The Outfit Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

The Outfit Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 24, 2026

Robert Duvall wasn't quite the superstar he would soon become when he made The Outfit, which may be one reason why the film didn't really connect with audiences at the time. Duvall did have several notable (then) recent films to his credit, including M*A*S*H, THX 1138 and of course his Academy Award nominated performance in The Godfather, but it may be salient to note that, as a supplement on this disc mentions, other leading men like Clint Eastwood were initially thought to be more of a marquee attraction than Duvall (hence my somewhat cheeky caption accompanying the first screenshot, below), which evidently turned out to be the case. One way or the other, it maybe also be salient to note that legendary crime writer Donald E. Westlake, whose source novel (written under the pseudonym Richard Stark), considered The Outfit to be one of the best adaptations of his books to the medium of film. Somewhat hilariously in terms of those adaptations, evidently due at least in part to Westlake's own wishes, his focal character Parker was given new if not obviously improved names in almost all of the films to be based on Westlake's and/or Stark's books, including Made in U.S.A (somewhat incredibly, an unauthorized adaptation by none other than Jean-Luc Godard that doesn't just change the character's name, but gender as well), Point Blank , Mise à Sac (Pillaged), The Split, Slayground, Payback (a kinda sorta remake of Point Blank), and Parker, the last of which finally gave the title character the name bestowed on him by Westlake / Stark. Here, the character's name is Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall), who gets out of stir to find out his literal partner in crime brother has been executed by a group known as, yep, you guessed it, The Outfit.

"Go ahead. . .make my day".

Earl is met upon his release by his girlfriend Bett (Karen Black), who promptly delivers him into a setup that he then spends the rest of the film both evading and exacerbating in about equal measure. In a way, while tonally radically different, there's almost a presaging of a film that would debut a couple of months after this one in 1973 to much greater audience acclaim, The Sting, in the underlying plot motif of Earl trying to give a thief some comeuppance, though in this particular case Earl doesn't resort to elaborately planned hoaxes, other than occasionally pretending to be various people. The main target here is ultimately revealed to be Mailer (Robert Ryan), though a number of his henchmen are intermediary targets. There's a certain irony, however, in that Earl and his brother had in fact previously hit an operation run by the Outfit, which led to the brother's killing.

The interesting cast includes (aside from Ryan) other noir notables, including Jane Greer (Out of the Past), Marie Windsor ( The Killing), and Elisha Cook (also The Killing). Joe Don Baker contributes an interesting characterization as Earl's "new" partner in crime, Cody, and Richard Jaeckel, Sheree North and Joanna Cassidy are also featured in a screenplay that may arguably take a few too many detours before arriving at its climax.

The Outfit Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Outfit is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information about the presentation:

The Outfit has been restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono sound.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned at 4K / 16 bit resolution at Warner Brothers Motion Picture Imaging.

The alternate ending was sourced from a 35mm IP element. The film was restored and graded in 2K resolution at Duplitech.

The mono soundtrack was restored by Bad Princess Productions.

All materials source for this new mater were made available by Warner Brothers.

This is a nicely organic looking presentation that reproduces a certain "seventies" look in the cinematography quite admirably, though that accuracy may include some noticeable variances in clarity, suffusion and grain structure. Outdoor material in particular pops extremely well, and fine detail during close-ups in those moments is excellent. The palette can see slight variations in warmth, and flesh tones can be a bit pale looking on occasion. Some scenes can show brief downturns in clarity and suffusion, though any actual damage is negligible. Those same sections also display slightly grittier grain, not always related to lighting conditions (some relatively well lit interior scenes with Black are one example).

The Outfit Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Outfit features LPCM Mono audio delivering a rather modest sound design without any real issues. Jerry Fielding contributes an enjoyable if maybe arguably just slightly Rota adjacent score, and some of the scenes where various gunshots erupt have sufficient force. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Outfit Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Play with Alternate Ending (HD; 1:41:11) is accessible under the Play Menu and is presented here for the first time on home video. The theatrical cut runs 1:43:02 by comparison.


• Commentary by Jedidiah Ayres & Mike White features alumni of The Projection Booth podcast (i.e., this is not the Mike White of The White Lotus and/or Survivor fame)


• The Man with the Getaway Face (HD; 26:20) features Westlake biographer Levi Stahl.


• Paths Not Taken (HD; 9:29) is an appreciation of the film and director John Flynn from Walter Chaw.


• Tapping into the Outsider (HD; 10:58) is another appreciation, this time of the Parker novels by Richard Stark, by Alissa marmol- Cernat and Shay Dennis.


• Walter Hill on John Flynn (HD; 13:11) is an archival interview from 2013.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:54)


• Image Galleries

Posters (HD)




Color Promotional Stills (HD)




Black & White Promotional Stills (HD)

Arrow's insert booklet contains three interesting essays by Priscilla Page, Glenn Kenny and Chris D. The sleeve is reversible, and packaging also features a slipcover.

The Outfit Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I freely admit I'm probably one of many general film fans one of the supplements on this disc mentions hasn't really paid attention to the filmography of director John Flynn, but The Outfit is well paced and features strong characterizations throughout, even if the actual narrative may dart to and fro a bit too many times. This release has solid technical merits and some appealing supplements and should help to ameliorate Flynn's lack of recognition. Recommended.