"Excellent older western"

Written By: Three Roses

I loved the action in the film and the classic lines. About guy whose family gets killed by Red Legs and sets out to avenge their death.

"Interesting Historical Perspective."

Written By: Gary Peterson

My wife and I have greatly enjoyed the western movies of Clint Eastwood and last night we watched "The Outlaw Josey Wales." It was a movie that was set in the time immediately following the Civil War and Eastwood was cast as one of a rag-tag group of leftovers from the war. It opened with a touching scene of Eastwood having his wife and son killed and their house burned down by on outlaw gang of bluecoats. One just doesn't do that to Eastwood, of course. The rest of the movie had to do with Eastwood tracking down the perpetrators and he himself became the object of an intensive manhunt. Supposedly all this happened from Missouri, across Kansas and Oklahoma (Indian Territory) and down into Texas (Mexico), but I could see from the scenery that it was filmed in Colorado, Arizona and Utah. That's fine, the scenery was beautiful.

It was an engaging and touching tale. Interesting time period, too. The movie seemed long and somewhat drawn out and slow in action for an Eastwood western. Still, there were a lot of gunfights and associated violence that one has come to expect with an Eastwood western. It was well done and an excellent movie, but I would not rank it with one of his best westerns, On the other hand, I'd give it a few bonus points for it's interesting historical perspective.

Gary Peterson

"My All-Time Favorite Western!!"

Written By: Robert Beck

"Are you gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?" To some of us, we quietly get together in closed-door sessions and hushed tones and truly believe that this is the greatest western of all time. It certainly is Clint Eastwood's favorite movie. It has stood the test of time and true Western fanatics quote lines from this movie. "Not a hard man to track. Leaves dead men wherever he goes." Eastwood runs the full gamut of his emotions and turns in a great job of acting including spittin' chaw on everything that moves. Rottentomatoes.com has a perfect 100% score on the critics "Tomatometer" with Roger Ebert stating, " Eastwood is such a taciturn and action-oriented performer that it's easy to overlook the fact that he directs many of his movies -- and many of the best, most intelligent ones. Here, with the moody, gloomily beautiful photography of Bruce Surtees, he creates a magnificent Western feeling." It was also one of the few Western movies to receive critical and commercial success in the 70's at a time when the Western was thought to be dying as a major genre in Hollywood. Orson Welles while on Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson proclaimed Josey Wales the best Western ever made and admitted to seeing it over 4 times!!! Jerry Fielding was nominated for an Oscar in the best motion picture score category. In 1996, this film was placed in the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry. "Dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy."

"All Other Movies Are Rated By This One"

Written By: Michael Vieira

When ever I am rating a movie, it always rated in this manner..."It's no Outlaw Josey Wales"

""I owe him that.""

Written By: J. H. Minde

SPOILERS INCLUDED

As both Director and Actor, Clint Eastwood transcended his colorful persona as a hero of Spaghetti Westerns in this 1976 classic, deemed a "culturally significant" entry into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Intelligent, taking itself seriously, though never grim, and with flashes of warmth and humor, this film is a must-see experience.

THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES opens at some time during the "Border War" Era of 1854 and 1861, when Pro-Slavery Missourians and Kansas Free-Soilers did battle over the eventual "Slave or Free?" fate of the Kansas Territory. This pre-Civil War Civil War was bitter, bloody, and intensely personal, all the more so for being telescoped into a small geographic area. Both Missouri and Kansas maintained rival governments. Internal strife was common (Lawrence Kansas was burned by Pro-Slavery elements from Lecompton the "other" capital), and cross-border raids consumed innocent lives.

And so we are introduced to Josey Wales, a Missouri farmer who is working his land alone in happy domesticity with his pretty wife and young son. There is no evidence that Wales is a slaveowner (and in fact, the film's only real flaw is that African-Americans do not figure in the story at all).

Interestingly, the "real" Josey Wales was a Missouri man named Wilson, the alias Wales uses at one point in the film, though whether this is coincidental is never addressed.

One bright afternoon, Josey Wales returns from his fields to discover a gang of Kansas raiders, the Redlegs, burning his farmstead. They rape his wife before his eyes and kill his son. He is struck down by Terrell, the leader of the raiding party, who slashes him with a sword, leaving him for dead.

Burying his family the next day, he is found by a group of Missourians led by Fletcher (John Vernon), who promise him vengeance for his family. Wales rides with them. A montage of raids progresses into a montage of Civil War battles, ending with Fletcher's calling his men together to announce that Lee has surrendered at Appomattox, and that they have been offered amnesty. What no one realizes is that Fletcher has been bribed to bring his men in. What Fletcher does not realize is that he will be surrendering to now- Captain Terrell of the Union Army. Josey Wales refuses to surrender. When the others do, they are shot down by Terrell, leaving only Fletcher alive. This scene begs the question of whether such occurrences were frequent, but that they occurred at all is certainly possible.

Josey Wales rides off with a price on his head. pursued by Terrell's men and Fletcher, who is trying to save him. Although Wales wishes to be left in isolation he quickly picks up traveling companions---first, a fellow Confederate who dies of his wounds, then Chief Lone Watie (Chief Dan George), a Cherokee Indian who tells Wales, "I didn't surrender neither, but they captured my horse and made him surrender." Shortly thereafter, they rescue a Navajo girl, Moonlight, from being raped. The three are joined by a mangy dog.

As they all head south toward Mexico, they hear growing rumors of Wales' fearsomeness---he has killed twenty men, then sixty---and is being sought throughout the region not only by Terrell and Fletcher, but by Union soldiers and bounty hunters. For his part, Josey Wales just wishes to meet his fate alone, but at heart a decent man, he cannot bring himself to abandon his ragtag "family." This "family" soon grows again, as he makes the acquaintance of Lorelei (Sondra Locke, with whom Eastwood was to have a very long relationship starting during this picture) and her crabby old grandmother, whom he rescues from a gang of thieves. Although overly opinionated Grandma is a Jayhawker whose deceased son fought with the Redlegs, she invites Josey and his company to share in the good life awaiting them at her son's now-abandoned Crooked River Ranch.

Unfortunately, Wales cannot outride his past. Although he makes peace with the Comanche war chief Ten Bears, he is found by Terrell and Fletcher, and must settle old scores---and heal old scars.

At 2 1/2 hours THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES is an epic. Violent, but never gratuitous, the film paints a realistic portrait of an era of confusion and dislocation. The movie's sympathetic portrayal of differing groups overcoming that which divides them to work together, and it's innate message of tolerance, is powerful and comes straight out of the book Gone to Texas, written by Forrest Carter (Carter was a Klansman who was drummed out of that organization for decency---Eastwood claims not to have known this while making the movie).

All in all, the message is that we can change, grow and live happily together, if not forever after then at least for as long as we are given.