description The Outrage Overview
The Outrage is a 1964 American Western directed by Martin Ritt and starring Paul Newman, Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, and Edward G. Robinson. Adapted from the structure of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, it presents conflicting accounts of a violent incident in the American West and uses a courtroom-style framework to explore unreliable testimony. It is intended for viewers interested in classic Westerns and literary film adaptations.
help The Outrage FAQ
Is The Outrage a remake of Rashomon?
Essentially yes — it's the 1964 Hollywood Western adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon, transposed to the American Southwest and routed through a stage play by Fay and Michael Kanin. Kurosawa's film itself drew on Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's stories.
Who does Paul Newman play in The Outrage?
Newman plays Juan Carrasco, a Mexican bandit at the center of the disputed incident — a transformation role that came between his work in films like Hud and Harper. Different witnesses recast him as brute, lover, or victim across the retellings.
Who else appears in The Outrage's cast?
Laurence Harvey plays the aristocrat husband, Claire Bloom his wife, and Edward G. Robinson a cynical con man, with William Shatner as a preacher at a frontier train station. That framing device replaces Kurosawa's ruined Rashomon gate.
How faithful is The Outrage to Kurosawa's original?
The core structure — contradictory testimonies about a single violent incident — survives intact, but the setting, era and moral framing are Westernized, and the play added its own framing scenes. It also runs somewhat longer than Rashomon's brisk 88 minutes.
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