SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

ClassyWas Excellent, smart action film.

Fulke Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Spikeopath The Outcast is set in 1880s Colorado about a man who rides into town with a gang of hired gunmen to reclaim his inheritance. But the man opposing him is none other than his uncle, who will not give up the ranch, and all that goes with it, without a fight.A truly pleasant surprise to me this one was. Too many times I care to mention when I have sat down for a B movie Western and cringed at the banality on show. Directed by prolific B helmer William Witney and coming out of the mightily solid Republic Pictures house, The Outcast {AKA The Fortune Hunter} uses a standard story premise and expands it further with a multitude of interesting character arcs. There is so much going on in this part of Colorado, the film never has time to become boring or twee in its execution. Each character serves a purpose, if they have screen time then they are functional to the plot{s} in hand. We have feuding families, hired thugs, a pugilist blacksmith, reams of gun play, fist fights on horseback {fine stunt work here} and pretty gals pulling the male protagonists emotions left and right! All set against a lovely rolling location backdrop {sadly not able to find where at the time of writing} and filmed in the safer cheaper colour aspect of Trucolor, which looks nicer now in this day and age of HD TV.The cast are led by John Derek (All the King's Men) and an assortment of stoic and professional Western players fill out the roll call. It does look to be either largely unseen or consigned wrongly to the B movie bin. But it's certainly a must for the Western genre fan, and definitely a film to prove that Republic Pictures did have good films in their locker. So do check it out if you get the chance 7/10

classicsoncall Sorry I can't share the same enthusiasm for this film that prior reviewers have, but it seems to muddle from scene to scene in search of the righteous revenge angle that never quite materializes. The protagonist, Jet Cosgrave (John Derek), never evokes the kind of sympathy one would expect for his cause, because even though he was swindled out of ownership of his father's ranch, he only seems one track minded on doing away with his uncle The Major (Jim Davis). Along the way, he can't seem to keep his hands off the ladies, and I get the impression that if Mrs. Banner was a little younger, he might have tried to kiss her too.I guess where I lost empathy for Jet was when he failed to deal with his hired gun Dude Rankin (Bob Steele) for the shooting of the camp cook at the line ranch. It was almost like, 'well that wasn't a cool thing to do, but a purpose was served so we'll let it slide'. Check the scene right after Jet admonishes Rankin, saying he's to do what he's paid for and not more; as Jet turns his horse to ride away, the horse hits Rankin in the head! I was surprised that wasn't a do over.You know what perplexed me - the showdown that I expected to occur between Jet and the Major the first time was interrupted by the love triangle, and the Major didn't do anything but hang out waiting for something to happen. Not very believable when he was already worked up enough to face off against his nephew. Then when it was set up again, attorney Devlin interfered to prevent a more satisfying resolution. In their own way, the only characters that seemed to maintain their integrity as bad boys were the gun for hire ranch bosses, Cal Prince (James Millican) and Dude Rankin. Oh yeah, and kudos to Curly too for remaining true to his principles and not selling out his boss; what else would you expect from an actor named Nacho Galindo? At least there was that cool fist fight on horseback between Jet and The Dude, I've never seen that before. Just about everything else though was pretty much by the book for a 'B' oater. For a better John Derek effort in a Western, I would recommend checking out the 1957 picture, "Fury at Showdown". It's got better atmosphere as a black and white film, a great bar room brawl, and an effective early appearance by Nick Adams.

ericlparker I saw this movie on the Westerns Channel and didn't expect much from it. But I was pleasantly surprised as it was well directed, the staging was impressive, the script was thorough and had an intriguing plot. The exterior shots were gorgeous (wonderful country, might have been Wyoming but probably the back lot somewhere.) While only John Derek was truly handsome, the cast selection and action created by the supporting cast makes this movie worth watching. The only bad thing was, Bob Steele shot a man in the back. I was horrified, having seen so many of his movies where he was the good guy. A complete change of character for him. See it.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) Republic, among other small studios in Hollywood was considered to be "Poverty Row", but they had a lot of talent working for them and "The Outcast" is one of their best productions. John Derek is Jet Cosgrave, a man who has been cheated out of his inheritance by his uncle Jim Davis, and lost his ranch. He contracts some gunfighters, whose leader is Bob Steele, in order to get it back. He flirts with Joan Evans, and she falls in love with him, but he is not sure about his feelings because he is also very impressed by his uncle's wife to be Catherine McLeod. Derek is excellent in his role, you don't really know up to the end if he is a good guy or not. William Witney made a lot of westerns and here is at his best, providing good action scenes, specially one where Derek jumps in the horse Steele is riding. Also there are many shootouts, some of them among cattle. It was great to see a young Slim Pickens, I remembered him very well as the old sheriff in Pat Garret and Billy the Kid. The color system used Trucolor is less expensive than Technicolor but the result is satisfactory. A film that did not age, great entertainment for those who like westerns