The Outside Man

{{Short description|1972 film directed by Jacques Deray}} {{Infobox film | name = The Outside Man | image = Un homme est mort.jpg | alt = | caption = French film poster | native_name = {{Infobox name module|fr|Un homme est mort}} | director = Jacques Deray | producer = Jacques Bar | writer = Jacques Deray Jean-Claude Carrière Ian McLellan Hunter | narrator = | starring = Jean-Louis Trintignant Ann-Margret Roy Scheider Michel Constantin Angie Dickinson | music = Michel Legrand | cinematography = Silvano Ippoliti Terry K. Meade | editing = William K. Chulack Henri Lanoë | studio = Cité Films General Production Company Les Productions Artistes Associés Mondial Televisione Film | distributor = United Artists | released = {{Film date|df=y|1972|12|21|Italy|1973|1|18|France}} | runtime = 112 minutes<ref name="cnc"/> 105 minutes (U.S. cut) | country = France<ref name="cnc">{{Cite web |title=Un homme est mort (1972) |url=https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/39643 |access-date=2026-02-07 |website=Visas et Classification CNC |language=fr-FR}}</ref> Italy<ref name="cnc"/> | language = English French | budget = | gross = }}

'''''The Outside Man''''' ({{langx|fr|'''Un homme est mort'''|4=A man has died}}) is a 1972 neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Jacques Deray, from a screenplay co-written with Jean-Claude Carrière and Ian McLellan Hunter. This French and Italian co-production stars Jean-Louis Trintignant, Ann-Margret, Roy Scheider, Angie Dickinson, and Jackie Earle Haley in his film debut.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> The plot is about a French contract killer (Trintignant) who travels to Los Angeles for a hit, only to find himself targeted by unknown assailants.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=DVD Talk |url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/list/Blu-ray |access-date=2026-02-07 |website=www.dvdtalk.com}}</ref>

==Plot== French hitman Lucien Bellon is hired to kill Kovacs, a major California mobster. Flying to Los Angeles, he checks into a hotel and drives out to the victim's luxurious home. Finding the man alone, he shoots him dead and makes his getaway. Back at the hotel, he discovers that his room has been stripped, including his passport and plane ticket. Emerging, he finds that he is being trailed by a hitman, who keeps trying to shoot him. To evade his pursuer, he takes a woman hostage and holes up in her apartment. On the TV news he sees the report of Kovacs' murder, but the description of the suspect does not fit him at all.

With only a gun and some money, and being pursued, he cannot survive long. He calls up his boss in Paris, Antoine, who tells him to find an old friend, Nancy, who works in a strip club. She hides him and organises a passport. When Lucien's pursuer, Lenny, finds the two of them in a motel, Lucien captures him and explains the situation. Lucien was hired to eliminate Kovacs and Lenny was hired to eliminate Lucien, but who hired them? The answer is clear: it was Kovacs' son, who has inherited his father's profitable empire and his trophy wife. The two agree to tackle young Kovacs, but fall out and Lenny is killed. Antoine arrives from Paris to attend old Kovacs' funeral, which ends in a shoot-out. Antoine kills young Kovacs, but is then shot dead by the police. Lucien gets away, but dies of gunshot wounds.

==Cast== {{castlist| * Jean-Louis Trintignant as Lucien Bellon * Ann-Margret as Nancy Robson * Angie Dickinson as Jackie Kovacs * Roy Scheider as Lenny * Georgia Engel as Mrs. Barnes * Felice Orlandi as Anderson *Carlo De Mejo as Karl *Michel Constantin as Antoine *Umberto Orsini as Alex * Ted de Corsia as Victor * Jackie Earle Haley as Eric *John Hillerman as Department Store Manager *Jon Korkes as First Hawk *Connie Kreski as Rosie *Ben Piazza as Desk Clerk *Alex Rocco as Miller *Talia Shire as Make-up Girl }}

== Production == Jacques Deray had Lino Ventura in mind for the lead role, but he wasn't considered a big enough star in the United States, so Jean-Louis Trintignant was hired thanks to his international caché from ''A Man and a Woman'' and ''The Conformist''.

This was the film acting debut of then-11-year-old Jackie Earle Haley,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Outside Man |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/55011 |access-date=2026-02-07 |website=AFI Catalog of Feature Films}}</ref> and the final film role of Ted de Corsia before his death in April 1973.

== Release == ''The Outside Man'' was released in Italy on December 21, 1972 as ''Funerale a Los Angeles''. It was released in France on January 17, 1973.<ref name="CurtiLafond2026">{{cite book|title=French Thrillers of the 1970s: Volume I, Crime Films|publisher=McFarland & Company|ISBN=978-1-4766-8681-3|LCCN=2025048366|first1=Roberto|last1=Curti|first2=Frank|last2=Lafond|year=2026|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|p=139}}</ref>

It was released in the United States in Rochester, New York, on August 17, 1973.<ref name="CurtiLafond2026" /> For the American release, the film was cut by seven minutes.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Outside-Man-Blu-ray/319048/ |title=The Outside Man Blu-ray (Un homme est mort) |access-date=2026-02-07 |via=www.blu-ray.com}}</ref>{{better source|date=April 2026}}

=== Home media === The film released on a remastered Blu-ray by Kino Lorber in December 2023.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://kinolorber.com/product/the-outside-man-vudu |title=The Outside Man (aka Un Homme est Mort) {{!}} Kino Lorber - Experience Cinema |language=en |access-date=2026-02-07 |via=kinolorber.com}}</ref>

==Reception== === Critical response === The film received mixed reviews from critics.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Outside Man {{!}} Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/outside_man |access-date=2026-02-07 |website=www.rottentomatoes.com |language=en}}</ref>

A review in ''Time Out'' reads "Jacques Deray's thrillers often go sadly astray, but this one was co-scripted by Jean-Claude Carrière (Buñuel's latter-day collaborator), and wittily fashions a dark variation on Through the Looking-Glass out of the hit man’s bafflement as he becomes the hunted in a country where he doesn’t understand the language (the dialogue is in English, with occasional subtitled French) and where tribal customs seem alarmingly bizarre."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Un homme est mort (The Outside Man). 1972. Directed by Jacques Deray {{!}} MoMA |url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/5562 |access-date=2026-02-07 |website=The Museum of Modern Art |language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0070083|The Outside Man}} * {{tcmdb title|19280|The Outside Man}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Outside Man, The}} Category:1972 French-language films Category:1970s crime thriller films Category:1972 English-language films Category:1972 films Category:English-language French films Category:English-language Italian films Category:Foreign films set in the United States Category:French neo-noir films Category:French crime thriller films Category:Films scored by Michel Legrand Category:Films set in the United States Category:Films about contract killing Category:Films with screenplays by Jean-Claude Carrière Category:Italian neo-noir films Category:Italian crime thriller films Category:United Artists films