The Outlaw (1943)

Walter Huston plays Doc Holliday, who arrives in Lincoln, New Mexico, looking for a stolen horse named Red and is welcomed by an old friend Pat Garrett (Thomas Mitchell), who’s now wearing a sheriff’s badge.

Doc’s second surprise comes a few minutes later when he finds Red, now in the ownership of young Billy the Kid (Jack Buetel), who insists he bought the horse legally and isn’t about to give the horse up. The two men develop a quick friendship.

That doesn’t sit well with Pat, especially when he tries to take Billy in following a shooting and Doc takes the young man’s side, even gunning down a couple deputies.

Billy is wounded, too. Doc leaves him in the care of his pretty young girlfriend Rio (Jane Russell) and takes off, with Pat and a posse on his trail. By the time he returns home, he and Billy are sharing more than a horse.

Rio has fallen for the young man, even secretly married him. And there’s a final showdown brewing between the two men and Pat. That’s if marauding Indians don’t take care of the film’s four stars first.

Review:

The film was made in 1941 when Jane Russell was 19; it didn’t receive a national release until 1946 because of censorship problems. Decades later, it’s tough to believe such a fuss was made over a film that’s so boring and, by today’s standards, so tame.

Sure, there’s sexual innuendo. On at least three occasions, the screen goes dark as Rio or Billy or both are about to do something naughty. And, yeah, Jane flashes a bit of cleavage, though considerably less than in some of the advertising for the film.

The two youngsters were making their film debut — Howard Hughes reportedly conducted a nationwide search to find someone as curvy as Jane to fill the lead role — and it shows in their wooden performances. The script is so tedious, even the presence of veterans like Mitchell and Huston didn’t help much. An annoying soundtrack drubs home every slightest hint at humor, and what little action there is winds up being ridiculously silly.

Examples? How about Billy taking bullets to one hand and both ears without even flinching? How about our heroes fleeing a band of Indians and getting away by dragging along cactuses and raising a cloud of dust? How about Billy shooting a hole in a stick to create a whistle for young admirer?

Some critics point to gay overtones in the relationship between Billy, Doc and Pat. Well, Pat’s diatribe prior to the final showdown sure sounds more like a spurned lover than a sheriff determined to even the score for a handful of dead deputies.

Western film buffs will want to watch this once to see what all the fuss was about. Just don’t expect much.

Directed by:
Howard Hughes

Cast:
Jack Buetel … Billy the Kid
Jane Russell … Rio McDonald
Thomas Mitchell … Pat Garrett
Walter Huston .. Doc Holliday
Mimi Aguglia … Guadalupe
Joe Sawyer … Charley Woodruff
Gene Rizzi … The Stranger

Runtime: 116 min.

Memorable lines:

Doc Holliday: “How about you and me having a little talk.”
Billy the Kid: “I don’t believe in talk, unless the other guy has all the cards.”

Rio McDonald to Jack Buetel, as he’s suffering chills after being wounded. “You’re not going to die. I’ll get you warm.” She starts disrobing.

Billy the Kid: “That was pretty smart putting sand in those canteens.”
Rio, previously humiliated when Billy the Kid gave her $40 after she nursed him back to health and shared his bed: “I had to give you something for your $40, didn’t I?”

Billy the Kid: “I like to hear you ask for it. Keep it up. Beg some more.”
Rio: “What would you like me to say?”
Billy: “Well, you might say please, very sweetly.”
Rio: “Please.”
Billy: “Will you keep your eyes open?”
Rio: “Yes.”
Billy: “Will you look right at me while I do it.”
The camera zooms in for a closeup on Billy, then Rio, then goes dark.

Billy the Kid: “If you want her (Rio) back, you can have her. And welcome. What do you think about that?”
Doc Holliday: “I don’t want her. Cattle don’t graze after sheep.”

Rio: “Oh, Doc, lie down.”
Doc: “No.
Rio: “Why not?”
Doc: “That’s one thing I’ve always been afraid of.”
Rio: “What?”
Doc: “Dying in bed.”

Pat Garrett: “It sure is funny — how two or three trails can cross and get all tangled up.”