The Eastwood Way: Pale Rider (1985)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, Chris Penn, Richard Keil

Country: United States 

Rating: R

Run Time: 116 minutes

The American Western has been a dwindling genre for a long time. We're lucky to get a single Western every two years at this point. However, the decline of the American Western started during the 1980's when Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate bombed hard at the box office. No major Hollywood Westerns were made for four years due to Heaven's Gate utter failure. However, the king of the gritty revisionist Western stepped up and revived the genre in 1985. Clint Eastwood directed and starred in Pale Rider, his only Western of the 1980's and first Western since 1976's The Outlaw Josey Wales. It was an important Western because it proved that the genre was still alive, could make money, and be well received by the public.

Pale Rider is a great Eastwood flick. It combines elements of Shane, High Plains Drifter, and The Man With No Name films, therefore pulling from Westerns of the past in order to make one helluva mythical Western. The film has a nice balance of the good old fashioned entertainment of Clint's early years and the mature artistic filmmaking of his latter years. It is essentially one of many transitional Eastwood films that predicted his reflective old man films of the 90's and 2000's.

Gorgeous, gorgeous Western landscapes.

Pale Rider opens up as a gang of men ride through a canyon and raid a small town inhabited by numerous gold miners. The town is constantly hassled by a rich man named Coy Lahood who wants to drive everyone in Carbon Canyon out so he can mine for gold there. Therefore, he constantly taunts the town with raids and threats. After the raid, a young girl named Megan prays for God to bring a miracle to the town. God brings more than a miracle though. He summons "The Preacher" (Clint Eastwood), a nameless drifter who rides into town on a white horse and brings hell with him. The Preacher's efforts to help the miners eventually attracts the attention of Stockburn (John Russell) and his deputies, corrupt law men for hire. The Preacher trades in his collar for a pair of guns and sets out to kill Stockburn and his deputies.

What separates Pale Rider apart from other Eastwood "drifter" Westerns is that there is no explicit explanation for the Preacher's actions. The Preacher rides into town, helps out a miner, and than chooses to room with them. While rooming with them, the Preacher takes off his shirt revealing bullet scars all over his back. He eventually convinces the miners to defy Lahood, thereby making Lahood hire corrupt lawmen that the Preacher knows of. It is at this point in the film that the Preacher vanishes for quite a while as he goes and collects his guns. Once he returns, he marches into town and takes on Lahood's thugs and Stockburn and his deputies. When he meets Stockburn face to face, Stockburn recognizes the Preacher but never states his relation to him. Unlike other Eastwood Westerns, Clint goes full myth in this film. Literally. He doesn't explain a thing. It is up to the viewer to decipher the meaning of all of these actions and clues.

When I initially watched this film, I didn't love it. As most Eastwood films are, Pale Rider is two hours. This is expected though because most Eastwood films are particularly slow and meditative. Unfortunately, Pale Rider is especially slow. The film starts off strong, but than enters a slow middle portion that nearly lost me. It wasn't until the arrival of the deputies near the end of the film when I perked back up. 

Don't mess with the Pale Rider.

However, I have felt this way before about other Eastwood films. I originally didn't love Unforgiven upon my first viewing but have since gone on to sing the film's praises as a masterpiece. Therefore, I think that one must dwell on Pale Rider in order to appreciate Clint's motives behind it. This isn't supposed to be an all encompassing or engrossing Western. This is a mysterious and mythic Western where one watches a God-like character enter various characters' lives and carry out a mission of his own with no explanation. That's about it. There aren't any huge action scenes or dramatic revelations to excite the viewer either. Pale Rider is still bad ass, but bad ass in the sense of how mature and meditative it is. The film definitely signals the oncoming of Clint's reflective old man days in the 90's and 2000's.

"The Preacher" is one of Eastwood's most interesting characters. Besides being more mysterious than any other character of his, the Preacher carries a God-like aura to him. He rides on a white horse, dresses as a preacher, quotes bible verses, and is loved and worshipped by the gold miners. His character also apparently "died" long ago and has now shown up stronger than ever. It's as if the character died and rose again, much like Christ. These aspects of the Preacher represent the film's heavy religious themes.

Another Christ-like aspect of the Preacher is that he never misses a shot or receives a single wound. Eastwood characters usually get the crap kicked out of them or miss plenty of gun shots. However, the Preacher is near invincible (much like Christ after he rose from the dead). The Preacher carries an incredible confidence to him that other Eastwood characters carry too. However, those characters are all but human as they are painfully reminded by their many beatings and losses. The Preacher on the other hand remains untouched the entire film, therefore making him one of Eastwood's most mythic and invincible characters to date.

Dusters, hats, and spurs. The signs of bad ass deputies.

Even though Eastwood carries the film, the supporting cast do a great job as well. Michael Moriarty plays Hull Barret, a kind miner who takes a liking to the Preacher and feels inspired by him. I liked his character alot and found him to be a nice representation of old fashioned mining values. He appreciates the land and chooses to mine for gold the old fashioned way instead of destroying the land with high pressured water. His daughter and her mother are also significant characters who also take a liking to the Preacher, but in a lustful manner. Chris Penn (Reservoir Dogs, True Romance) also pops up as Lahood's son and doesn't do a whole lot except get his hand shot up. Even Bond-alumni Richard Keil has a few small scenes as one of Lahood's workers. I liked how his character started off hating the Preacher but eventually grew to respect him. His arc is extremely similar to what his character goes through in Happy Gilmore. That's right people, I mentioned an Adam Sandler movie in this review in order for you to understand Keil's character.

The villains in this picture are great. Coy Lahood is a great business type villain until Marshall Stockburn and his corrupt deputies arrive to enact vengeance on the folks of the canyon and the Preacher. Stockburn and his deputies are positively cruel but incredibly bad ass. It's worth noting that Billy Drago (The Untouchables) is one of them. If you need any actor to look like a slimey villain he's your go to man. There's a very chilling scene in the film where one of the miners brags to Lahood about his gold nugget. When the deputies step out of Lahood's office, they shoot his beer and nugget to smithereens. Enraged, the man reaches for his gun and gets gunned down by the deputies in a hail of gunfire. It's definitely the standout scene of the film. It shows how evil and cruel Stockburn and his men are.

Pale Rider also has great Western imagery. I adore the snowy mountains, lush forests, and snow covered town. It's nice to see a Clint Western set outside of hot deserts or rainy towns. The best shots are usually the ones in town where the mountains and fields stretch on for miles in the background. It's easily one of Clint's most beautifully lensed films.

Just your typical gun toting, Godly preaching drifter.

Unfortunately for action enthusiasts, Pale Rider is fairly light on action. The only bonafide action set pieces are the axe handle fight near the beginning of the film and the entire gun fight at the end of the film. There are a few bursts of violence here and there besides those two scenes but nothing substantial. The axe fight is a decent fight that showcases how bad ass the Preacher is. It's also a showcase of his kindness for others as he takes on a mob of men in order to protect a miner he has never met before. 

I assume that most action enthusiasts will agree with me that the film reaches its bad ass peak during the big finale. It comes time in the film for the Preacher to eliminate the deputies and Lahood's corrupt workers. Therefore, he struts into town and essentially hides in plain sight. However, the Preacher constantly vanishes from his spots as characters have trouble locating him. Instead of staging the final action scene in an exciting or engaging manner, Clint continues to play up the character's mythic nature by having him continually pop up out of nowhere and defeat his enemies. My favorite moment is when two of the deputies walk down an alley only for a barrel to fall out of the way to reveal the Preacher gun in hand. Those deputies never stood a chance. It is literally as if the Preacher can teleport around the town in order to be in the opportune location. This ability to be in the right place at the right time defies logic, thereby adding to the character's mythic quality.

Gorgeous nature that no green screen could duplicate.

Pale Rider was Eastwood's second to last Western. Therefore, Eastwood fully explored the mythic qualities of the Western hero that he had dabbled in before. He specifically avoids explaining his character's actions in order for the audience to deduce their own conclusions. Eastwood also stages the character as a Christ-like figure with numerous religious elements to him. I enjoyed this film a lot and found the characters to be my favorite aspect of the film. I should warn action fans though that the action scenes in this film are not meant to engage or entertain from a choreography or editing stand point. They serve an artistic purpose and further define the Preacher's mythic qualities. All in all, I think that Pale Rider is a solid Eastwood Western made better by Eastwood's motives a filmmaker.

Rating: 8/10 - A mythic, religious, and unrelenting Western featuring one of Clint's best characters. Recommended to fans of deep or meaningful action films.

The Eastwood Breakdown:

Character Traits:
- Nameless drifter
- Invincible
- Perfect aim
- God-like
- Religious
Main Villain(s): Coy Lahood (intellectual business type) / Marshal Stockburn (physical gun man type)
Kill Count: 11
- Guns down four of La Hood's workers inside of the general store.
- Slowly but surely stalks and kills Stockburn's six deputies in town during the finale.
- Kills Stockburn in a quickdraw.
Themes:
- Religion (white horse, Bible quoting, prayer, Preacher character)
- Old Fashioned vs. New Fashioned (specifically old fashioned mining vs. rich person hydro mining)
- Nameless Drifter (as seen in High Plains Drifter, Man With No Name films)
Cop or Cowboy?: Cowboy
Directed by Eastwood?: Check
Champion Bad Ass One Liner: After La Hood's workers beat the crap out of Barrett, the Preacher grabs an axe handle and goes to town on the men. After disarming the last worker, the Preacher looks at his axe and replies, "There's nothing like a nice piece of hickory."
Champion Bad Ass Moment: When the Preacher has a quickdraw with Stockburn, he doesn't just shoot him once. Oh no, he shoots him six times through the chest and than once in the head with a smaller pistol. Talk about overkill!
Poster: Pale Rider has one of the best posters in all of Eastwood's filmography. The artwork and arrangement of images are incredible. I love the rusty orange and brown colors that give the vibe of the Western era. The poster even looks like it was drawn on old paper. I also love Clint's head on the upper right with the deputies in the bottom left. And I especially love the tagline, "...and hell followed with him," in the upper left corner. This is easily one of the best posters I have ever seen for a Western. There is also a Style B poster that showcases Eastwood's full body as he fans his gun. It's also a great poster but not as good as the Style A one.