This starts off in riveting film noir fashion, with the happy couple Ann and Jim (Mala Powers and Robert Clarke) planning their wedding. With characteristic noir abruptness, the protagonist, Ann, is thrown into a maze of terror. Although there's no rape shown, the nightmarish stalking of Ann--presumably by the creepy snack vendor--ends with her return home, humiliated and desperate from the attack. She's shunned and cannot recover enough to go through with her wedding.
Her subsequent flight to a rural enclave--thanks to being saved by the minister Bruce (Tod Andrews)--switches the tone unexpectedly. The obvious redemptive quality of that setting works magic for Ann's self-esteem and confidence. It does seem, however, that we've gone to a different screen and a different movie. In fact, she has a whole new life, even a new name.
To the folks at the ranch, she's simply a newcomer, then a mysterious runaway. At a dance, she has the misfortune to run into another jerk. She starts to flashback on her first horrific encounter with a guy, and brains this smuck Frank with a wrench. All of a sudden, she's on the run again.
I disagree with those who feel that the lead-up to the first attack has a lot of logical pitfalls. I'm not saying it's realistic; but that it's meant as a subjective, highly stylized view of a traumatic event from the victim's perspective. It's as nightmarish as possible, and that adds a great deal of impact to the theme of isolation and abandonment. But the second attack takes place within shouting distance of a crowd. Why doesn't she cry for help? She tells Bruce that she did scream, but that's not shown or heard.
Running from the scene makes her look guilty. Bruce visits her in jail, but he doesn't get why she clubbed Frank. Now she seens nuts, having hallucinated that Frank was her original assailant. Probably feeling remorse for his attacking her, Frank drops the charges (after all, he's also betrayed Bruce, who's supposedly his friend). Bruce talks the DA into not pressing charges, but the judge thinks she needs treatment. Fortunately, the shrink recommends thereapy, not institutionalization. So she walks.
Now that the cat's out of the bag, Bruce wants her to return home. She wants to stay; "people who mean something to each other never say goodbye" he tells her. Now she gets that she has a good life to return to. Another bus ride, this time home. The end.
The middle part of Outrage is deceptively peaceful; we can figure something's going to interrupt this more or less idyllic existence. When the dance scene comes, the movie takes up the tense atmosphere it began with; a trace of the psychological terror comes back too. A very deep look at a difficult subject. Not quite the best, but very good.
Her subsequent flight to a rural enclave--thanks to being saved by the minister Bruce (Tod Andrews)--switches the tone unexpectedly. The obvious redemptive quality of that setting works magic for Ann's self-esteem and confidence. It does seem, however, that we've gone to a different screen and a different movie. In fact, she has a whole new life, even a new name.
To the folks at the ranch, she's simply a newcomer, then a mysterious runaway. At a dance, she has the misfortune to run into another jerk. She starts to flashback on her first horrific encounter with a guy, and brains this smuck Frank with a wrench. All of a sudden, she's on the run again.
I disagree with those who feel that the lead-up to the first attack has a lot of logical pitfalls. I'm not saying it's realistic; but that it's meant as a subjective, highly stylized view of a traumatic event from the victim's perspective. It's as nightmarish as possible, and that adds a great deal of impact to the theme of isolation and abandonment. But the second attack takes place within shouting distance of a crowd. Why doesn't she cry for help? She tells Bruce that she did scream, but that's not shown or heard.
Running from the scene makes her look guilty. Bruce visits her in jail, but he doesn't get why she clubbed Frank. Now she seens nuts, having hallucinated that Frank was her original assailant. Probably feeling remorse for his attacking her, Frank drops the charges (after all, he's also betrayed Bruce, who's supposedly his friend). Bruce talks the DA into not pressing charges, but the judge thinks she needs treatment. Fortunately, the shrink recommends thereapy, not institutionalization. So she walks.
Now that the cat's out of the bag, Bruce wants her to return home. She wants to stay; "people who mean something to each other never say goodbye" he tells her. Now she gets that she has a good life to return to. Another bus ride, this time home. The end.
The middle part of Outrage is deceptively peaceful; we can figure something's going to interrupt this more or less idyllic existence. When the dance scene comes, the movie takes up the tense atmosphere it began with; a trace of the psychological terror comes back too. A very deep look at a difficult subject. Not quite the best, but very good.