In his later years, when James Mason was interviewed on television or in magazines, he was inevitably asked what role of all of his films he thought his best one - and he gave an honest but unexpected answer. Instead of choosing his best recalled roles in A STAR IS BORN (Norman Main) or Uncle Nicholas in THE SEVENTH VEIL or Captain Nemo (TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA) or the Marquis of Rohan in THE MAN IN GRAY or Humbert Humbert in LOLITA or Van Dam in NORTH BY NORTHWEST, he chose Johnny McQueen, the doomed IRA man in ODD MAN OUT. It certainly was a good performance - whether it is his best performance or his star turn with Judy Garland in A STAR IS BORN remains for individuals to guess. But it certainly is compelling. It is also a serious allegory on the abandonment of a Christlike figure.
Johnny McQueen does not start out Christlike - he is a gunman planning a bank robbery with his gang (including Cyril Cusack) for funds for the IRA. But there are a series of problems that arise in the bank robbery, culminating in Johnny killing the manager of the branch and getting seriously wounded. His co-conspirators (in their panic) abandon him to get away. They are the first people in the city of Belfast who will continuously abandon or dump or try to use Johnny in the next twenty-four hours, while the police (Denis O'Dea) and his loyal girlfriend Katherine (Kathleen Ryan) and his priest Father Tom (W.G.Fay) try to find him before it is too late. But O'Dea is seeking him for eventual trial and execution, while Ryan and Fay want to get him out of Belfast back to Eire.
What happens is like a repudiation of the story of the Good Samaritan, with Johnny as the injured man passed by "good" people. Nobody who Johnny stumbles on wants to touch him. A pair of women whose home he stumbles into doesn't want the husband of one of them to see him. William Hartnell, as a bartender, is angry when Johnny is dropped off at his pub - he hides him until he can be dumped into the street. There are also others who would briefly protect him for their own reasons. Robert Newton is a mad painter who wants to have him as a subject (he'd be the face of Christ curiously enough). As poor Johnny is increasingly disoriented by his loss of blood and lack of care, he hallucinates at this point - and actually has a brief religious moment thinking he is talking to Father Tom. But the latter is unable to speak clearly in Johnny's delirium. Still Johnny is able to recall what his religious faith meant when he was a youth. It is this sequence that is usually considered the highpoint of the story.
Given the long history of sectarian strife in Ireland and Belfast in particular ODD MAN OUT does a remarkable job at being fair minded. No hint of religious bigotry rears it's head - it is just a matter of sympathy with an underdog who can't protect himself, in a sea of indifferent hostility. The tragedy is played out with inevitability - and yet the film's conclusion mingles a sense of triumph with the tragedy, as Johnny finally is brought "safely home."
Johnny McQueen does not start out Christlike - he is a gunman planning a bank robbery with his gang (including Cyril Cusack) for funds for the IRA. But there are a series of problems that arise in the bank robbery, culminating in Johnny killing the manager of the branch and getting seriously wounded. His co-conspirators (in their panic) abandon him to get away. They are the first people in the city of Belfast who will continuously abandon or dump or try to use Johnny in the next twenty-four hours, while the police (Denis O'Dea) and his loyal girlfriend Katherine (Kathleen Ryan) and his priest Father Tom (W.G.Fay) try to find him before it is too late. But O'Dea is seeking him for eventual trial and execution, while Ryan and Fay want to get him out of Belfast back to Eire.
What happens is like a repudiation of the story of the Good Samaritan, with Johnny as the injured man passed by "good" people. Nobody who Johnny stumbles on wants to touch him. A pair of women whose home he stumbles into doesn't want the husband of one of them to see him. William Hartnell, as a bartender, is angry when Johnny is dropped off at his pub - he hides him until he can be dumped into the street. There are also others who would briefly protect him for their own reasons. Robert Newton is a mad painter who wants to have him as a subject (he'd be the face of Christ curiously enough). As poor Johnny is increasingly disoriented by his loss of blood and lack of care, he hallucinates at this point - and actually has a brief religious moment thinking he is talking to Father Tom. But the latter is unable to speak clearly in Johnny's delirium. Still Johnny is able to recall what his religious faith meant when he was a youth. It is this sequence that is usually considered the highpoint of the story.
Given the long history of sectarian strife in Ireland and Belfast in particular ODD MAN OUT does a remarkable job at being fair minded. No hint of religious bigotry rears it's head - it is just a matter of sympathy with an underdog who can't protect himself, in a sea of indifferent hostility. The tragedy is played out with inevitability - and yet the film's conclusion mingles a sense of triumph with the tragedy, as Johnny finally is brought "safely home."