Odd Man Out 1947

     The setting of this film is in Ireland after WWII.  A clandestine Irish organization (the IRA) has been planning a hold-up that will give the group the funds needed to continue their activities.  Johnny McQueen is the leader of this group and he has been hiding out in a house since he escaped from prison.  He’s been staying with Kathleen and her mother in Belfast.  The other members of the group are advising Johnny to let someone else head up this hold-up?  Johnny has not been outside of this house for six months.  Johnny refuses and the hold-up goes bad.  Johnny is shot in the shoulder and he goes into hiding.  Johnny also killed a man when he was trying to get away.  The police have the town sealed up and they are looking in every corner for Johnny.

     Many of the citizens of Belfast would like to find Johnny McQueen.  His group wants to locate him and they know he has a shoulder wound.  Others are very interested in the reward offered for turning in Johnny.  The only luck Johnny seems to have is BAD luck!!  It never stops raining until it starts snowing and he’s been bleeding heavily.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

116 min, Crime directed by Carol Reed with James Mason, Robert Newton, Cyril Cusack, F.J. McCormick, William Hartnell, Fay Compton, Denis O’Dea, W.G. Fay, Maureen Delaney, Elwyn Brook-James, Robert Beatty, Dan O’Herlihy, Kitty Kirwan, Beryl Measor, Roy Irving. 

Note:  Imdb 7.8 out of 10, 100% critic 87% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 98 reviews, Slant Magazine 4* out of 5*, Empire Online 5*, TCM Leonard Maltin 4*, user ratings 4.54* of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland; Broadway Market, Hackney, London and D&P Studios, Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.  Most of the cast was recruited from Dublin’s Abbey Theatre.  James Mason said this is his best career performance and his favorite of the Carol Reed films.  Originally, the lead role was offered to Stewart Granger but he turned it down.  He scanned the script and thought there wasn’t enough dialogue but he later thought he had made a mistake.  F.J. McCormick is a veteran Irish stage actor and he died of a brain tumor shortly after the release of this film.  This is the first British film to win the BAFTA award for Best British Film.  Included in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die edited by Steven Schneider.  This is the 15^th film directed by Carol Reed.