The Outsider (1980 film)

The Outsider is a 1980 film thriller set largely in Belfast during The Troubles; it was the first film directed by Italian-American Tony Luraschi. The film is based on the book The Heritage of Michael Flaherty by Colin Leinster, and details the fictional experience of an idealistic Irish-American who travels to Ireland and joins the IRA in the 1970s.

The Outsider
Directed byTony Luraschi
Produced byCinematic Arts B.V.,[1] Philippe Modave (executive)[2]
Based onThe Heritage of Michael Flaherty
by Colin Leinster[3]
StarringCraig Wasson
Sterling Hayden
Patricia Quinn
Niall O'Brien
Music byKen Thorne
Distributed byParamount Pictures[4]
Cinema International Corporation (Great Britain)[5]
Release date
1979[6][7] or
  • 2 June 1980 (1980-06-02) (New York)
Running time
128 minutes[8]
LanguageEnglish

Luraschi, who had worked as an assistant director with Stanley Kramer and Roger Vadim, had never been to Ireland until 1976.[9] The company was unable to film in Northern Ireland, so instead made arrangement with a local residents' association to film the exterior scenes in the Dublin suburb of Ringsend.[5][10][11]

Response

Reviews
  • New Yorker: "the film caused a minor scandal in London recently, where government officials were outraged at a scene that showed a British officer participating in the torture of an Irish prisoner."[9]
  • "his skill at realistically conveying the terrible waste of the civil strife in Northern Ireland and the chilling day-to-day acceptance of violence as a way of life there. Unfortunately, the red-herring contrivances of his plot trivialize his powerful material."[9]
  • Stepan O'Fetchit... "At the other extreme, modern-dress movies like Tony Luraschi's The Outsider... purport to present a real, contemporary Ireland while effectively reducing it to a traffic snarl-up of faceless ideologues wielding guns, balaclavas, and gritty one-liners."[12]
  • The Outsider (US-COLOR) "Thoughtful terrorism drama, starring the IRA. ... Lack of concession on the part of director-scripter Tony Luraschi to conventional thriller pacing makes the Paramount-financed production no easy moneyspinner."[13]

Political reaction

The film was dropped from a 1979 London festival.[1]

References
  1. Mike Kaplan (1 May 1981). Variety international showbusiness reference. Garland Pub. p. 496. ISBN 978-0-8240-9341-9. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  2. Film Writers. Ifilm Pub. 2001. p. 60. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  3. Greenhill, Steven (July 1988). "Acceptable images of Northern Ireland's troubles". ThirdWay. 11 (7): 19.
  4. Michael Singer (1 January 1993). Michael Singer's film directors: a complete guide. Lone Eagle. ISBN 978-0-943728-60-5. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  5. "Irish Film & TV Research Online – Trinity College Dublin". Tcd.ie. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  6. John Pym (1 January 1989). Time Out film guide. Penguin Books. p. 899. ISBN 978-0-14-029414-9. Retrieved 21 October 2012. – or The Outsider, The (1979, Neth, 128 min) d/sc
  7. Jürgen Elvert (1994). Nordirland in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 479–. ISBN 978-3-515-06102-5. Retrieved 21 October 2012. – Tony Luraschis Film (GB 1979, nach dem Roman von Colin Leinster)
  8. L. Maltin (2008). Guida Ai Film 2009. Dalai editore. pp. 1341–. ISBN 978-88-6018-163-3. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  9. New York Media, LLC (28 April 1980). New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC. pp. 62–64. ISSN 0028-7369. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  10. Arthur Flynn (2005). The story of Irish film. Currach Press. ISBN 978-1-85607-914-3. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  11. Arthur Flynn (1996). Irish film 100 years. Kestrel Books. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-900505-40-6. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  12. James MacKillop (1999). Contemporary Irish Cinema: From The Quiet Man to Dancing at Lughnasa. Syracuse University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-8156-0568-3. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  13. Bowker (1983). Variety's Film Reviews: 1978–1980. Bowker. ISBN 978-0-8352-2795-7. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
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