The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

"Are you gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?" To some of us, we quietly get together in closed-door sessions and hushed tones and truly believe that this is the greatest western of all time. It certainly is Clint Eastwood's favorite movie. However, for the sake of our classic western fans, I put it in third place. It has stood the test of time and true Western fanatics quote lines from this movie. "Not a hard man to track. Leaves dead men wherever he goes." Eastwood runs the full gamut of his emotions and turns in a great job of acting including spittin' chaw on everything that moves. Rottentomatoes.com has a perfect 100% score on the critics "Tomatometer" with Roger Ebert stating, " Eastwood is such a taciturn and action-oriented performer that it's easy to overlook the fact that he directs many of his movies -- and many of the best, most intelligent ones. Here, with the moody, gloomily beautiful photography of Bruce Surtees, he creates a magnificent Western feeling." It was also one of the few Western movies to receive critical and commercial success in the 70's at a time when the Western was thought to be dying as a major genre in Hollywood. Orson Welles while on Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson proclaimed Josey Wales the best Western ever made and admitted to seeing it over 4 times!!! Jerry Fielding was nominated for an Oscar in the best motion picture score category. In 1996, this film was placed in the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry. "Dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy."

In "The Outlaw Josey Wales," you can start to feel the Western moving beyond its roots and into new, more dramatic territory. The genre enjoyed a decades-long run in the early- to mid-20th century between the classics and Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti Westerns, and in "Josey Wales," in the twilight years of Westerns, Eastwood contributes to the emergent trend of Revisionist Westerns, tearing these stories from their conventions, or perhaps, applying their conventions to earnest stories about salt-of-the-earth people."Josey Wales" is technically a "Mid-Western," taking place in the Missouri-Kansas area in the wake of the Civil War. When Union Jayhawks burn his home and kill his family, Wales joins a ragtag group of Confederates. At the war's end, he refuses to surrender, a decision that pays off when his compatriots are massacred by the same Union soldiers. Wales retaliates, and a large bounty is placed on his head. As he attempts to outrun them en route to Texas, he collects new companions including a Cherokee man (Chief Dan George) and an old Kansas woman (Paula Trueman) and her granddaughter (Sondra Locke).Although Eastwood is playing a character somewhere in between The Man with No Name and Dirty Harry, presumably for reasons of commercial appeal, "Josey Wales" participates in the revisionist tradition of rewriting the clichés of Westerns, especially in regards to its Native American characters. They are multi- dimensional and integral to the movie. Chief Dan George's Lone Watie is easily the film's best character. And let's not forget that this is a Western with a few actual female characters, ones who even speak up and fire guns.Despite earning those points, the film's narrative is a little disjointed. It plays like an epic with supporting characters ducking in an out, though it's Eastwood who leaves the impression every time. Philip Kaufman, adapting Forrest Carter's book alongside Sonia Chernus, has a real gift for ending a scene, usually in a sharp, humorous way with a terrific one-liner. It's easy to see the way this film translated to the success of Harrison Ford and the "Indiana Jones" series not much later.For all the clever and profound moments spread throughout the film, Eastwood never quite finds the tension or at least the weight to the events on screen. The stakes don't feel particularly high, even with the effective jump-cut flashbacks to his family dying before his eyes. His success comes mostly in experimenting with different camera angles and framing, much in the way Sergio Leone did early on. Eastwood was still in the early years of his directing career and it's apparent in the way some shots show a keen eye and others don't seem to serve much purpose. All that said, it's hard to say what credit Kaufman deserves as director, as he left mid-production due to off-set romantic tension involving him, Eastwood and Locke. Regardless, cinematographer Bruce Surtees, who worked with Eastwood a lot in the '70s, creates a very rich picture that really holds up nicely."Josey Wales" is by and large a good viewing experience, with glimpses of insight and strong production values. More than those things, however, is how it stands as an example of a movie star doing what he does best while also pushing the genre that birthed him in positive new directions. Intermingling with its classic Western tendencies are ideas of what loyalty means in terms of country, kin and even the stranger, as well as who holds authority in a divided land trying to heal. Other movies that came later on did it better, but "Josey Wales" played a part in initiating that decisive shift. ~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

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.

The Outlaw Josey Wales might not be groundbreaking but it has a western genre purity. A man who is just trying to provide for his family gets thrust into a situation of revenge and being hunted. This is as real as the west itself and interjecting The Civil War adds history as well.Even in the mid-seventies the western genre remained bankable at the box office but had little output to satisfy that. Especially anything with true quality like those of decades before. We should all thank Clint Eastwood for being an excellent torch bearer. Here it seems everything gels. You've got a fantastic character who gets support from the unlikely wonderful treasure real life Indian Chief Dan George. This pairing thrusts the movie into rarefied air indeed. Plus the story is compelling and flows as if it recounts something that actually may have occurred. The wilderness of American and the spare landscapes of the Southwest in particular are brilliantly photographed. Early on newcomer Samuel Bottoms gives an honest very un- Hollywood co-starring role as a young Southerner who idolizes Wales as everything he aspires to. A movie with utterly fantastic characters and a fine story to match. Eastwood had his own vision and it moved slowly which some of the brass, reportedly, wanted to either fix with more action or edit to move faster. Eastwood, again reportedly, told them that's your choice and I'll be working at the studio across the street. They left it alone and the rest proved Eastwood already had a mastery of the genre much like Ford and Hawks. The story works in it's unhurried and steady flow to the inevitable final outcome never losing the viewer's interest. One really isn't asked to look too deep, but there are great truths too woven in the politics which are never insulting or fake. Truly a classic western for the ages.