In the late 1950s, the FBI planted a rudimentary listening device behind the radiator in a Michigan Avenue tailor shop often frequented by Chicago mob bosses, and thus gathered a wealth of information about notorious chiefs such as Sam Giancana and Anthony “Joe Batters” Accardo. The Chicago-born writer-director Graham Moore has told interviewers that historical nugget was the seed for “The Outfit,” a taut, claustrophobically gripping, beautifully acted period piece set entirely in the rooms of neighborhood tailor shop frequented by Chicago mobsters and their associates. You gotta love that.
“The Outfit” has some similarities to films such as “Deathtrap” and “Sleuth” and Kubrick’s “The Killing,” but it also reminded me of “Reservoir Dogs” in that there’s been an offscreen shooting, a man is bleeding out and can’t be taken to a hospital, every indication says there’s a rat within the ranks—and the hot-tempered son of a crew chief believes when Daddy gets here, he’ll know what to do.
