Curtis is quite adept at playing tortured souls and does another fine job here. The inferred gay subtext seems to be another hallmark of Curtis’ films. I’m not so sure it aligns with the facts in regard to Ira Hayes but there it is.
I've never been a fan of white actors putting on "red-face" to play Native American characters, but Tony Curtis was superb in this dramatization of the life and tragic death of Ira Hayes, Pima Indian and famed veteran of the WWII battles on Iwo Jima. While Clint Eastwood's film "Flags of Our Fathers" was a bit more factual in its depiction, "The Outsider" focuses more on Hayes and his troubled life after the war and his reluctance at being labeled a "hero" by others. One bit of dramatic license comes in the character of Pvt. Sorensen, with whom Ira grows close in boot camp and whose death on Iwo Jima Hayes ends up grieving through the rest of the film. Strangely, Hayes and Sorensen's relationship has a strong gay subtext to it, and whether this was intentional by the filmmakers or not is up for debate. While this is somewhat disconcerting when attached to the life of a historical figure like Ira Hayes, it does add an interesting layer to Curtis's performance.
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ClassicLady
Curtis is quite adept at playing tortured souls and does another fine job here. The inferred gay subtext seems to be another hallmark of Curtis’ films. I’m not so sure it aligns with the facts in regard to Ira Hayes but there it is.DJPowWow
I've never been a fan of white actors putting on "red-face" to play Native American characters, but Tony Curtis was superb in this dramatization of the life and tragic death of Ira Hayes, Pima Indian and famed veteran of the WWII battles on Iwo Jima. While Clint Eastwood's film "Flags of Our Fathers" was a bit more factual in its depiction, "The Outsider" focuses more on Hayes and his troubled life after the war and his reluctance at being labeled a "hero" by others. One bit of dramatic license comes in the character of Pvt. Sorensen, with whom Ira grows close in boot camp and whose death on Iwo Jima Hayes ends up grieving through the rest of the film. Strangely, Hayes and Sorensen's relationship has a strong gay subtext to it, and whether this was intentional by the filmmakers or not is up for debate. While this is somewhat disconcerting when attached to the life of a historical figure like Ira Hayes, it does add an interesting layer to Curtis's performance.