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The Outlaw Josey Wales

  • 1976
  • PG
  • 2h 15m
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
84K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
3,169
193
Clint Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Watch the trailer for the western The Outlaw Josey Wales, starring Clint Eastwood.
Play trailer2:14
1 Video
99+ Photos
DramaWestern

A Missouri farmer hunts down brutal Union soldiers.A Missouri farmer hunts down brutal Union soldiers.A Missouri farmer hunts down brutal Union soldiers.

  • Director
    • Clint Eastwood
  • Writers
    • Forrest Carter
    • Philip Kaufman
    • Sonia Chernus
  • Stars
    • Clint Eastwood
    • Sondra Locke
    • Chief Dan George
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.8/10
    84K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    3,169
    193
    • Director
      • Clint Eastwood
    • Writers
      • Forrest Carter
      • Philip Kaufman
      • Sonia Chernus
    • Stars
      • Clint Eastwood
      • Sondra Locke
      • Chief Dan George
    • 285User reviews
    • 75Critic reviews
    • 69Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 1 win & 2 nominations total

    Videos1

    The Outlaw Josey Wales: Trailer
    Trailer 2:14
    The Outlaw Josey Wales: Trailer

    Photos158

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    Top cast43

    Edit
    Clint Eastwood
    Clint Eastwood
    • Josey Wales
    Sondra Locke
    Sondra Locke
    • Laura Lee
    Chief Dan George
    Chief Dan George
    • Lone Watie
    Bill McKinney
    Bill McKinney
    • Captain Terrill
    John Vernon
    John Vernon
    • Captain Fletcher
    Paula Trueman
    Paula Trueman
    • Grandma Sarah
    Sam Bottoms
    Sam Bottoms
    • Jamie
    Geraldine Keams
    Geraldine Keams
    • Little Moonlight
    Woodrow Parfrey
    Woodrow Parfrey
    • Carpetbagger
    Joyce Jameson
    Joyce Jameson
    • Rose
    Sheb Wooley
    Sheb Wooley
    • Travis Cobb
    Royal Dano
    Royal Dano
    • Ten Spot
    Matt Clark
    Matt Clark
    • Kelly
    • (as Matt Clarke)
    John Verros
    • Chato
    Will Sampson
    Will Sampson
    • Ten Bears
    William O'Connell
    William O'Connell
    • Sim Carstairs
    John Quade
    John Quade
    • Comanchero Leader
    Frank Schofield
    • Senator Lane
    • Director
      • Clint Eastwood
    • Writers
      • Forrest Carter
      • Philip Kaufman
      • Sonia Chernus
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews285

    7.884.2K
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    Featured reviews

    9klaramee-1

    A brilliant western

    Strikes all the right notes of humor, adventure, gun fights and most of all, authenticity. Eastwood is impressive in front of and behind the camera. The script stays reasonably close to the book (Gone to Texas).

    Chief Dan George is truly a treasure and was perfectly cast. The great Will Samson is imposing and utterly believable as Ten Bears. Bill McKinney (from the "Eastwood acting collective") is great as Terrill. Although, Sandra Locke is typically forgettable in an otherwise well cast film.

    This along with Unforgiven will forever be branded classic "Cowboy" movies in my mind. I still recall Orson Welles on the Tonight Show telling Johnny he had just seen "the greatest Western ever made" after viewing The Outlaw Josey Wales. Brilliant film.
    9gottogorunning

    Classic Western!

    This is Clint Eastwood in one of his best roles ever. There's great one-liners like "You gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?", "Dyin ain't much of a livin boy", etc. Eastwood meets up with the likes of 10-bears (Indian chief), Yankee soldiers, Rapist Trappers, you name it. At one point Eastwood meets an old Indian "I forgot his name" who tells him that he didn't surrender, but they captured his horse and made him surrender. I haven't seen this movie in over 2 or 3 years and so my memory of it has faded some but it's one of the best Westerns ever. As Eastwood would say "Better 'an you'll ever live to see". Rarely is there a happy ending in Eastwood's work. There's always another trail to ride, a bounty to collect, and blood to be shed. 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' shows how hard it is for that blood to be washed away.
    10jrlowe71

    One of Clints very best!!!!!!!

    Having grown up with Josie Wales as a household name and being a big fan of westerns, I have to agree with the just about everyones previous comments in describing it as excellent. It represents what a true western is. The story line is captivating and intense. The lead character played by Clint himself could be played by no one else. What some may call "lack of acting" because of lack of dialog only lends itself to the desirability of this film. You find yourself hanging on his next words. Clints one liners are still household expressions nearly thirty years after the movies release. In short this film is one of the best westerns made period. There have been others that Clint has made including the spaghetti westerns and his Oscar winning Unforgiven that add to his credibility as a great actor and film maker. But not many films touch so many levels of emotion. The only letdown to this film is that it had to end and no sequel was followed by Clint. Lastly, it's too bad for the film industry and Eastwood fans like myself that the man has to get old. His take on what entertains an audience is uncompromising. Films like The outlaw Josie Wales and what it represents to the American Culture will be enjoyed for many years to come.
    9bsmith5552

    "Are You Gonna Pull Those Pistols or Whistle Dixie?"

    "The Outlaw Josie Wales" was made by Clint Eastwood at a time when westerns were out of favor and the public wanted more of Clint as Dirty Harry. This film as it turned out, was one of Clint's best and certainly ranks up there with the more popular "Unforgiven" (1992).

    Josie Wales (Eastwood) is a dirt farmer in Missouri during the American Civil War. One day a group of yankee raiders led by Captain "Red Legs" Terrill (Bill McKinny) attacks and burns his farm and murders his wife and young son while leaving Josie for dead. As Josie ponders what to do next a group of southern raiders led by "Bloody Bill" Anderson (John Russell) takes him into his gang to seek his revenge.

    After the South surrenders, a fellow southerner, Fletcher (John Vernon) offers the remaining members of Anderson's gang amnesty if they will swear allegiance to the North. All but Wales agree. Unbeknownst to Fletcher, the men are suddenly murdered by the Union soldiers led by Terrill and in spite of Josie's efforts, only he and a young soldier names Jamie (Sam Bottoms) escape. Terrill and Fletcher are sent to hunt down the fugitives.

    Jamie soon dies from his wounds and Josie is left alone. He makes for Mexico but is joined first by Lone Watie (Chief Dan George), then Little Moonlight (Geraldine Kearns) whom Josie rescues from a trading post and finally Laura Lee (Sondra Locke) and Grandma Sarah (Paula Trueman) who he rescues from a gang of Commancheros.

    The group makes for Texas where Grandma Sarah's son has left her a ranch. All the time Josie is being pursued by Terrill and assorted bounty hunters. Josie dispatches several of them with his brace of Colt 45 horse pistols.

    Finally at the ranch, the group sets up a home and Josie begins to fall for Laura Lee. Fearing an Indian attack, Josie rides to meet with Chief Ten Bears (Will Sampson) and makes peace with him. But finally Terrill and his group of "Red Legs" tracks Josie down and..........

    Eastwood who also directed the movie, plays Wales with his usual grim faced persons. He's not afraid to pull his pistols and dispose of anyone who stands in his way. Interestingly enough, Eastwood cast all of the principal Native roles with native actors and treated them as equals and not in the old Hollywood tradition.

    An excellent western in every way.
    9Danimal-7

    One of the finest westerns

    THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES is a wonderful story about a wounded man, Josey Wales, a Missourian who has lost his home and his family to the Civil War. As the Civil War ends in defeat and despair for the South, Wales alone of his guerrilla unit refuses to surrender. He has nothing left to live for, except to fight, and he cannot give that up.

    This is a setup that has appeared many times in the movies, as the hero with nothing left to lose is a perfect excuse to show nonstop gunplay. To some extent, this happens in THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES too. It is an action western according to the classic formula, but it is more than that. Josey Wales heals his wounds as the story goes on, and begins to replace the friendship, and then the love, that he has lost. And as he heals, he begins to grow out of violence as a way of life. Many westerns have the theme of the older breed of man who tamed the west by violence being abandoned by his fellows; only this one, so far as I know, has the older breed of man abandon himself, that is to say, change his ways with the changing of the times.

    Clint Eastwood is a decent actor, not a great one. But at times he has shown the skills of a really first-class director, and given his limitations as an actor it is the more to his credit that he did not hog the stage. He gives plenty of screen time to an excellent supporting cast, of whom the most memorable is Chief Dan George as aged Cherokee warrior Lone Watie, a role he plays with an eerily perfect balance of dignity and humor. Will Sampson makes an unforgettable cameo as Comanche chief Ten Bears, and Paula Trueman is a magnificently feisty Sarah.

    John Vernon plays Fletcher, the man who betrays Josey Wales early on. I don't understand why Vernon could not find work in quality movies after this (he has appeared in 38 cinema releases since this movie and I challenge you to name any of them). Vernon has one of THE great basso-profundo voices in American cinema; only James Earl Jones could compare to it. If mountains could speak, they would sound like John Vernon. His role is a neat twist on the trope of the 'reluctant hero'; Fletcher is a reluctant villain.

    The ending of THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES is the most beautiful and poetic of any in western movie history, maybe the most beautiful of any movie ever. According to the rules of the genre, the final confrontation between Wales and Fletcher can have only one outcome; the movie finds another way, because Josey Wales has found another way.

    Rating: ***½ out of ****.

    Recommendation: Western fans should own this one, but any movie fan should enjoy it.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Because of Chief Dan George's age, he would have trouble remembering his lines, so during takes, Clint Eastwood would begin to mouth his lines without realizing it and had to be told to stop because it would ruin the take. In a featurette on the DVD about making this movie, Eastwood says he'd have people drill Dan George on his lines, but when it came time to shoot the scene, he'd say "Chief, just forget about the lines, tell me the story about the man who rode over the hill." And Dan George, who was apparently a natural storyteller, would then tell the story perfectly.
    • Goofs
      After Josey shoots the two men in the cabin/store where he goes to get a horse, he spits tobacco juice on one man's head and the dead man's eyes squint in reaction. However, as Josey steps by the body on the way out, the 'dead body' rotates his head away from camera, indicating that he wasn't quite dead yet.
    • Quotes

      Bounty hunter #1: You're wanted, Wales.

      Josey Wales: Reckon I'm right popular. You a bounty hunter?

      Bounty hunter #1: A man's got to do something for a living these days.

      Josey Wales: Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy.

    • Alternate versions
      The original UK cinema version was cut by 16 secs by the BBFC to edit the attempted rape of Laura Lee in order for the film to receive a 'AA' (14 and over) certificate. All later releases were upgraded to an '18' certificate and fully uncut.
    • Connections
      Featured in Eastwood in Action (1976)
    • Soundtracks
      Rose of Alabamy
      (uncredited)

      Written by Silas Sexton Steel

      Performed by Sam Bottoms

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • June 30, 1976 (Canada)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Navajo
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • El fugitivo Josey Wales
    • Filming locations
      • Old Tucson - 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA
    • Production companies
      • Warner Bros.
      • The Malpaso Company
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $3,700,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $31,800,000
    • Gross worldwide
      • $31,800,000
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 2h 15m(135 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

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