Day of the Outlaw Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Day of the Outlaw Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 27, 2019

Andre De Toth's "Day of the Outlaw" (1959) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film as well as an exclusive new audio commentary by by film historian Jeremy Arnold. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "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 the same master that MGM licensed to Eureka Entertainment for this Region-B release of the film. I don't see any meaningful discrepancies between the two releases. On both it is easy to see that the film looks just a tiny bit softer than it should, but the overall quality of the visuals is still very good. In fact, excluding a few areas where small density fluctuations emerge, I think that the presentation has plenty in common with the one that Criterion gave Delmer Daves' classic western 3:10 to Yuma. On this master grain exposure is slightly subdued -- which leads me to believe that the master was struck from an interpositive, or a similar second generation element -- which is why delineation is also a notch below that of 3:10 to Yuma, but when I project the two films they have very, very similar organic qualities. The grading here is also very convincing. A few tiny flecks pop up, but there are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, stains, or other similar distracting age-related imperfections. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A 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 DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The basic qualities of the audio track are solid, but I am not convinced that it was fully remastered. I sense that fidelity could be even better, especially in the final third where the main ride in the snowy mountain and the music is used to enhance the dramatic atmosphere. So, you should still expect very good depth clarity. Also, there are no audio dropouts, distracting background hiss, or digital distortions to report.

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

• Audio Commentary - film historian Jeremy Arnold offers a wonderful analysis of the narrative structure and visual composition of Day of the Outlaw and highlights the many particular ways in which André De Toth provides it with what is essentially a noirish identity. Also, there is plenty of good information about the careers of the principal actors and some of the other big films that they appeared in. The commentary was recorded exclusively for Kino Lorber in 2019.

• Trailer - a vintage U.S. trailer for Day of the Outlaw. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• Additional Trailers - additional trailers for the following releases from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. The Indian Fighter
  2. Man of the West
  3. Man with the Gun
  4. Man Without a Star
  5. The Big Country

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. Kino Lorber's technical presentation of the film is good and on the disc there is a very nice exclusive new audio commentary by film historian Jeremy Arnold. Do not miss this release, folks. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.