Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.5
Audio		2.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

The Outside Man Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 30, 2024

Jacques Deray's "The Outside Man" (1972) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include two remastered trailers and exclusive new audio commentary by critics Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson. In English and French, with optional English and English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

French hitman Lucien Bellon (Jean-Louis Trintignant) arrives in America to take out a target living in Beverly Hills. While checking into a local hotel, Bellon is handed a package from his ‘secretary’ with a gun and a large sum of money. A few hours later, while using an alias, Bellon rings the doorbell of a lavish mansion and tells the butler that he is expected. When his target appears prepared to meet someone else, Bellon empties his gun and runs away, determined to get on the first plane that can take him back to France.

But back at the hotel Bellon is informed that his ‘secretary’ has already collected his personal belongings, including his passport, and checked him out. Fully aware that now he has become a target, Bellon phones his contact in France and receives instructions to get in touch with Nancy Robson (Ann-Margaret), a striptease dancer making ends meet in a popular club somewhere on Sunset Boulevard, who can help him buy a fake French passport. By the time Bellon meets Robson, another hitman, an American named Lenny (Roy Scheider), begins tracking him down.

In the ensuing cat-and-mouse game, while improvising, Bellon reveals to Robson that he is not a professional hitman but a desperate gambler who agreed to take out his target to wipe out several big debts. As the two begin warming up to each other, Bellon then discovers that his employer has also paid Lenny to take him out.

French director Jacques Deray had a soft spot for the crime genre and during the 1960s and 1970s made several films that are now considered cult or classic. The Outside Man is not one of these films but deserves to be. In this group of films, The Outside Man is the only one that Deray shot on foreign soil, which was America. As odd as it may sound, this is the main reason to see it too because it is a very interesting time capsule with an unusual neo-noirish identity.

Because it was shot by an ‘outsider’, The Outside Man does not have a lot in common with the conventional American (or French) crime films that emerged during the 1960s and 1970s. It is a fluid minimalistic project, constantly finding new angles to observe the cat-and-mouse game and, in the process, creating the impression that Los Angeles is like a giant casino where many more such games are always underway. So, instead of preserving plenty of authentic footage, which is what conventional time capsules do, The Outside Man produces atmospheric footage of the kind that in the 1980s a different group of crime films would legitimize. (A decade later, critics will begin labeling these films as L.A. noir for doing exactly what The Outside Man does, but by routinely expanding and further emphasizing the significance of the atmospheric footage. Arguably the greatest of them is William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A., which also sees the City of Angels as a giant casino where strange characters constantly risk their lives in stranger games).

Deray uses several other very good actors. Angie Dickinson is the widow of the target. Umberto Orsini is the puppet master that initiates the drama. Michel Constantin arrives from Paris with a friend to assist Trintignant after he decides to stay in L.A. and kill his employer. Georgia Engel is a single mother who is temporarily taken hostage by Trintignant and then becomes a valuable source of information for the police. Ted de Corsia’s final acting job, which was to play a dead man, was in The Outside Man as well.

The Outside Man exists in three different versions: American Version, which is 104 minutes long (01:44.33); French Version, which is 111 minutes long (01:50.46); and International Version, which is 111 minutes long (01:51.43). Kino Lorber’s two-disc set introduces new 4K restorations of the French Version and International Version that were prepared by French lab VDM on behalf of Gaumont. However, both versions are modified. They remove Joe Morton's performance of the title song, "The Outside Man".

The Outside Man Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Outside Man arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release introduces a recent 4K restoration of two versions of The Outside Man -- International English Version and French Version -- which was completed at French lab VDM on behalf of Gaumont. Each version is placed on a separated disc. I viewed the International Version.

The screencaptures that are included with this article appear in the following order:

Screencaptures #1-33 are from Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release.
Screencaptures #37-40 are from MGM's R1 DVD release of The Outside Man.

The 4K makeover is very disappointing. While it produces, clean and very healthy visuals, it regrades the entire film and gives it a very inconsistent appearance that is plagued by various anomalies. The regrading job affects several primaries and nuances, but the ones that are affected the most are primary blue and primary green, as well as white, black, and blue nuances. For example, the new grade routinely dials out blue and dials in cyan/turquoise, and in many areas completely collapses entire ranges of native nuances. You can get an idea how drastic these changes can be by comparing this sxreencapture from the Blu-ray release and this screencapture from MGM's R1 DVD release. As a result, the overall color temperature of the visuals is affected as well, which is why large portions of the film now look as if they take place during a cool autumn rather than a warm summer period in Los Angeles. The color alterations also destabilize the native dynamic range of some visuals, with the most problematic ones appearing during darker footage with subtle nuances. As a result, some of these visuals appear filtered without being digitally manipulated. You can see an example here. Density levels are good. Image stability is very good as well. All in all, after it was redone in 4K, The Outside Man no longer looks like the film Jacques Deray shot, or a film with an authentic 1970s appearance. (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).

The Outside Man Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (for the International Version) and French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (for the French Version). Optional English and English SDH subtitles are provided.

Unfortunately, I have to report that the original English audio track has been modified as well. After the film was restored in 4K at French lab VDM, Joe Morton's performance of the title song, "The Outside Man", was removed. So, the opening of Jacques Deray's film now looks different and awkward -- it lists "The Outside Man" but the song is gone.

The dialog is clear, stable, and easy to follow. In fact, Jean-Louis Trintignant's lines, which are routinely uttered with a very thick French accent, are a little easier to understand. Dynamic intensity is good, too. While viewing the film, I did not encounter any audio dropouts, crackle, pops, or distortions to report in our review.

The Outside Man Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

BLU-RAY DISC ONE - INTERNATIONAL VERSION

• Trailer - fully remastered original trailer for the International Version of The Outside Man. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson.

BLU-RAY DISC TWO - FRENCH VERSION

• Trailer - fully remastered original trailer for the French Version of The Outside Man. In French, with English subtitles. (4 min).

• Cover - a reversible cover with vintage poster art for The Outside Man.

The Outside Man Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The new 4K restoration of Jacques Deray's The Outside Man that was prepared at French lab VDM on behalf of Gaumont is very disappointing. It regrades the film and gives it a very awkward new appearance, and eliminates Joe Morton's performance of the title song, "The Outside Man". So, now the film does not look as it should and is missing a key piece. Hopefully, sometime in the future, the folks at MGM will locate an IP, or another suitable element, and produce a proper master for a proper presentation of the film on Blu-ray.