It's 1973. Irish American rich kid Michael Flaherty (Craig Wasson) is a disillusioned Vietnam veteran, captivated by the romantic patriotic tales of his Irish Civil War veteran grandfather (Sterling Hayden). Determined to aid The Cause, he joins the IRA to fight the British. However, once he arrives, he finds that all is not what it seems, an all encompassing shade of grey permeates everything and that both the IRA and the British army consider him an expendable asset if need be and cynicism and utter pragmatism abounds.The Outsider is a film I've personally been looking for for the past 25 years or so, partly for being captivated by the novel as a kid and partly because my brother appeared in it in a scene where kids play soldiers, as one of the kids. Now that I've finally seen it, I found it an unassuming tour de force. There is no glory here. No heroism. No idealism. Just workmanlike docudrama style reality as both the IRA's army council and British military brass make coldly rational and logical decisions which will further their respective causes. When children are killed in the crossfire during a gun battle, by British army bullets, the IRA's army council discuss the tragedy in terms of how much more support the deaths will gain them among Irish Americans, while a British Colonel (veteran British actor Geoffry Palmer) admonishes his subordinate that "We can't have 12-year-old children being killed Nigel, it will swell up the ranks of the IRA", while his subordinate protests against SAS involvement on the grounds that "They'll make a mess of things, they always do", which will gain further recruitment for the IRA.As for the IRA themselves, there's Emmet, the pleasant and utterly ruthless executioner, The Farmer (veteran Irish actor Niall Toibin), a coldly implacable and completely ruthless brigade commander who retorts to complaints by a visiting army council member regarding civilian casualties to "tell GHQ to get me more guns instead of dynamite and my aim will be much more selective". and Tony, a smiling baby faced psychopath who the Farmer disdains because "It would make you sick the love he has for the trigger", but who also has no problem using to commit assassinations, precisely because of his bloodlust if it furthers The Cause. No morality. No ethos. Just get the job done in a pragmatically efficient way as possible due to the end justifying the means, in a low intensity war fought just as much via PR and through the media as it is in the back alleys of Belfast or fields of Monaghan.Irish actor Ray MacAnally terrifies in a left field scene as a murky British intelligence torturer, whose torture of a civilian is utterly workmanlike and casual as a means to an end. The Farmer coldly tries to figure out who a suspected informer may be with no illusions to the viewer as to what will await the informer's fate. There are no heroes and no villains, no Good Guys or Bad Guys but merely opponents who will use pawns as they see fit to win the war.The film is not without its minor flaws, such as one or two dodgy/missplaced accents but overall, as has been said by other reviewers, The Outsider is a true lost gem of a film with no easy answers but many astute observations. 9/10, highly recommended.

Years ago I visited NY, noticed this film and despite a pan by the NY Times, saw it since I'd been impressed by Craig Wasson in Go Tell the Spartans (still the best fiction film on Vietnam). Loved it: excellent story that avoids clichés, very well acted and directed. Came off a bit as The Further Adventures of the Craig Wasson Character Who Had Been in Nam. Disillusioned Nam vet wants purpose in life, goes to ancestral home Ireland, gets more disillusioned at being used by both IRA and Brits for their own, different purposes. Even becomes disillusioned with grandfather, whose screwed up memories of IRA glory persuaded him to go there. Maybe my memory of details is inaccurate (saw it once when it opened), but the final scene stays with me still: Wasson in a phone booth in Detroit, hitting the receiver on the phone box in frustration. Hope it comes out in DVD. If so, I'd order it in an instant.

The young Vietnam War veteran Michael Flaherty, from Detroit, (Craig Wasson) joins the IRA because his Irish grandfather fought for the cause and he has told Michael so many stories of his, and Michael wants to be just like him. After working briefly at the border, Michael's wish is granted- he is sent to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where all you can see is ruins and riots. All the while, Michael is not aware that he has been considered as an outsider and that he has been manipulated. To the IRA, he is nothing but a pawn for their 'public relations'. When Michael realises the brutal truth, he is utterly disillusioned. He only becomes further disillusioned when he has returned to America and his ill grandfather confesses to him yet another harsh truth...I have been to Belfast, though not in the 1970s, but from what I've read and what I've seen, I can say this film vividly depicts the city of Belfast in the early 1970s, the peak of the Troubles. And not all of them fought for the cause. Some of them were indeed downright terrorists (again, I must reiterate, not ALL of them). The movie also portrays the cunning nature of the British Troops. The ending is a very clever one. I think I should track down the novel.

But it ended a lot earlier than the novel. In the book, Emmett chases Flaherty back to the U.S. and the pair of them end up at the Shepherd's Mass, a Feast of the Assumption event that takes place every year in the mountains of northern Wyoming. Back to the movie: I've tried to find it in video stores and nobody even has it listed. Where can I get a copy?