Review of The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) by Eric O — 28 Jul 2011

Clint Eastwood's THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES [1976]: Since 1903 until the early 1970's Westerns had been the staple income earner for numerous Hollywood studio's that were eager to have a garneted box-office success on their hands. But the once popular Western was already on the road to a swift decline as a major and popular genre by the mid 1970's when Clint Eastwood's then new film THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES hit screens. Despite what Hollywood had expected Eastwood's revisionist Western THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES was a huge success, especially amongst the Native American Indians for its non-stereotypical portrayal of themselves and for once shown in a good light (something that many Hollywood Westerns had never done before).

Clint Eastwood's directed Westerns debunk the countless glorified myths and glamorised legends of the Old West and instead of reverting to them Eastwood's directed Westerns strive for greater historical accuracy of the era. In the final instatements of my month long look at the Western genre I've decide to end this review series with a look at two of the Westerns by Clint Eastwood over this weekend. Today's review of an Eastwood's directed Western is of the simple but brilliant 1976 classic THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES that marked a change in a genre that was on the road to a total decline in popularity.

WESTERN REVIEW MONTH.

WEEK FIVE: THE CLINT EASTWOOD WESTERN REVIEW WEEKEND.

Day One THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES [1976]: Much like other great Westerns JOSEY WALES is quite simply a great bit of cinematic entertainment with an easy to follow plotline and of course lots of gunplay. THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES is a highly entertaining film with an underlying message about the plight of an indigenous people but as a western it's without a doubt one of the finest. Combine with great performances, great direction, a good story and some wonderful shots, JOSEY WALES 35 years after it was made still holds up incredibly well in this day and age.

THE PLOTLINE.

During the American Civil War (1861-1865) on a small farm in Rural Missouri, a peaceful and neutral Famer named Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood) enjoys life with his son and wife. Then suddenly the farm is attacked by a raiding group of Union Kansas Red-leg soldiers and Josey's wife, child and entire way of life are claimed as spoils of war. Josey who is left living grows bitter with hate and plots revenge when a group of Confederate Guerrillas come to his farm and inform him of their plans to go up north and attack the Union forces. Josey the one peaceful farmer now becomes a Guerrilla with revenge in his sights, and more incredibly all of this happens before the opening credits.

After the Credits the story events now take place in 1865 a few weeks or months after the Surrender of the Confederacy, were Josey's Guerrilla outfit are the last to surrender to the Union. Most of the group agree to follow their leader Captain Fletcher to surrender at the nearby Union camp expect for Josey who knows the Union would now hunt him down as an outlaw. When Fletcher's men surrender to the Union forces, Fletcher is horrified that the Union forces are their once sworn enemy's the Kansas Red-Legs. When the Red-Legs Captain Terrill and a Senator orders the gunning down of the Rebel Bushwhackers with Gatling Guns Josey unleashes an act of revenge. After gaining hold of a Gatling Gun Josey fires upon the Red-Leg troops and with the help of a young surviving comrade the pair flee the camp.

The Pair decide to head for the Indian Territory with the army of Red-Leg troops hot on their tail. Since the young comrade had received a fatal bullet wound to the chest the young man dies on the trail to the Territory, leaving Josey alone. Upon successfully arriving in the Indian Territory, Josey befriends an elderly Cherokee called Lone Waite (Chief Dan George) and the pair decides to head for the state of Texas for a better life. On the way the pair becomes accompanied by a Young Navajo Woman that Josey rescued from a group of vicious and violent traders and a group of Kansas settlers Josey also save from being captured by Comancheros. Upon arriving in Texas Josey and the group now face two problems, the possible wrath of a Comanche Chief called Ten Bears and the armies of Bounty hunters and Red-Leg troops who want the Outlaw Josey Wales.

THE ACTING, DIRECTION, SCRIPTING AND CINEMA-PHOTOGRAPHY.

THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES has yet another fine performance by Mr Clint Eastwood, who many critics compare in essence his performance as Josey to "The Man with No Name" in the Dollar trilogy of Sergio Leone (A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS [1964], FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE [1965] and THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY [1966]). However it could be easy to compare those performances to the performance in this film but I can't honestly say there is much difference between the two aside for the comical side to Josey who has the bad habit of spitting tobacco and uttering the lines "I reckon so" or "I reckon not". The rest of the cast deliver some fine performances, but the real show stealer is the performance by Native American actor Chief Dan George as Lone Waite. For one of the first time in an American Western THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES did not resort to the DATED cliché that the Native American Indians were a bunch of "Savages". Chief Dan George performance as Lone Waite is so 3-Dimesional you'd swear the character of Lone Waite is a real person for the unbelievable amount of personality displayed onscreen. And in fact that's the way all of the Native Americans are portrayed in this film as real people with real personalities and not as the "Savage " and 'Primitives" who threaten the way of life for the white settlers at the time that so many classical Hollywood Westerns had resorted to.

The direction by Clint Eastwood is well brilliant, and I can see why the film star turned director has become nothing short of one of the finest directors in Hollywood today. Eastwood delivers a highly nail biting, entertaining and engrossing story about one so called outlaw who is driven by a life of revenge due to lost his family but in the end regains one by befriending many kind people. Combine with a simple but brilliant screenplay from the novel the film is based upon, the kinder treatment of Native Americans, pleasant shots of the American Countryside, and some brilliant performances this simple but entertaining film is nothing sort of one of the best Western and one of the finest films of the 1970's, my rating is a solid 80% for this classic film. It's a must see for any film buffs that find Westerns well downright entertaining.