also orders his men to remove all alcohol from the saloon.

Soon after, the locals discover that Bruhn and his men have stolen a large load of money from the army and now the cavalry is chasing them. Bruhn, a former captain, also has a bullet stuck in his chest that needs to be removed as soon as possible. The only animal doctor in town is forced to do it and warned that if Bruhn does not recover he will be killed.

As the weather gets worse, tension between the outlaws and the locals rises. The outlaws demand that Bruhn allows them to drink and have a good time with the local women, while their husbands make it clear that they are not afraid to defend them even without their guns.

Andre De Toth’s Day of the Outlaw is uncharacteristically bleak, gloomy, and oozing edgy fatalism western that is probably a lot easier to profile as film noir. Indeed, it is structured as a hybrid of sorts that visits the rural West but creates and sustains the type of atmosphere one would typically find in a film about doomed gangsters whose time is slowly running out in a giant metropolis that has rejected them.

The film is full of surprises. One’s initial expectation is that the focus of attention will be on what appears to be a fairly straightforward conflict between two sides with different ambitions, but De Toth slowly places their disagreements in a different context and initiates a series of character transformations that profoundly change the story. Nature’s role also evolves -- it becomes the ultimate partner and foe that unceremoniously crushes those who dare to disrespect her.

The majority of the time the camera movement is very simple and precise, carefully accentuating the tension between the different characters. The footage in which the technique is most effective -- which is typically the minimalist indoor footage -- reminds of the sparsity and chamber qualities many of Carl Theodor Dreyer and Robert Bresson’s best films are known for.

The film was lensed by cinematographer Russell Harlan, whose credits include such classics as The Big Sky, Gun Crazy, Witness for the Prosecution, Rio Bravo, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Day of the Outlaw Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, André De Toth's Day of the Outlaw arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

The release is sourced from a pre-existing master, but the film actually looks quite nice in high-definition. The best news here is that there are no traces of compromising degraining and sharpening corrections. So, while there are some visible density fluctuations, the basic organic qualities of the film never suffer. Typically, in the areas where the light fluctuations appear the image becomes slightly softer because the grain isn't as well defined as it should be, but the shifts in quality are quick and fairly small. (You can see an example in screencapture #11). Contrast levels remain stable. Overall image stability is also very good. A few tiny flecks can be spotted, but there are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, or torn frames to report in our review. All in all, there is certainly room for improvement, but this is a good and mostly stable organic presentation that makes it quite easy to appreciate De Toth's unique vision and style. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Day of the Outlaw Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio track has not been fully remastered, but depth and clarity are very good. Dynamic intensity -- for a western shot with a small budget -- is also surprisingly good. The dialog is stable and easy to follow. Also, there are no audio dropouts, distracting background hiss, or digital distortions to report in our review.

Day of the Outlaw Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bertrand Tavernier - in this excellent video interview, director Bertrand Tavernier (Death Watch, Captain Conan) deconstructs Day of the Outlaw and discusses Andre De Toth's legacy. The interview was conducted for French label Wild Side Video. In French, with optional English subtitles. (27 min).

• Booklet - 32-page illustrated booklet featuring a new essay by critic Glenn Kenny, a 1994 interview with director Andre De Toth, the film's original press book, illustrated with archival imagery.

• Music and Effects Track -

Day of the Outlaw Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Robert Ryan plays a tough and fearless landowner who vows to kill the husband of the woman he loves but is forced to change his plan after several outlaws ride into town in Andre De Toth's Day of the Outlaw. This is a tremendous, very atmospheric western, which I think might be easier to profile as film noir. The cast also includes the beautiful Tina Louise, Oscar-winner Burl Ives, and Jack Lambert. Eureka Entertainment's technical presentation of the film is good and on the disc there is an excellent video interview with Bertrand Tavernier. I think that Day of the Outlaw was the best addition to Eureka Entertainment's catalog in 2015 and urge you not to miss it. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. (If you can play Region-A discs, I would like to encourage you to pick up two other films from De Toth: the excellent thriller Pitfall, with Lizabeth Scott and Dick Powell, and Ramrod, with Veronica Lake and Joel McCrea).