Review of The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) by Keating T — 01 Feb 2012

3: This was actually the first time I've seen this, but it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. In my opinion, the film seems more promising than powerful. By this I mean that it's obvious Clint Eastwood will become an interesting director and that he has something unique to say, but this film does not measure up to his later achievements.

One can draw direct correlations and comparisons between this picture and his more recent masterpiece, Unforgiven, but he obviously wasn't nearly as capable a director back in 1976. He seems to still be finding his way in terms of dialogue, thematic content, music, camera movement/placement, composition, etc.

Everything seems relatively inelegant and poorly planned and executed, at least when I compare it to his more recent work. He doesn't seem to have quite figured out what he wants to say and he isn't as daring about it either.

For instance, having Josey Wales be forced into this kind of life of vengeance makes it far easier to be sympathetic, despite the fact that he singlehandedly kills about as many men as the whole cast does in the Wild Bunch.

There is very little remorse as well. When one compares this to Unforgiven where the body count is remarkably low and Eastwood's character was rather a notorious killer with no excuse as good as vengeance or survival to lean on, one realizes that Eastwood became far more determined, provocative, and effective in later years.

This is still a superb Western and I'd say it's possible I could bump it up to 3.5 stars at some point in the future. It doesn't follow the traditional trajectory by any means, nor is Josey Wales a traditional protagonist.

He is an outlaw we are rooting for, and I'm sure the same people that would root for Dirty Harry appreciated Josey. A settled lifestyle in which he becomes one of the settlers seems to be entirely within his reach, but only if he gives up his vengeful ways.

So, in this sense Eastwood took the Western protagonist a step further. He doesn't need to keep pushing on into the wilderness, nor does he need to continue to run scared from and/or kill the Native Americans.

I can imagine a Tea Party-approved sequel where he is forced to fend off the evil American government and allies himself with his Comanche brethren to protect their freedom, liberty, and land though. The line about paper laws vs.

man's laws is interesting as well.