The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

Undescribable Perfection

Fantastic!

A different way of telling a story

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Think of him any way you want - as Will Munny (Unforgiven), The Preacher (Pale Rider), The Stranger (High Plains Drifter), or The Man With No Name (Sergio Leone's Westerns) - Clint Eastwood always delivers when he portrays the disaffected loner seeking vengeance on those who've done him wrong. I never get tired of Eastwood's revenge Westerns, even if he basically shows up as the same character with a different name. Here he's Josey Wales, bereft of wife and young son when Union Redlegs pillage his home and murder his family. Without the carnage he wouldn't have become the 'Outlaw' of the title, but his instincts are to set things right and achieve a measure of justice against those who've done him wrong.This film offers up two of my three favorite Native American actors as well. Iron Eyes Cody is the third, but he's actually Italian (bet you didn't know that, go ahead and check it out). Chief Dan George provides some tension releasing comic relief here as Josey's erstwhile traveling companion. His 'endeavor to persevere' characterization has stayed with me a long time, many years after seeing this picture for the first time. I also take away a lot of inspiration from Will Sampson's 'words of iron' speech as Ten Bears accepts The Gray Rider's offer of life in place of death. That offer extends as well to opportunistic bounty hunters who fail to heed Wales' warning - "Dyin' ain't much of livin', boy". The only improvement I might have offered if I were making this picture would have been to give a larger role to John Russell. He's virtually unrecognizable as Bloody Bill Anderson at the beginning of the story, and disappears almost instantly after Josey agrees to ride with the Jayhawkers. That oversight would be corrected with 1985's "Pale Rider". "The Outlaw Josey Wales" isn't my favorite Eastwood movie, but it's up there in terms of sentiment. Actually, picking a favorite Clint Eastwood movie is a bit difficult because they all work in one way or another to elicit a strong reaction regarding right vs. wrong and seeking out the best instincts in a person. The man's come a long way since he pulled that little white mouse out of his lab coat in "Revenge of the Creature". I'd like to see him go on forever.

Warner Brothers executive David Geffen was correct, the film needed to be trimmed a bit.The Outlaw Josey Wales has long been regarded as the last great western set during and in the aftermath of the American Civil War.Josey Wales, a Missouri farmer watched his family being murdered by Union militants. Hell bent on revenge, Wales joins a band of Confederate guerrilla fighters. After the war, all the fighters apart from Wales surrender to Union officers who massacre them.Wales becomes an outlaw and an ace marksman. He is pursued both by bounty hunters and Unionist soldiers. As Wales attempts to head for Mexico he is befriended by an old Indian, a mangy dog and a young Indian woman. Wales slowly regains his humanity.Philip Kaufman co-wrote the screenplay and was slated to direct the film. He was fired by Eastwood part way through. I think it would had been a better film with Kaufman.When you see a movie over forty years after its initial release, you see it differently. This is an elegiac film with a lot of humour between Eastwood and Chief Dan George. Despite the action set up, it moves at times at a leisurely pace.Kaufman was unhappy with the source novel's political stance. Once again we have a film set in the civil war where the Unionist soldiers are seen as despicable. The pro slavery Confederates being painted as honourable and wronged.I did have problems as to how Wales goes on from being an ordinary farmer to such a sharpshooter. There is also a libertarian message that seems to be more anti government which reflects Eastwood's views somewhat. The Indian nations might have little issues with such a message given how they kept losing their land. Does this also mean I have a right to keep this black man as a slave and the big bad government has denied me this right?

After his wife and son are murdered by a group of Redlegs from Kansas a farmer name "Josie Wales" (Clint Eastwood) teams up with others from Missouri intent on having their revenge. And since the Redlegs are allied with the powerful Union army, they join the Confederacy in an attempt to somehow lessen the odds against them. Unfortunately, the Union eventually wears the Confederacy which eventually forces the leader of the Missouri guerrillas named "Fletcher" (John Vernon) to discuss the terms of surrender. Although Fletcher accepts money for his efforts, what he doesn't know is that the treacherous Redlegs have no intention of honoring any deal and subsequently slaughter almost all of his men when he brings them in to surrender. What the Redlegs don't count upon is the fact that the most dangerous and deadly guerrilla of them all—Josie Wales—has opted not to surrender and having now witnessed the massacre of his colleagues is now even more determined to kill all of them. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I believe that this is one of the finest Western movies ever produced. The plot moved along at a very entertaining pace and I especially enjoyed the humor provided by the old Cherokee warrior named "Lone Watie" (Chief Dan George). Be that as it may, those looking for a good Western from days gone by should certainly check this one out. It is extremely entertaining.

This is one of my favorite Clint Eastwood films, and he directed himself in the title role. It has one of the best stories and features some of the best action sequences, IMO, of any of his Westerns. It's musical Score was Oscar nominated. It was added to the National Film Registry in 1996.After the Civil War, having served an honorable man Fletcher (John Vernon) that was tricked by higher authorities, Clint (the title character) settles down as a farmer. Then, his property is burned and his family killed by a bunch of renegades. He receives a scar across the face when he's hit by the butt of a rifle, and is knocked out. While recovering, he teaches himself to shoot while he plots his revenge. He then sets out to find each and every one of the men responsible in order to kill them. He is mostly successful, so the authorities send Fletcher out to find and stop him. About this time, Clint has met and joined with a Native Americans (Chief Dan George). They run across a "green" pioneering family headed West, which includes a pretty young Sandra Locke. So, he helps them, having to make peace with the local Indian chief Ten Bears (Will Sampson). But, he's yet to find the last of the men he'd hunted and Fletcher is on his tail.