Yesterdays Movies on Tuesday: The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

Movies, Television News, Sexy Celebrities and High Quality Photos just for you!

Yesterdays Movies on Tuesday: The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

13 October 2009No CommentPosted by Phil

It's been a while since I've written a Tuesday review and in an attempt to revive this weekly post, I'm going to start off with this; During the past few days, I'm not really sure why, I've been on a Clint Eastwood western kick. As you're well aware, Clint Eastwood has made a whole bunch of westerns, some of them are considered film classics. So far, in this round of movie watching, I've sat down an viewed High Plains Drifter, Joe Kidd, Two Mules for Sister Sara, and Pale Rider with more films on the schedule to watch - I'd like to eventually write something about these films as the weeks go by. This week, however, I'm not going to write about any of those films. I'm going to write about my favorite Clint Eastwood film overall, and my favorite western in general; The Outlaw Josey Wales.

"The Outlaw Josey Wales chronicles the hero's violent journey westward after the Civil War. With fresh memories of his family's slaughter by Red Leg soldier Terrill (Bill McKinney), Confederate Josey Wales (Eastwood) refuses to join his captain Fletcher (John Vernon) and the rest of his comrades in surrender to a U.S. Army regiment. Deemed a dangerous outlaw after a bloody one-man battle with that regiment, Josey is pursued by U.S. cavalry soldiers led by the unwilling Fletcher and the murderous Terrill, as well as by bounty hunters who eventually learn how coolly lethal Wales can be. Despite his desire to remain a lone fugitive, Josey soon has a crew of traveling companions that includes Cherokee Lone Watie (Chief Dan George) and the pretty Laura Lee (Sondra Locke) and her vigorous Grandma Sarah (Paula Trueman), settlers on their way to a ranch near ghost town Santa Rio. The few Santa Rio residents welcome the group, but their peace and Josey's burgeoning romance with Laura Lee are soon interrupted by Terrill's arrival. A skillfully violent man of few, well-chosen words, Josey Wales resembles Eastwood's previous Western heroes in Sergio Leone's trilogy, A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966). However, the emphasis on friends and family served notice that, in the words of one critic, "the Man With No Name doesn't live here anymore." Indeed, Josey Wales would be Eastwood's last western before 1985's Pale Rider. Although it did not garner similar critical praise when it was released, Eastwood considers The Outlaw Josey Wales to be the equal of the Oscar-winning Unforgiven (1992)." [Lucia Bozzola - All Movie Guide]

As just a matter of fact, the synopsis from Bozzola for this film is excellent. It shows in written form the scope of Eastwood's western film career.

It's interesting to me that this film is controversial. The book this film is based off of, The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales, was written by Asa Earl Carter aka Forrest Carter, a former KKK member and a speech writer for segregationist Governor George Wallace (D-Alabama). You can understand that bit of controversy that comes with this, however, these things don't really matter to me when watching a movie. Yes, they're very important in the real world but because I'm a film fan, a fan of characters, well told stories, and everything else that comes with a film, the real world issues should be left to a different discussion. In short, as a conservative, I hate everything that the KKK and segregationists stand for and I pity those who've been involved and who are still involved with those organizations as they're pathetic human beings. With that said, although Carter is a trouble person, he wrote one hell of a story that Clint Eastwood and screenwriters Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman transferred to the screen. That is, however, based only on what I saw in the film as I've never read the book.

Granted there is a bit of controversy with the source writer, the film isn't based on slavery during the Civil War or any kind of racism, at least from what I've noticed the multiple times I've seen this film. The film is about, exactly what the title implies, the outlaw Josey Wales. In the film, the "Red Legs" are indeed based off of the Jayhawkers during the Civil War who initially were a force of justice and freedom as their mission was to go into Missouri to free slaves and kill the slave owners. Whether killing the slave owners is justice I'm sure could be argued - but it was a time of war and these men weren't police officers. I appreciate reading history but I'm no authority so I really can't say. The point is, during their campaign, some of their actions are considered "unjustifiable" as they committed massacres and setting a entire town on fire. These actions are the sole inspiration for the character Jose Wales who sees his family killed and his house burned down by the Red Legs, which sets him on a path that is told throughout the film. On a side note, living in today's world with all the problems in our country, it's hard to imagine the chaos of those days.

My whole life as a movie fan, the one thing can grab me into a film is creating a character that's "macho". Just as two examples from the top of my head; Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark and Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse. Two characters that are prefect examples of a man's man, two characters that kick total ass. Clint Eastwood has become, in his long career, the poster boy for what macho is. This film, that should have been Oscar nominated in 1976 (Rocky won that year), is one of those films that show Eastwood at the top of his game as an actor and a director. One of my favorite scenes in a film is Eastwood's quick draw between Wales and four Union Officers; his line of dialog, "are you gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie" has bad-ass written all over it. Take a look:

It's scenes like that I find so macho, especially when it's the Clint Eastwood brand that we've come to enjoy so much over the years. Another scene in the film, showing how tough this character is, is a scene towards the end of the film with a bounty hunter in a saloon. I'll leave that experience for you to see when you watch the film.

It's not the Eastwood brand, however, that makes this film so great although it's key. I love the tragic story of a farmer, turned soldier seeking revenge, to the outlaw that's gun fighting skills has become legend. What brings that feeling out is the performance of John Vernon as Fletcher. His voice alone creates this aura of a legendary outlaw, as if you were hearing a story of Jessie James who, hopefully you'll know, was a real outlaw back in the day of guns in west. Granted we're watching Wales' story unfold in front of our eyes, Vernon's voice adds so much more to both characters and I'm not just talking about dialog folks, I'm actually talking about the sound of Vernon's voice. Fletcher is also another tragic character as he's forced to betray the men he served along side during the war and is also forced to purse Wales.

One of the cool aspects of this film, Eastwood didn't romanticize the west as say you'd see in a John Wayne film. The towns weren't cliche, full of gun fighters and beautiful whores, etc. They were broken down towns, living in harsh conditions. They're towns trying to get by after a war that left both sides in horrible pain but as the story goes, not everybody is meant to heal. You'll notice that the set design is very simple, trying to give the film a realistic feel during the time that it's set.

Lastly and quickly, the treatment of Native Americans is different, especially during this time of filming as they're show more culturally as a people and not just background crap.

In my opinion, this is one of Clint Eastwood's best films, even better than Unforgiven which he won an Oscar for Best Direction. I love a lot of films and I can recommend a lot of films but The Outlaw Josey Wales falls on my top 10 list of my all-time favorite films, a list that I may one day post. That means folks, I totally recommend this film as a must see for any film fan. Even if you don't like westerns, Josey Wales might change your mind as he did for me. That's right, before this film, I didn't care for Westerns and just by uttering the line, "I reckon so" I forever change my opinion and began enjoying many westerns, most of which are Eastwood films. Hopefully, if I can continue to find the time, I'll write more reviews on other Eastwood westerns but until then, WATCH THIS MOVIE!!