The Outlaw Josey Wales

8/4/2018

I guess we all died a little in that damned war. The Outlaw Josey Wales is directed by Clint Eastwood, who also stars as Wales, and is adapted by Sonia Chernus & Phil Kaufman from the novel "The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales" written by Forrest Carter. Joining Eastwood in the cast are Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Bill McKinney, John Vernon & Paula Trueman. Music is by Jerry Fielding and Bruce Surtees photographs on location in Utah, Arizona & Wyoming. We are at the very end of the American Civil War and Josey Wales is a contented family man working on his Missouri farm. But his peaceful world is shattered when Union soldiers raid his home and murder his wife and child. Surviving the attack, Josey takes up arms with a group of Confederate guerrilla fighters who take the fight to the Re

6/28/2020

**_One of the Great Westerns_** The Civil War is over and the remaining rebels in Missouri are encouraged to turn over their weapons and pledge loyalty to the Union, but Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood) hold out and thus a generous reward is put on his head. Josey heads to West Texas and maybe Mexico to find sanctuary, but will he make it alive? The cast includes the likes of Bill McKinney, John Vernon, Sondra Locke, Chief Dan George, Sam Bottoms and Will Sampson. “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (1976) is Eastwood’s best Western and a standout of the genre. Everything clicks for a top-of-the-line drama/adventure. A critic said that Wales’ encounter with the Federals in the first act establishes him as invincible and thus destroys any sense of suspense. No, it just means that he caught the sol

1/28/2022

A little overlong, though <em>'The Outlaw Josey Wales'</em> is an entertaining watch - with cool action sequences and a pleasing ending. You have a strong performance from Clint Eastwood and good support showings from the likes of Chief Dan George and John Vernon. The plot is interesting and the road-esque nature of it keeps it moving well. I do think they could've trimmed the run time slightly, while Eastwood's character really didn't need to spit so much - on a dog and some insects, no less. Just bizarre, it adds zero and simply becomes an irritation. A sequel, without the involvement of Eastwood, was released ten years after this - I'm intrigued to check it out.

12/31/2025

Believe it or not, this is a western film starring a Clint Eastwood who actually has some dialogue! He’s the eponymous farmer who has so far avoided the worst of the American Civil War only for his family to be brutally slaughtered by some marauding Yankees. Determined on retribution, he joins up with vigilante "Fletcher” (John Vernon) and his gang but yet more betrayal sees him on his own, traversing the country looking for revenge. His desperation has a certain magnetic quality to it, as he gradually attracts others on the fringe of what passes for society including “Lone” (Chief Dan George), the feisty “Grandma” (Paula Trueman) and the vulnerable “Laura” (Sondra Locke) whom he saves from a fate worse than death at the hands of more lawless raiders. With his search for “Terrill” (Bill Mc