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May 18, 2003

The Outlaw Josey Wales

Real western life at the end of the Civil War

Clint spits his way through this film with his usual blend of grit and humour.

During the American civil war Josey Wales is just a simple farmer, then one day 'Red Legs' come (soldiers on the side of the union) and kill his wife and son, and leave him for dead. He survives, and joins the rebels trying to avenge his family. Several years later, and he is one of the most feared outlaws in the south, when the rest of his gang decide to surrender, realising that the war is over. They are betrayed and massacred by the Unionists, but Wales gets his own back by killing many of them, and so a chase begins.

Wales is pursued across the Indian nation; along the way he picks up a growing band of misfits including an old Indian man, a squaw, an old lady and her young beautiful granddaughter (Sondra Locke). Finally they reach a safe haven, a farmhouse, and decide to make their stand. A battle ensues, Wales wins.

If you were to point to the epitome of '70s westerns, this would probably be it. It's a bit slow in places, but the pace gives you time to immerse yourself fully in the world. It's genuinely funny and tragic at the same time. The transition from earlier treatments on film of Red Indian savages to noble Native Americans in almost complete; in fact they are treated as normal human beings with good and bad sides. And just when you think it's getting a bit serious, Clint spits on the dog, which never fails to amuse.

AE 0

Posted by se71 at May 18, 2003 10:53 AM

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