For my money, The Outlaw Josey Wales is as good as they get.
Tools:
Recommend review to a friend »
Debate over which Western movie is the best one ever made has been a staple of Hollywood table talk since the days of Bronco Billy Anderson. OK, so which one really is the best Western of all? "Stagecoach," "Red River," "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon," "High Noon," "Shane," "The Searchers," "Rio Bravo," "True Grit," "Unforgiven"? The front-runners go on and on. For my money, "The Outlaw Josey Wales" is as good as they get.
Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, clearly the only actor since John Wayne to have assumed the mantle of ultimate Western good guy, "The Outlaw Josey Wales" demonstrates every characteristic that marks a legendary film about the Old West. It features the laconic loner in the white hat, the rousing shoot-outs, the rescues in the nick of time, the glorious outdoor scenery, the colorful cast of supporting characters, and, of course, the inevitable pretty girl. Add a touch of sentiment and a dose of soul to the stirring action, and you get a quintessential Western and an extraordinary motion picture.
The story begins in the waning years of the American Civil War, Josey a peace-loving farmer with wife and child. But his family is attacked and killed and his home burned by marauding Red Legs, cutthroats working for the Union, led by a man named Terrill (Bill McKinney). Seeking revenge, Josey joins a band of Rebel guerrillas in the hope of catching up with the villains. It doesn't happen. The War ends, and a price is put on Josey's head for being among the few men not to surrender to the North. Instead, he heads West--Southwest, to be exact, perhaps to Mexico through the Indian Nations; he isn't sure. Ironically, the posse assigned to track him down is headed up by the very man Josey is seeking, Terrill, and a former friend of Josey's named Fletcher (John Vernon).
On the way West, Josey acquires a reputation as a notorious gunfighter, most of it justified, some of it not. Plus, he meets up with a mixed bag of castaways, who, despite Josey's penchant for independence, insist one by one upon tagging along with him. At first it's a young soldier (Sam Bottoms); then it's an aged Indian (Chief Dan George); a young Indian woman (Geraldine Keams); an elderly lady (Paula Trueman); her beautiful granddaughter (Sandra Locke); and, finally, a mean red hound that Josey continually abuses with his expectorations. Josey also encounters on the trail veteran character actors Royal Dano, John Russell, Woodrow Parfrey, and Sheb Wooley (from Eastwood's old "Rawhide" days), as well as Will Sampson as a tribal leader, Ten Bears.
The film combines the easy pace of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" with the grand, sweeping vistas of "Jeremiah Johnson"; and it throws in some of the picaresque adventure of "Little Big Man" with a lot of the mythic heroism of "A Fistful of Dollars."
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]8718[/release]