The Outsider (1980)

Absolutely Fantastic

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It's 1973. Irish American rich kid Michael Flaherty (Craig Wasson) is a disillusioned Vietnam veteran, captivated by the romantic patriotic tales of his Irish Civil War veteran grandfather (Sterling Hayden). Determined to aid The Cause, he joins the IRA to fight the British. However, once he arrives, he finds that all is not what it seems, an all encompassing shade of grey permeates everything and that both the IRA and the British army consider him an expendable asset if need be and cynicism and utter pragmatism abounds.The Outsider is a film I've personally been looking for for the past 25 years or so, partly for being captivated by the novel as a kid and partly because my brother appeared in it in a scene where kids play soldiers, as one of the kids. Now that I've finally seen it, I found it an unassuming tour de force. There is no glory here. No heroism. No idealism. Just workmanlike docudrama style reality as both the IRA's army council and British military brass make coldly rational and logical decisions which will further their respective causes. When children are killed in the crossfire during a gun battle, by British army bullets, the IRA's army council discuss the tragedy in terms of how much more support the deaths will gain them among Irish Americans, while a British Colonel (veteran British actor Geoffry Palmer) admonishes his subordinate that "We can't have 12-year-old children being killed Nigel, it will swell up the ranks of the IRA", while his subordinate protests against SAS involvement on the grounds that "They'll make a mess of things, they always do", which will gain further recruitment for the IRA.As for the IRA themselves, there's Emmet, the pleasant and utterly ruthless executioner, The Farmer (veteran Irish actor Niall Toibin), a coldly implacable and completely ruthless brigade commander who retorts to complaints by a visiting army council member regarding civilian casualties to "tell GHQ to get me more guns instead of dynamite and my aim will be much more selective". and Tony, a smiling baby faced psychopath who the Farmer disdains because "It would make you sick the love he has for the trigger", but who also has no problem using to commit assassinations, precisely because of his bloodlust if it furthers The Cause. No morality. No ethos. Just get the job done in a pragmatically efficient way as possible due to the end justifying the means, in a low intensity war fought just as much via PR and through the media as it is in the back alleys of Belfast or fields of Monaghan.Irish actor Ray MacAnally terrifies in a left field scene as a murky British intelligence torturer, whose torture of a civilian is utterly workmanlike and casual as a means to an end. The Farmer coldly tries to figure out who a suspected informer may be with no illusions to the viewer as to what will await the informer's fate. There are no heroes and no villains, no Good Guys or Bad Guys but merely opponents who will use pawns as they see fit to win the war.The film is not without its minor flaws, such as one or two dodgy/missplaced accents but overall, as has been said by other reviewers, The Outsider is a true lost gem of a film with no easy answers but many astute observations. 9/10, highly recommended.

Shocked and surprised that such a realistic movie set mostly in Belfast managed to pass me by. I must agree with the majority of (American) reviewers, who have deemed this film as a piece of gritty realism, if not one of true grit. I have lived in Belfast all my life and grew up during the period in which the film is set, and I can attest to the portrayal of working class Belfast as the most honest and vivid I have ever seen. The imagery is unmistakable, and I only wonder how on earth such footage could have been shot in 1980's Belfast! My only qualm is that I felt the plot line to be verging a little on the thin side, but that may be because I find it a little too incredible that the IRA at the time would have run the risk of sacrificing a US citizen to bolster PR. Aside from that, the depiction of the brutality and the Ethos of Conflict that engulfed Belfast at that time is unsurpassed.

Years ago I visited NY, noticed this film and despite a pan by the NY Times, saw it since I'd been impressed by Craig Wasson in Go Tell the Spartans (still the best fiction film on Vietnam). Loved it: excellent story that avoids clichés, very well acted and directed. Came off a bit as The Further Adventures of the Craig Wasson Character Who Had Been in Nam. Disillusioned Nam vet wants purpose in life, goes to ancestral home Ireland, gets more disillusioned at being used by both IRA and Brits for their own, different purposes. Even becomes disillusioned with grandfather, whose screwed up memories of IRA glory persuaded him to go there. Maybe my memory of details is inaccurate (saw it once when it opened), but the final scene stays with me still: Wasson in a phone booth in Detroit, hitting the receiver on the phone box in frustration. Hope it comes out in DVD. If so, I'd order it in an instant.

This is a real sleeper about an Irish-American vet who, on returning to the USA after Viet Nam, decides to go to Ireland and fight for the IRA. His desire to do so is based on the stories told to him by his grandfather (Stirling Hayden) about fighting the Brits. The magic of this film is its realism. I swear you can feel the damp chill of a overcast Dublin day as you watch this movie! It reminds me of THE BLADE RUNNER in its darkness, however THE BLADE RUNNER is a fictional setting and THE OUTSIDER isn't, unless you've never been to that area of the world. I've been to Scotland and I'm telling you I don't know how they bottled that climate and make you feel you're there. I have gotten off on the realism and I've almost forgotten, this film has one of the most heart wrenching endings I've ever seen. Craig Wasson who stars has done some other films that have great plots and endings. Remember THE BODY DOUBLE? Same surprises as that and this too, is believable. It's not the cheap pulp writing trick of sneaking someone in at the last minute that you've never heard of or has never been revealed by the plot, some presumed long dead uncle that saves the day at the last minute. Although, it would be very difficult to predict this ending the plot does give you all the information and fore-shadowing you need to embrace it in the end. Good Movie!