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If you like films about photojournalists, there are few good ones. Under Fire about the Nicaraguan Revolution and Harrison's Flowers about the Yugoslavian War. Both good choices with Harrison's Flowers being a better film. Well acted, good story line and realistic settings.

Pale Rider is a near complete rip-off of Shane which is a far superior film with better actors. Just minor changes. Gold miners and a gold company versus sheep ranchers and a cattle baron, Alan Ladd is a reformed gunman while Clint is a gunman pretending to be a preacher. Both latch onto families with the wives being attracted to them and the kids (teenage girl in Pale Rider and little boy in Shane) idolize them. The gold minors hire a crew of gun fighter while the cattle barons hire Jack Wilson brilliantly played by Jack Palance.

Without a doubt, this is an incredibly dull and plodding movie. You can watch the first three minutes, fast forward to the hour mark, and not miss anything of importance. The plot line is okay but the execution of the movie is awful complete with uninteresting characters, loads of useless scenes and pointless rants. An aging and very gray Gere unconvincingly plays a congressman seeking to be governor of some state. His wife, who is about 30 years younger than him, is a anxiety-racked, nasty headcase. His younger brother, a public school teacher obsessed with the Civil War who lives in what appears to be a million dollar home (for a teacher?), is equally as nuts as Gere's wife going off on one stupid rant after another and seemingly scared of his kid. His wife, Linney, is white bread bland and adds nothing of interest to this pot boiler of a movie. Their kids are typical spoiled rich brats who committed a nasty crime in the recent past. Do not waste your time on this one. Not even for background noise as you clean your house.