Movie Review: The Outsider

Johnny Gault (Tim Daly) is a cold-blooded gunslinger who wasn't looking for trouble but finds it when he rides into a dusty little town. An escalating feud over land between ranchers and new settlers is ready to explode into violence. As tensions mount, Johnny gets involved with a beautiful settler (Naomi Watts) and the fight becomes personal. Now it's the outsider who will need to settle the score in a final face-to-face showdown.


Stunning and beautifully acted adaptation of Penelope Williamson novel of the same name. The Outsider (Showtime/2002) tells the story of Rebecca Yoder, a woman of the Plain People. The Plain People believe in a strict life of no violence and that God will take care of them. Rebecca is recently widowed and is alone with only her young son. When notorious gunslinger Johnny Gault stumbles onto Rebecca's land she takes him home and nurses him back to health.


Tim Daly has played a number of different roles but I remember him best from the show Wings. In The Outsider he plays Johnny Gault who is a very bad man. Just the way I like them. :) Daly played this role surprisingly well. He was dark, violent, coarse and wicked, often just to get a reaction out of Rebecca. As Johnny he seems to relish his reputation as a killer. It's what he knows and what he's good at. He is confused by Rebecca's beliefs, especially after finding out her husband was killed because he would not fight back. Johnny even offers to kill the men who killed Rebecca's husband. He figures he owes her for saving his life. I really liked the character of Johnny and the way he changed over the course of the movie.


The movie opens with Rebecca and her husband in bed. You definitely get the sense that Rebecca isn't shy when it comes to sex. Not that she's promiscuous but that she loved her husband and loved the physical side of their relationship. She was at times a very simple woman who lived her beliefs and kept her faith in God. After some time with Johnny she didn't question those beliefs so much as begin to interpret them in a different way. She still doesn't believe that violence is the answer and tells Johnny this a number of times. He doesn't want to give up his guns since this is all he knows.

The movie worked on so many level. The relationship of Johnny and Rebecca and how she was afraid of him but felt it was her duty to save him because of her beliefs. Johnny comes to realize that violence isn't always the answer. There is also the range war going on and Rebecca and her sheep ranch are right in the middle of it.


Overall this was a wonderful story of two people who despite everything are attracted to each other to the point of going against their beliefs. The scenery was beautiful and the acting superb. Tim Daly as Johnny was smoking hot. He had that cool, "I don't give a damn" attitude down pat. Naomi Watts as Rebecca made for an admirable opponent to Johnny. There were also some scenes of humor that only added to the realism of the story. The drama of their everyday lives played out while their love story grew. When they do sleep together the sex is hot and both Rebecca and Johnny give and take. Their passion seems to take them by surprise for there was nothing quick or sedate about the love scenes. Their physical relationship merely adds another dimension to their bond.

If you are in the mood for a splendid love story then I would recommend The Outsider.

Rating: A

*Do I even need to mention who got me to watch this? :0)*