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Pale Rider

List price:	~~$14.98~~
Our price:	$11.98 that is 20% off!
Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Clint Eastwood
Starring:	Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, Sydney Penny
Release date:	02 September, 2003

Average user rating: Average user rating: 4

Eastwood's return to the saddle will make your day.

Made years prior to his classic Unforgiven, Pale Rider offers positive proof that no other contemporary filmmaker understands the mythic texture and rhythm of the American Western better than actor/director Clint Eastwood. Combining elements from Shane and High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider tells the tale of a mysterious gunslinging preacher that comes to the aid of embattled settlers in the Pacific Northwest. While the film does have its weakness, namely too closely resembling superior films, it has its strengths as well, mainly invoking the laconic, rugged individualism that is the hallmark of all great westerns, some rousing actions scenes, and well drawn characters and situations. The religious underpinnings are also of larger interest thanks in part to the screenwriting of Dennis Shyrack and Michael Butler (who used similiar theological symbolism in their scripts for the Eastwood chase thriller The Gauntlet as well as the B-movie level horror show The Car).

"High Plains Drifter" Meets "Shane"

Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider" (1985) is an entertaining yet derivative Western that represents the flip side of the actor-director's "High Plains Drifter" -- a far-superior effort. Though Eastwood delivers a fine performance as the mysterious Preacher, with good support from Michael Moriarty and Carrie Snodgress, the overall film lacks the dramatic resonance of "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Unforgiven." Instead, "Pale Rider" tries to evoke the classic tradition of George Stevens' "Shane" -- and partially succeeds. The film has some good action sequences, but drags a bit in the midsection. Still, a flawed Eastwood Western is better than none at all.

an homage to clint westerns

yes the story is similar to shane (although the preacher was
(likely) dead before the film starts, compared to shane who
was (likely) dead as the film ends)

but if anything this was more like a retrospective of clint's
western characters, with a hint of Dirty Harry thrown in
for good measure

the parallel with High Plains Drifter is obvious; the ending
where LaHood gets shot is straight out of Joe Kidd. the character
of the preacher is a pastiche of the man-with-no-name; the way

the last deputy is dispatched looks like a scene from Hang 'Em
High (and after all, by then he had fired 6 shots -- or was it
only 5?)