The Outfit is a gangster/thriller movie that is pretty fun and exciting. It is brought to us by director Graham Moore and it is his directorial debut. What really got me into the movie was the inclusion of Mark Rylance who is an absolutely fantastic actor. Seeing him get to be in a gangster movie like this was something I thought would be very cool.
How to Download The Outfit
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you like crime drama movies, check out also our review of Money Heist or Dexter.
The Movie Review
The movie takes place in the 1950s in Chicago, which was pretty much mob town back then, wasn’t it? The movie is about a man called, Leonard Burling who is an Englishman that has a clothing shop, but he does not like to be called a tailor, he is a cutter! Leonard is a very unassuming and quiet kind of man, but right from the start, you can tell that there is more to him.
Leonard only makes the finest clothing and his stuff is very expensive. The reason that he is able to keep his business afloat is that his best customers are gangsters from the Boyle crime family! His shop is on their turf and they like him because he makes good clothes, but also because he never asks questions about what it is they are doing.
The Boyle crime family is a real mess. We have mob boss, Roy Boyle, Ritchie, his son, and second in command and then we have the enforcer, Francis. Things are not good for the Boyles; they are in a dispute with the LaFontaine family and they think there may be a rat working with the authorities.
Things are made more complicated as the woman who works in Leonard’s shop, Mable, is in a relationship with Ritchie. You cannot work for the mob and not have problems and before long Leonard is brought into their criminal world and it is very intense. On the surface, the Outfit seems like it would be a movie that is very predictable.
However, the movie moves at a great pace and you are always left guessing what is going on, who can be trusted, and what Leonard and even Mable’s motives really are. Leonard is such a great character and as we learn more about him and what he did before he came to America, it starts to make a great deal of sense.
One thing that is pretty amazing about The Outfit is the way and where it is shot. I love the 1950s Chicago setting, but the majority of the movie takes place in Leonard’s shop and with a rather small cast of characters. This works incredibly well and gives the movie a more intimate kind of feel to it all.
I went into The Outfit expecting it to be a good movie, but it was actually quite excellent. I thought that Mark Rylance as Leonard was fantastic and he kept me glued to the screen. The whole story that is being told here is very well told and even when you think you know exactly what is going on, something will happen that makes you question it. If you like gangster and thriller-type movies, give this one a watch.
