Monday, November 26, 2007

All Tussle, No Russell

The Outlaw (1943)
directed by Howard Hughes
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix

God bless Thomas Mitchell; even playing Pat Garrett, he's the drunk in the DC bar. Hughes' own best argument for his homosexuality isn't so much the epic tale of securing Rio McDonald's bustline as it is the story of Doc Holliday's love affair with Billy the Kid. Mostly they fight over who gets to carry the tobacco pouch or ride the roan or degrade young Jane. There's something perverse in watching Walter Huston laugh through the line, "I don't want her - cattle don't graze after sheep," or at the very least out of sorts (if not character!).