Pale Rider

In the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns of the 60s, Clint Eastwood rose to fame playing the man with no name. In 'Pale Rider', Eastwood creates his own variation of this character. Eastwood plays a mysterious gunfighter who is given the name 'preacher' because of the preacher's collar he wears. When the 'preacher' arrives at a gold mining community, he helps them stand up against a callous landowner.

Eastwood cuts deep into the film's characters in what is a rather standard script. Particularly, in the scenes involving the preacher and a gold-mining family. Eastwood also succeeds in giving his film a dark atmosphere which only adds to its intensity.

'Pale Rider' may not be as good as the director's best westerns, 'Unforgiven' and 'The Outlaw Josey Wales', but it can be regarded as a strong effort in what has been an illustrious career for Eastwood.

Rating: (8/10)

Shot on location in Sun Valley, Idaho, and to some esteem to "Shane," "Pale Rider" succeeded with sweeping landscapes and magnificent cinematography, to be an interesting Western that helps to bring back something from Eastwood's mystique…

In 1850 California, a small group squatters and their families find themselves terrorized by Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart), who are standing win the way of his progress… Desperate, LaHood begins using violence in an unsuccessful attempt to run the peaceful yet determined homesteaders from their land… Leading the homesteaders is a decent man Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty), who dreams of a better life for himself, his girlfriend Sarah Wheeler (Carrie Snodgress) and her lovely daughter from a previous marriage, 14-year-old Meagan (Sydney Penny).

Into the lives of these strong-willed people rides a mysterious man—tall and lean with something strange in his eyes —known only as "The Preacher" (Clint Eastwood). He says little, divulges nothing of his past, but for a man wearing a clerical collar he seems an expert at handling weapons… He pulls the miners together and gives them the confidence to defy LaHood even in the face of mounting violence...

Although both Sarah and her daughter become enamored of the pale preacher, he gently rejects their advances and makes them see that Hull is a less capable but far better man… There is a good scene when Spider Conway—went into town alone and running out of steam—invited LaHood to come out and have a drink with him… But instead Stockburn and his deputies came out asking him to dance…

Richard Dysart creates an all-too-believable villain, and Western veteran John Russell is well-cast as a middle-aged mercenary and his hired guns to face a legendary hero… It's an old score and it's time settle it

A drifter (Clint Eastwood) comes to a mining village in the Old West just in time to reckoning gunslingers and owners . He is a mysterious preacher who comes to the aid of gold prospectors and protects a humble embattled prospector (Michael Moriarty) and his woman (Carrie Snodgres) from a greedy mining company (ruled by LaHood , Richard Dysart, and his son Josh LaHood , Chris Penn) trying to encroach on their land . Meanwhile , the Good Stranger is idolized by their daughter named Megan (Sydney Penny). As the wealthy owner contracts a group of outlaws as hired gunfighters (led by John Russell who also acted as villain in Rio Bravo) to kill miners . The title ¨The Pale Rider¨ refers to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation, chapter six , Megan is reading the exact verse when she and her mom first see Preacher ride up to their house.

Well crafted Western with interesting screenplay written by Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack . Although atmospheric , it's also sometimes slow-moving and winds up into a spectacular showdown . This stirring picture contains a powerful examination of morality and hypocrisy on people as well as an enjoyable message about faith and hope . Clint Eastwood is unforgettable in the title role coming to help a group of struggling miners and homesteaders . Clint Eastwood revealed in interviews that his character is in fact a ghost. Other clues to the Preacher's true nature are the ghastly bullet wound scars seen when he is dressing, and his sudden appearances and disappearances throughout the movie . During shooting, Clint Eastwood sustained what he describes as the worst injury he has ever had on set when a horse he was riding fell through thin ice and launched him forward as Clint suffered a dislocated shoulder . Good casting with several secondaries as Carrie Snodgress , Chris Penn , Doug McGrath , Richard Kiel , Charles Hallahan , Billy Drago and special mention to John Russell as a downright nasty. Exquisitely shot in Panavision by Bruce Surtees , son of classic cameraman Robert Surtees , with a magnificent cinematography on the wooded exteriors and snowy mountains backgrounds. Acceptable production design by veteran Edward Carfagno , though the train station built for production was used again late in 1988 for Back to the Future Part III . Thrilling as well as sensitive musical score by Lennie Niehaus . The film is made in somewhat similar style to ¨Shane¨ by George Stevens , and which so much cloning of ¨High plains drifter¨ also directed by Eastwood only this time the drifter appears to have been sent from hell rather than heaven to right from ordinary injustices . Star, producer , filmmaker Eastwood realizes an excellent film and perfectly directed . This classic Western as good as the notorious ¨Josey Wales¨ is splendid in every way . Later on , Eastwood produced and directed another successful Western ¨Unforgiven(1992)¨ also with some common theme.

The Westerns is what gained Eastwood mainstream recognition, and he returns to prosperous grounds with this movie. Much like his character, he returns the Western from the dead and avenges their loss of appeal at the box office. A few years later, he was to strike gold with ‘Unforgiven' and although this story is not as gripping as ‘Unforgiven', it is well crafted with minor flaws.

The similarities between this movie and his well-known Spaghetti Westerns are vast, but the difference lies with the superior quality. Once again he is the ‘Man With No Name' defending the weak and settling an old score. Where this one differs from his earlier work is that the characters and dialogue are realistic surpassing the one – dimension norm for the genre. The characters are credible in the sense that each has believable motivations for their actions. The Hood are motivated by their greed and the gold miners are motivated by their dreams. The credibility is thus intact with regards to the characters drives meaning that we now do not have to rely on suspension of disbelief as we witness the action unfold. The dialogue is in sync with each character. The Hood speaks with an educated tongue, but his desperation is apparent as the Preacher stands his ground. The miners speak with little sophistication thus reflecting their social status of the times. The Preacher speaks as we would expect ‘The Man With No Name' to speak. He is cool and rational and what little is said carries a lot of weight. The dialogue thus enhances the rich diversity of characters.

Of special note is the casting. All the actors are well suited to their roles. Stockburn and his deputies are particularly memorable. The deputies look like they are all recruits from Hollywood B type action movies. This by no means understates their significance. Instead of playing their usual outlandish bad guys, they relied on their natural ability to exude devilish intent. They look cold, dark and menacing. There was no dialogue which accentuated their malevolence - talk did not interest them. They were there to do a job and small talk was meaningless. Their movements were slow and methodical thus adding to their character's coldness and creating tension as the harbinger's of death prepared to deal out their own brand of justice – the kind of justice that only dollars can buy. Although the screen time dedicated to these characters was limited, their impact was far greater.

The casting of Stockburn as a Lee van Cleef look – alike was also very good. This could be construed as a lack of originality, but it was ideal for the story. He looks like a weathered, tough baddie, much in line with the impression we have of those times as provided by Hollywood, who had dealt with many situations such as these with a cool, ruthless hand. His dialogue, with assistance from a menacing voice, mirrors his appearance – hard and to the point.

Eastwood is the archetypal ‘Man With No Name'. His natural coolness forms the basis for the character. He has the ability to limit his dialogue and communicate to the audience with the assistance of minimal body language the emotions of his character. The sharpening of a glare was all he needed to show that he was a man with a past who could be dangerous. This was vital to the character since it helped create the enigmatic figure that the Preacher was supposed to be.

An indication of the craft of the movie is the scene where the Preacher starts to help his freind break the rock. The rock became an obstacle that they would have to overcome and they began to realise that if they pulled together, not only could they beat the rock, but the Hood as well. Scenes such as this elevated this movie beyond the Spaghetti Western. Attention had been paid to the story and gratuitous action was obviously never the intention. This is not to say that the movie lacked action, it means that action scenes were an integral part of the story and not as eye – candy offerings for a hormone charged audience.

As well crafted as it is, it is not without flaws. The first is the scenes within the town. It is easy to tell that the town is a small set for the movie due to the camera angles. This became particularly evident when the Hood is trying to bribe the Preacher with an offer of a church in a rich town. This immediately draws attention to the shots within the town which thus highlights the flaw. I have not checked to see whether this is a consequence of a low budget, which would be feasible since Westerns were not as bankable at that time as they were in the past. Even with due consideration of this fact, the cinematographer could still have made more creative use of camera angles to negate this limiting factor.

A more minor flaw is the how the character of Megan is used in the movie. The book has her name in the title which is indicative of the fact that the story is told through her eyes. The telling of a story through the eyes of a young innocent can add various dimensions to the story. The adventures that unfolds before her would have a greater impact on the audience since the struggles of a child will touch the audience more than that of an adults. People always sympathise for the young. It can add complexity to the story since a child's emotions and pre – conceptions will create more opportunity for conflict. There was effort made in this direction, but I feel that if Megan had been given more opportunity to tell the story from her perspective, the story would have been more emotive appeal.

Westerns will always have an audience, although their popularity may fluctuate over time. The lawlessness of the times set the stage for good storytelling and unfortunately also poor storytelling. In the past, they concentrated on a Hollywood B style movie with characters existing as an excuse to pull a trigger in the outlawed West. This formula worked for a while, but the stories lacked the substance to withstand the test of time. This has led to the present situation where the few that have now been on offer have shown an increase in quality. This is probably due to the fact that the limitation in audience appeal has meant that the story has to be of solid value in order to attract the investors. As with all genres, they have actors that are naturally adept to the role. Eastwood was such a man for the Westerns. We now wait for his successor to carry on the legacy of ‘The Man With No Name'.

I don't know if this is the best Western of the 1980's, it wouldn't be too hard I suppose as there wasn't really that many made in that decade, or now unfortunately. Its the best Western of that decade that I have seen, the only other good one I can recall is Silverado and Young Guns was pretty good though the sequel was even better. The 1990's was a much better decade for Western fans, Dances with Wolves, Unforgiven, Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, Young Guns 2, The Quick and the Dead and of course Bad Girls (Only joking!). Anyway Pale Rider seen Clint Eastwood return to the Western after quite a few years doing other types of movies and luckily Pale Rider is a great film. As has been mentioned in numerous other user comments it does borrow very heavily from the Classic Western Shane and Clint's own High Plains Drifter but it never tries to hide this fact and its a great film in its own right. Very moody and beautifully shot with great performances all round. Clint was on top of his game on this one and produced a top notch Western that ranks amongst one of his best below The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Unforgiven and The Outlaw Josey Whales. I would love to see Eastwood make another Western but find it highly unlikely as he couldn't possibly top his last one Unforgiven but at least Kevin Costner has got one coming out later this year. Look out for Richard Kiel in this one he played Jaws in a couple of Bond films and Sean Penns brother Chris, who was a lot thinner in those days! Highly recommended ***8/10***