A gleefully lurid true story
Dead Outlaw surely has an implied message about making the most of life and the horror of profiting off a human, even a criminal one, who couldn’t object even if his jaw hadn’t been wired shut. But mostly, it’s as gleefully lurid as the sideshows and wax museums that once seized on the real McCurdy, telling his story with all the bombast of a carnival barker telling morbidly curious crowds to step right up, folks. Dead Outlaw, too, is entertainment for a paying audience, after all.
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