Outlaw, The (1943)
Director: Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes’ motion picture about the legend of Billy the
Kid would be a matter of great Hollywood controversy as the producer/director
directly contested the Production Code that censored American movies at the
time. This poorly produced western would only blossom with the help of an
alluring figure of a first time actress for which Hughes built his whole
marketing campaign around. Despite the rather shoddy cinematic work, the draw
of this young, voluptuous new starlet would bring the feature enough box office
attention that the film manifested reasonable profits. However the feature would
live on in cinema history for its publicity material more than for any of its
actual screen time.
The Outlaw is a
western sharing a tale of a meeting between two legendary American gunmen of
the Old West, their playful friendship, and fierce rivalry as they attempt to
outrun the law in the deserts of New Mexico. Three notorious gunslingers, the
infamous Billy the Kid, gambler and outlaw Doc Holliday, and former gunfighter
turned sheriff Pat Garrett, happen to converge in a small dusty county in New
Mexico, the infamous Billy the Kid, gambler and outlaw Doc Holliday, and former
gunfighter turned sheriff Pat Garrett. When a dispute between the notorious Billy
the Kid and outlaw Doc Holliday turns the rivals into unlikely friends, Sheriff
Pat Garrett decides he must hunt down the two dangerous bandits. Billy and
Holliday’s back and forth rivalry grows further when Rio (Jane Russell), Doc’s New
Mexican destination sweetheart, begins a romance with Billy. As tensions build
a showdown between the three men lead to a chivalrous respect between Billy and
Doc, but the slaying of Doc at the guns of Pat Garrett, who once was a dear old
friend of Doc in days gone by. Left with only the two remaining men Billy
outsmarts Garrett, permitting for his escape, but allows for Garrett the to
build his own legend as the man that gunned down Billy the Kid as Billy and Rio
ride off leaving behind the lawlessness, never to be heard from again.
As a major motion picture from with a supposedly storied
history behind it, this feature falls dramatically short of being a tolerable
western to view. Director Howard Hughes, a movie mogul that bought his way into
the business, leaves little inspiration in his directing style in this picture.
With primarily static shots more akin to an amateur filmmaker and uninspired
acting by its novice star actors, The
Outlaw comes align more in quality to that of a cheaply produced
independent serial western than that of a supposed major studio film.
The legend of this feature’s background provides greater
substance than this picture ever could have possibly provided. This weak story
of Billy the Kid fictionalized with a meeting with the notorious Doc Holliday
of O.K. Coral fame, tied into some attempted epic tale that Billy the Kid was
perhaps not really slain at the hands of Pat Garrett comes off and sloppy, at
very best. The production of this picture was the artifact of poor execution of
filmmaking while attempting to feed off an short lived obsession at the time
when the film was being conceived.
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| Mitchell, Buetel, and Huston having a showdown of sorts. |
The origins of The
Outlaw date back to 1940. At that time the subject of Billy the Kid was a
hot topic in Hollywood as even MGM was in the works for a feature entitled
simply Billy the Kid starring Robert
Taylor. At RKO they were looking to make their own picture with director Howard
Hawks at the helm shot on location in Arizona and New Mexico. From the dailies
that were being shipped back to Hollywood RKO studio head Howard Hughes
complained that Hawks was shooting at too slow of a pace. Upset at each other
Howard Hawks left production in favor of filming Sergeant York with Gary Cooper which turned into the highest
grossing feature of 1941.
Determined to finish this picture Howard Hughes took up
responsibilities in the director’s chair and threw out all of what Hawks had completed.
To star in Hughes’ new Billy the Kid-inspired film Hughes had the studio find
new names and faces to be the focal point of the feature. Jack Buetel’s looks
led to him being discovered while working as an insurance clerk in Los Angeles,
casting the newcomer as Billy the Kid. However it was the role of Rio that was
most important to the director/producer. Hughes. Casting calls had the studio
on the lookout for the next big actress to steal the attention of the big
screen. The focus of what Hughes wanted in this actress was not just her looks,
but her sex appeal, more specifically a massive, attention stealing bosom. It
would be nineteen year-old model Jane Russell who Hughes found to fill out the
measurements he was looking for and base his entire film around.
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| Could Walter Huston save this picture? No, not really. |
To round out the poor acting of the film’s two novice “star
actors” Hughes added the talents of the revered Walter Huston and Thomas
Mitchell to the roles of Doc Holiday and Pat Garrett. These additions were in
hope that their stature and acting prowess might bring more respectability to
the film and help bring up the performances of the young leading actors. Sadly
with the poor cinematography coupled with the glaring subpar appearances of
Buetel and Russell there is not much Huston and Mitchell can do to add to this
sinking ship of a mainstream film, artistically speaking.
For Hughes he knew the biggest draw of the picture was going
to be for the male audience enjoying the view of Miss Russell. He made no
attempt to hide his intent of the picture as he dressed Russell in tighter
fitting clothing that accented her figure. Furthermore Hughes commissioned the
design of a specially made wire lined brassiere to further lift and shape her chest.
Jane Russell, several years later in referencing this story stated that this bra
she was told to wear was so uncomfortable that she never wore it on screen.
Instead she discarded the wire clothing without the director’s knowledge and
replacing it with her own brassiere which she further padded with tissue and
had the straps pulled tighter for more lift. Hughes supposedly never brought
the subject back up.
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| Jane Russell would live on as a American sex symbol. |
As the story focused on the story of Billy the Kid, Hughes
did what he could to focus on the sexuality of Rio in the film. Furthermore the
marketing campaign focused almost completely on Jane Russell and her sex
appeal. In the publicity shots and movie posters is featured Russell further
drawing attention to her figure as she lays on a bed of hay with her revealing
top pulled down over one shoulder to show even more skin. If anything was to
bring this film money it was to be Jane Russell.
Of course following Hughes assemblage of the motion picture
came the lash back of Hollywood censorship within the production code. Hughes
and censors would fight over what was appropriate to play in American cinemas.
Beyond the portrayal of the female figure was the display of sex within the
movie. Never would it happen on screen, but it was heavily implied, including
Billy’s rape of Rio, and a later scene eventually cut from the feature where
Rio is said to begun to unbutton her clothes intending to slip into bed with
Billy to keep him “warm.” Beyond sex, the censors disliked the idea that
characters in the film that perform evil, do not pay for their dues. All of
these aspects were ideals that the Production Code fought against in a time
when Hollywood was attempting to censor themselves, and Hughes was the one to
rattle the cage of what was acceptable. Much would be cut, but ultimately much
was also left in.
Originally intended to release in 1941, the film would not
premiere until 1943, but only for a short few showings. Censor issues would
keep the film from wide release until 1946. The
Outlaw could be considered a complete flop of a motion picture, but its
impact in popular culture was definitely felt.
Jane Russell quickly became a major sex symbol following her
appearance in The Outlaw establishing
herself as a pin up during World War II. Jack Beutel would suffer from his
performance in the picture, setting his career back for close to a decade. The Outlaw would not be remembered as a
movie, as much it would be recalled for Jane Russell’s publicity which live on
in American popular culture of the 20th century.
If one was to go in search of some of Hollywood most
heralded westerns, The Outlaw falls
far short of anyone’s expectations. In conclusion The Outlaw really is nothing more than three things: one, a poorly
produced B-movie western, while two and three are things I would rather let
your parents tell you about.
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