Pale Rider – Review

Pale Rider – 1985 – Western

Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Written by: Michael Butler; Dennis Shryack
Main Players: Clint Eastwood; Michael Moriarty; Chris Penn; Richard Dysart; John Russell; Richard Kiel

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A group of cowboys ride through the plains and over hills, stirring up noise and dust. Nearby, a small prospecting settlement works on constructing homes and sifting for gold. The loud horse hooves and this quiet and serene town setting are about to collide.

The noise in the air puts people on edge as danger approaches, but reactions are not fast enough. Gunshots ring out and the townsfolk begin fleeing for cover. What is this horrific attack about? Who will be left standing?

As the town assesses damage, a young girl Megan Wheeler prays in the forest for a miracle, and for revenge for her dog. As townsman Hull Barret (Moriarty) takes the wagon into the nearby town, he gets nothing but dirty looks from a competing mining camp. Maybe those losers are the ones putting pressure on Hull’s settler camp.

As the snow falls in the hills, in rides a mysterious stranger named Preacher (Eastwood). How will this man get involved in the situation? Is he the answer to the girl’s prayer? Something tells me guns, fists, horses and aggressive squinting are on the way. Hull is jumped outside of the general store by the group of assholes miners, so Preacher comes in to help with a bucket of water and a wooden plank.

Pale Rider is a usual western story, but it is a great effort from genre veteran Clint Eastwood. It opens with excitement and settles into a groove of heroism and revenge. While it does not reinvent the western in any way, it is very well done and is solid despite being made in the 80s, still playing well today.

See This If You Liked:

The Outlaw Josey Wales; Hang ‘Em High; ); A Fistful of Dollars (Per un Pugno di Dollari); For a Few Dollars More (Per Qualche Dollaro in Più); The Good the Bad the Ugly (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo); Shane; Open Range; Once Upon a Time in the West (C’era una Volta il West)

Score:

8.0

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