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Robert Duvall is the archetypal character actor, convincing, watchable, versatile and almost always likeable, even in unsympathetic roles.Image may be NSFW.
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For a while in the 70s he was being groomed for leading man roles in straight-up thrillers and in 1973 delivered a one-two punch of really solid actioners that still stand up today.
Badge 373, directed by Howard Koch in 1973 from a story idea by The French Connection’s Eddie Egan – the real life cop who inspired the movie. Duvall essay’s Egan’s alter ego Eddie Ryan in a this tough, and very violent (for the time) police procedural.
The Outfit, filmed the same year, but released in ’74 was directed by John Flynn, and Duvall plays a small time criminal on the vengeance trail of the mob who killed his brother.
These two films in retrospect are highly watchable, but at the time were strictly supporting-feature fodder, but its interesting to ponder the direction this fine actor could have gone in if these films had taken off.
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Duvall would take leading man roles later in his career, but in character driven dramas such as The Great Santini and The Apostle.
But like many superb craftsman, like Ed Harris and Harry Dean Stanton, I think Duvall’s strengths play better to support the films he’s in, rather than carrying them. His roles in The Rain People, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now, The Killer Elite, True Grit, Joe Kidd, M*A*S*H, Lawman and so many others are testament to his talent for lifting material to inspired heights.
Watch a scene from The Outfit here.
