One of Carol Reed's finest films, and boasting a great tragic performance from James Mason, Odd Man Out was an unusually daring film in its day due to its sympathetic portrayal of IRA members. Following a bank heist to raise funds that goes disasterously wrong when a man is killed and Johnny (Mason) falls out of the escaping car, mortally wounded from a gunshot, the film does not depict the criminals as villains - indeed it is the peripheral characters who come in for the most criticism, as they act selfishly when confronted by the injured man.
As Johnny stumbles bleeding across Belfast desperately avoiding the police, Reed brilliantly reveals the uglier side of human nature; a seemingly compassionate old biddy turns out to be a ruthless police informant, whilst in a darkly comic sequence an eccentric artist (Robert Newton) becomes obsessed with painting his dying grimaces. Not everyone is motivated by self-interest, however; a timid housewife shows compassion when she finds him on the street, whilst his loyal girlfriend decides to stand by her man rather than opt for an easy life.
There are terrific moments of suspense in the film, including a tense scene in which the police hunt for an incriminating gun in Johnny's house, barely concealed under the sleeve of his girlfriend's grandmother (Kitty Kirwan), whilst a chase that leads onto a crowded bus is also a classic set piece. The studio sets and cinematography also capture wintery Belfast exceptionally well. But it is Mason's painfully sad performance as the abused outsider that lingers strongest, a flawed odd man out in a divided city.
Atmospheric and suspenseful, this Carol Reed film stars Mason as idealistic IRA leader Johnny McQueen, who is shot and left for dead during a holdup. From then on he is hunted relentlessly by the police - and those he thought of as friends - as he staggers through the snowy Belfast streets and bars.
With supporting performances from Robert Newton as Lukey, an eccentric artist who wants to capture the moment of death in McQueen’s eyes, and Kathleen Ryan as the woman who loves him more than life itself, Odd Man Out shows the impact of the Irish Question on ordinary people, and not just those involved directly with the struggle.
The gang of four drink tea and plan a robbery that goes wrong ...The law appears to be sympathetic, but justice must prevail...
Having recently viewed Odd Man Out on the big screen, you are reminded of what a gem of a movie it really is. Part melodrama, part thriller, Carol Reed's film exposes the human psyche and the lengths folk go to keep trouble from themselves and their doorsteps, whilst the audience watch from afar at Johnny McQueens' dead-man-walking; pregnant with guilt for killing a man at the start of the film, with the heavy air of film noir to blow you through the Belfast streets that Mason painfully struggles in a final attempt at redemption.
Loyalty, Principles, Belief and Retribution clash broadswords with Dillusionment, Hope, Angst and Despair. Still galled at taking another man's life, we follow McQueen through street and alleyway, eventually ending up at the mercy of a eccentric painter. McQueen hallucinates his old neighborhood priest - Father Tom, which allows him to vent his confessional in a quasi-religious fashion, whereby we look at McQueen, not person to person, but from the perspective of a sinner before Christ...we are looking up at McQueen, who's form seems to be reaching toward a higher plain, pontificating, resurrecting himself for the final steps that will take him to his demise.
The subject matter - one based loosely around the IRA- never glamourises nor sets out to expose the whys and wherefores; a history lesson it is not. Akin to most UK films that took to the streets for their backdrop, modernity and progression has been the dictum, with old celluloid being a lasting reminder of what once was. The near Christmas card setting of a now vanished Belfast continues to hold its charm and mystique.
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Odd Man Out (Special Edition)
