classicsoncall
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.
ElMaruecan82
With a Magnum .44, Clint Eastwood asked how lucky you felt, as Josey Wales, he doesn't even need to pull his pistols... but you'd better whistle Dixie once he's done asking.And as usual, words are still less eloquent than the stares emerging from the shadows over his eyes or that nasty spitting habit that works like poetic punctuation marks in sentences written by the sole power of his death-pending silences. In fact, whether for tobacco juice, juicy one-liners or bullets, Eastwood sure knows how to deliver!Yet "The Outlaw Josey Wales" is more than a crossover of 'Dirty Harry' and the 'Dollar' Trilogy but it couldn't work if Eastwood pretended to ignore the characters who made him a star. He actually plays with his trademark with brilliant self-awareness. For instance, the way he's got the sun in his back to make him look more menacing has often been a directing technique rather than a plot element. Wales mentions it as a necessity, in order to have an edge over the enemy.Later, he rescues Grandma Sarah (Paula Trueman) and her granddaughter Laura Lee (Sondra Locke) from Comancheros. Lone Watie, his old Native companion played by the irresistible Chief Dan George can anticipate every single move,like a fan watching his favorite movie ... and when the talk is over, he warns the ladies that "hell's coming for breakfast". Wales can't be an artificial character because his tricks are survival keys. Someone who lost his family can't afford any deficit in anticipation anyway. And our own anticipations are always toyed with for either comedic or dramatic purposes. The initial encounter with Lone Watie is funny in a touching way because the old Indian realized a white man has been sneaking up on him, which means he's been slipping. Later, he managed to take his revenge only to be surprised by a gun-cocking hello from Little Moonlight (Geraldine Keams). Chief Dan George is a real delight of Oscar-worthy talent. With bittersweet lucidity, he embodies the resignation of someone who doesn't see himself as a Native only, but a tired old man too civilized to fit in the world, but he tries.But let's get back to the anticipation, another highlight from the movie (which is saying a lot) is the peace talk with the Comanche chief. "You be Ten Bears?" asks Wales. "I am Ten Bears" retorts the charismatic commander with perfect English, he's played by the unforgettable Will Sampson. The genius of this exchange lies on the set-up, everything seemed to "indicate" a coming bloodshed but a simple and straightforward man-to-man talk solves the situation. Yet if it wasn't for the "get ready" scene before, the "it shall be life' wouldn't have been as emotionally satisfying, unpredictability is the film's strongest suit especially when it's played for quiet drama moments instead of action.And this is how, for all its kinship with the 'Dollar' trilogy, the film manages to reconcile the revisionist with the old-school vision and its gallery of colorful characters, bounty hunters, settlers, Natives, cavalry, bartenders, saloon girls and carpetbaggers. Even Wales, the lone wolf, gets along with his new companions. Chief Dan George and Paula Trueman can also talk about 'pale faces' and 'redskins' because there's no offense possible between them. The film shifts from the usual animosity between American and Natives to actually reveal an even worse hatred between Americans.The opening is quite savage on that level. Wales, a peaceful Missouri peasant, witnesses the killing of his wife and son by a Union militia called Redlegs and lead by Captain Terril (Bill McKinney). The grief-stricken man vows revenge and joins the Confederate counterpart lead by Fletcher (John Vernon), and their band leads no-less merciless rides... economically displayed during the opening credits sequence. The real story commences at the end of the war, Wales grew a beard, looks meaner, and refuses to surrender in exchange of amnesty.Once again, anticipation is everything and his instinct prevents him from being shot in an ambush from which young Jamie (Sam Bottoms) is the only one escapee. The Union soldiers executed their former enemies, hypocritically ignoring that war crimes were from both sides and the border states was the setting of fratricide murders... like a Civil War within the Civil War. Anyway, with a reward over his head, Wales , crosses the path of many bounty hunters who'd learn at their expenses that dying ain't such a way to make a living. And the more dead left to buzzard, the bigger the legend grows.Still, the story is less about the chase than the new perspective it has to offer on the Civil War. It wasn't just a right cause against an archaic system or the "Battle Hymn of Republic" against "Dixie", but savagery dictated by the tragic randomness of borders and the cruel calculations of politicians who, unlike people, don't live together. And the way Natives and Whites get along in the film prove that in Eastwood's Western universe, there's no place anymore for binary thinking, a stance probably inherited from the revisionist wave, Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone or Arthur Penn who showed the human side of Natives in "Little Big Man", and did so with depth and humor.In the post-Vietnam days, Westerns ironically stopped to be the exaltation of a nostalgic past but the echo of the political disillusion of a lost generation. In 1976, Western neo-classics were past their prime and Clint Eastwood was not an established director yet, but he found the right tone and the right story, as if only he could reconcile between the new and old school, make a humanistic story from material written by a KKK apologist, or a politically relevant drama out of a period film. There was no pretension or trendy thinking, he just saw the potential of the character and he was right. The film found its public and gets better after each viewing.
dworldeater
The Outlaw Josey Wales is not only one of Clint's finest westerns, it is a stone cold classic and one of the best films ever made. This does have a lot of the elements of his classic "The Man With No Name" persona, but in this picture he has a name(Josey Wales) and more depth and humanity(which he regains through the course of the film). This post civil war western is an epic achievement and clocks in at nearly 3 hours, but moves by quickly and looks and sounds amazing. The themes of family, friendship, sorrow, revenge, betrayal and redemption are conveyed very well in this film, as well as the brutality of war which has long term ripple effects that are explored here as well. While the film does have a dark post war tone, there is still room for warmth and humor through Wales eccentric companions as well as the occasional Eastwood one liners here and there. Sondra Locke, Chief Dan George, John Vernon, Bill McKinney and the rest of the supporting cast is top notch. Clint made lots of outstanding film throughout his career, but The Outlaw Josey Wales is a unique and special kind of film that is so well done and always a pleasure to watch.
