Pale Rider – Blu-ray movie review

Clint Eastwood made this film in 1985 and at the time many people said it was the best movie that he had ever made. Some people even went further and said it was the best western ever made. But the raucous shoot-em-up Silverado came out that very same year, basically foisting Kevin Costner onto an unsuspecting world, and it made a bigger splash in 1985 than did Pale Rider. And after that two more things happened: Costner went on to make Dances With Wolves (1990), and Eastwood went on to make The Unforgiven (1992), and with all that Pale Rider slipped into obscurity. The Unforgiven now wears the mantle of being Clint's masterpiece, his finest western, of being maybe the best western ever. And other people marvel much the same way at Dances With Wolves. Meanwhile, nobody thinks about or even remembers Pale Rider, a sorry fate that this fine film doesn't deserve.

The similarities between this movie and his well-known Spaghetti Westerns are vast, but the difference lies with the superior quality. Once again he is the ‘Man With No Name' defending the weak and settling an old score. Where this one differs from his earlier work is that the characters and dialogue are realistic surpassing the one – dimension norm for the genre. The characters are credible in the sense that each has believable motivations for their actions. The Hood are motivated by their greed and the gold miners are motivated by their dreams. The credibility is thus intact with regards to the characters drives meaning that we now do not have to rely on suspension of disbelief as we witness the action unfold. The dialogue is in sync with each character. The Hood speaks with an educated tongue, but his desperation is apparent as the Preacher stands his ground. The miners speak with little sophistication thus reflecting their social status of the times. The Preacher speaks as we would expect ‘The Man With No Name' to speak. He is cool and rational and what little is said carries a lot of weight. The dialogue thus enhances the rich diversity of characters.

In 1850 California, a small group squatters and their families find themselves terrorized by Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart), who are standing win the way of his progress… Desperate, LaHood begins using violence in an unsuccessful attempt to run the peaceful yet determined homesteaders from their land… Leading the homesteaders is a decent man Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty), who dreams of a better life for himself, his girlfriend Sarah Wheeler (Carrie Snodgress) and her lovely daughter from a previous marriage, 14-year-old Meagan (Sydney Penny).

If you are looking for an original movie, than you'll have to look somewhere else. This movie uses all the possible clichés that can be found in this kind of Westerns. But on the other hand I must also say that all is done in a very proper way. Eastwood is a fine director and he did what he was best in at the time: he made a Western. The story, the direction, the acting, the scenes,... it all looks professional and more than OK and especially thanks to Eastwood's acting performance in it, this movie is still a 'must-see'. I'm not a big fan of Westerns, but every time that I'm able to see one with Eastwood in it, I'll not let it pass. My advice: if you can see past the fact that it isn't very original, you will almost certainly enjoy it

What do you think about this movie? Please leave your thoughts below.

Click here to purchase above blu ray movies at Amazon.com and save 30% or more!