The Outlaw Josey Wales
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Movie Reviews of The Outlaw Josey Wales
Movie Review: a clint classic
Summary: 4 Stars
The outlaw Joesey Wales is exactly what you want in a western. It also depicts what can happen to a man in the context of war.Movie Review: A great business transaction
Summary: 4 Stars
I was impressed with the time frame that it took for the item to arrive. It arrived very quickly and in good condition.Movie Review: Outlaw Josey Wales
Summary: 4 Stars
Have always loved the movie and am pleased to have it in DVD format for viewing at any time!Movie Review: Over-rated and definitely not one of his best
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie is ok but not fantastic compared to the Sergio Leone classics. Even Pale Rider, also directed by Eastwood, was a much better movie with a more fulfilling and beleivable character and story. The characters in this film are kind of wooden and less than realistic. Never mind that the blood on Josey's face just after his family is killed in the beginning looks like it was dabbed on with Halloween vampire blood - his transition from wronged gentle farmer to mythic gunfighter Josie Wales happens within the first ten minutes - so quick, it's like - what? Nothing leads us through the transition except we see he's suddenly joined a band of men, "outlaws" who are really the good guys, and within a matter of minutes he's a heroic gun-fighter.
At least with his "Man with no name" characters, we accept that as basis of the movie style. Here the movie makes some claim toward telling the story of a historic figure. OK, I get it, we're here for entertainment, but I found much of its total lack of realism less than entertaining or credible especially with the above mentioned claim in mind. I don't find it realistic that he was speaking perfect English with the Commanche chief when he goes to settle things with the chief (who played "Chief" in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest). It's doubtful that Native Americans still practicing their traditional way of life in a secluded part of the American frontier (i.e., not living on a reservation or in much contact with white men) would speak and understand the kind of fluent and colloquial English that Wales (Eastwood) speaks, however noble the sentiment. For a realistic depiction of what that would be like see Redford's exchange with the chief in Jeremiah Johnson.
Another thing right at the beginning of the movie that bugged and gave me inclination as to what to expect later on was when his friend gets shot and later ends up riding with him - he's been seriously shot yet you'd swear he was ready for a day at the beach.. And frankly speaking, I got a little tired of old Josie's constant spitting - which was occasionally humorous - like when he kept nailing his poor dog. I mostly got a hick 70s vibe from this film rather than 'end of the civil war'. I generally like 70s movies, and Clint Eastwood movies for sure, but this one lasted too long - sometimes I'd fast forward slow enough to read the dialogue but skip another dragged out wooden dialogue.
After the director's comment in the beginning of the movie where Clint himself says it's one of his favorites, I was expecting a little more. Maybe because he was directing it or because of the content - hard to beleive out of all the great movies he's done this would be his favorite. Yes, it touches on some of the maurading elements that existed amidst the chaos at the end of the civil war, but nothing really educated us on this issue (if indeed he felt this was important). With all the other inconsistencies it wasn't easy to accept as a substantial story about a historical figure, and as you'd guess it didn't move me on many other levels. Dirty Harry meets the old west, but give me a real Dirty Harry movie over this any day. A 5-star Western with Clint is like "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." In the pantheon of great Westerns, and even Clint westerns, Josie Wales was average, maybe a touch above. 3.5 stars.