Standing Up
Dr. Jim Kiler (Robert Culp) has had enough of the young men who race their cars up and down the private road in front of his house especially as they seem to not care whether they are putting people and children's lives at risk. Having managed to have speed bumps installed Jim finds that the young men have started a campaign of terror against him and his family whilst avoiding legal prosecution thanks to their parents not showing up in court on the day they are due to be prosecuted. With the teens trying to scare Jim off and the police unable to do anything it is up to him to take matters in to his own hands and make a stand against them.
"Outrage" is not a complicated movie as we have a group of teens tormenting a man and his family when he tries to prevent them from drag racing up and down the road and with the law unable to help he finally has enough and take matters in to his own hands. Yes this sounds like a bit of a forerunner to the "Death Wish" movies with a man finally having enough of the threats and intimidation from a handful of spoilt brats. As such we see the friction the situation causes between Jim and his wife as whilst he doesn't want to be beaten by these punks she is scared and wants them to move to another safer community.
Now for a TV movie "Outrage" is pretty effective thanks mainly to two things. The first of those is Robert Culp who delivers a wonderful characterisation of a man boiling up inside, seething and becoming half crazy with anger when it comes to the actions of these punks and their parents who protect them. But we also have the campaign of terror which is two fold because whilst we have the bad behaviour of these teens from paint bombing a house to actually driving their cars at Jim we also have their arrogance as they slowly drive past Jim's wife as she gardens, making her afraid. It is powerful even now especially seeing how Jim's wife becomes so affected by the campaign of intimidation she borders on becoming a wreck.
What this all boils down to is that "Outrage" is a very powerful movie even now over 40 years after it was made and the strength of it comes from not only a strong performance from Robert Culp but also the level of terror and arrogance displayed by the young punks.
