Review of Pale Rider (1985) by Ryan C — 08 Nov 2010

PALE RIDER is a dignified and bona fide bad-ass Western from and starring Clint Eastwood. As the mysterious Preacher on a white steed, Clint Eastwood owns the role with his expected gravitas and grounded-in-morals performance. His direction is most certainly direct and flows with the aura of the niche he carved into audience's minds out of the old-fashioned Western genre.

In PALE RIDER, the Preacher uses violence as a device to help the defenseless and as a means to end a conflict. After he meets miners on the outskirts of a small town, he realizes that a certain Gavin LaHood is terrorizing the miners with threats of death unless they relocate elsewhere, since he sees profit in expanding his mining industry into the miners' land.

Slowly but surely, the townsfolk are subject to a series of events that will forever alter their future. The Preacher is their savior, and befitting to all miracles, may the Lord be with him. After all, the Preacher says it best: "The Lord sure works in mysterious ways.".

Mysterious ways indeed. Yet action is necessary for there to be change, and so change is what is brought about by certainty, not mystery. The true mystery that lies in PALE RIDER is the Preacher's true identity, but this isn't stated or revealed not once in the film's entirety. This is a compelling story element that does keep the audience compelled as to who this man is, and (besides the goodness and dignity in his character and heart) what his intentions are in helping the miners in their plight.

Dignified and bona fide bad-ass, PALE RIDER is among the great westerns of our time and Clint Eastwood's host of classic Westerns. Eastwood's expected gravitas and grounded-in-morals performance carries the film, and his direction is direct and flows with the aura of the niche he carved out of the old-fashioned Western genre. The story and the mystery of the Preacher's identity compel the viewer constantly, and one thing that is without a doubt is that PALE RIDER is a prime example of how a Western can be in two ballfields of tone at the same time: dignified, and bad-ass. Be ready for more Critiques and Opinions on Every Movie I Can Get My Hands On!