SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Devran ikiz I have never seen a film where everything begins so fast. When 4th minute was over, Josey's wife and son had already been killed and buried. In these moments, "The Outlaw Josey Wales," fails to focus on the feelings of a father who just lost his family to the Union Soldiers. In almost all the Eastwood films, feelings are very well hidden. They are always there, but buried deep inside of him. I understand that is the image Clint Eastwood tries to develop in his films, especially after Dollars Trilogy, but neglecting to show the real feelings of a father and a husband, who just lost his family, is not something acceptable, especially when you make a film about revenge. After this scene, he joins the Confederate Guerillas and intro of the film starts. Even from the very beginning, Clint Eastwood, as a director, makes clear that his film is not about mourning but revenge, and Josey Wales is there to make this happen."The Outlaw Josey Wales" is a Western road trip film. After Josey's comrades surrender to Northern troops and are murdered violently, he becomes a fugitive and continues his journey by himself, as an outlaw. He heads out to the west, refusing to be a part of a (non-existing) civilization, and on the road, he meets Native Americans and other people from different backgrounds and becomes their leader. "The Outlaw Josey Wales" takes place in a period where the civil war has recently finished but the echoes can still be heard. Country is in complete mess, no one knows what they are doing. On the roads people kill each other without problem. As I said Josey Wales, is an outlaw who refuses to surrender. During the film, he is constantly followed by troops and bounty hunters because of the price for his head. It seems like he is one of the most dangerous people in the United States of America at that time. He has no problem killing dozens of people in the same time. He is a talented gunman and a natural born leader.Josey Wales has the same level of masculinity and coolness like most of Eastwood characters. He hides his face in the shadows, he spits tobacco on his victims and animals, he talks very little and creates a continuous mystery. These signs are the trademarks of the Clint Eastwood characters. These days I am focusing mostly on Clint Eastwood-made films, and I have the feeling that films change, but main character remains the same. "The Outlaw Josey Wales" is also directed by him and we can see his development in the means of story and directing style in this film. There is a constant progress in his stories which I like. Different people with different backgrounds cross their paths with him during his journey west. Each character has a story to tell, and from these stories we understand that, no matter from which side you are, you suffer from the disastrous results of war. "The Outlaw Josey Wales" is a Western film with a great deal of drama in it. How lives were destroyed overnight, how civilization turns its back to Native Americans and how they were kicked out of their homelands are some side subjects of the story."The Outlaw Josey Wales" is one of the most realistic films that shows the consequences of the American Civil War. That's why in 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library Congress, for being deemed culturally and historically significant. I have particularly like the photography of Bruce Surtees. It manages to show real life struggles of post war environment and beauty of the western life and I think this is very important for a film like this, which focuses on certain points of the life in the United States during and after civil war. The film was adapted from the book called The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales written by Forrest Carter in 1972. The film is considered a financial success with its box office of $31 Million against its budget of $3.7 Million. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Original in Music Score. This is one of the films, where a certain background knowledge is required to fully enjoy it. As a non-American, I am fascinated to be able to understand their struggles on their way to becoming a great nation. From this point of view, I am thankful for the cinema and its educating power over people.

Uriah43 After his wife and son are murdered by a group of Redlegs from Kansas a farmer name "Josie Wales" (Clint Eastwood) teams up with others from Missouri intent on having their revenge. And since the Redlegs are allied with the powerful Union army, they join the Confederacy in an attempt to somehow lessen the odds against them. Unfortunately, the Union eventually wears the Confederacy which eventually forces the leader of the Missouri guerrillas named "Fletcher" (John Vernon) to discuss the terms of surrender. Although Fletcher accepts money for his efforts, what he doesn't know is that the treacherous Redlegs have no intention of honoring any deal and subsequently slaughter almost all of his men when he brings them in to surrender. What the Redlegs don't count upon is the fact that the most dangerous and deadly guerrilla of them all—Josie Wales—has opted not to surrender and having now witnessed the massacre of his colleagues is now even more determined to kill all of them. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I believe that this is one of the finest Western movies ever produced. The plot moved along at a very entertaining pace and I especially enjoyed the humor provided by the old Cherokee warrior named "Lone Watie" (Chief Dan George). Be that as it may, those looking for a good Western from days gone by should certainly check this one out. It is extremely entertaining.

Ross622 "The Outlaw Josey Wales" is a masterpiece in the western genre and is arguably one of the best westerns of all time even though it isn't really the type of western that people who haven't seen it would expect, while packing a really emotional punch. Clint Eastwood directs and stars as Josey Wales a farmer that lives with his family in Missouri who then die in a fire while not being able to save them, and then seeks revenge on the Union soldiers who killed them. After that horrifying moment in his life Wales decides to seek revenge on the people who killed his family, hey but who wouldn't want to do so, right? After that Wales tries to kill them one by one and is on the run as an outlaw from the Union army, after refusing to pledge allegiance to the United States. While on the run Wales meets an elderly Indian man named Lone Watie (Chief Dan George) who tries to help Josey in any way he possibly can, eventually they meet a young girl named Laura Lee (Sondra Locke) and her grandmother who also try to help Wales even though they are afraid of him at first. This movie is kind of like "The Fugitive" (1993) in a western setting. I could really find nothing at all wrong with this movie and is in comparison with "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" (1966), "The Searchers" (1956), "Unforgiven" (1992), "High Noon" (1952), "True Grit" (2010), "Rio Bravo" (1959), "Will Penny" (1968), "Winchester 73" (1950) and many others as one of the best western movies of all time. The performances, and the screenplay are flawless, as well as the set design and the costumes, and Jerry Fielding's score along with Bruce Surtees' cinematography are what builds up a feeling of suspense, living up to Alfred Hitchcock's saying that "The audience should always be played like a piano." This was Clint Eastwood's 5th film as a director and one of his absolute best and is arguably one of film's very best cowboy actors. As well as being one of the very best period dramas I've ever seen and one of the best movies of 1976.

AudioFileZ The Outlaw Josey Wales might not be groundbreaking but it has a western genre purity. A man who is just trying to provide for his family gets thrust into a situation of revenge and being hunted. This is as real as the west itself and interjecting The Civil War adds history as well.Even in the mid-seventies the western genre remained bankable at the box office but had little output to satisfy that. Especially anything with true quality like those of decades before. We should all thank Clint Eastwood for being an excellent torch bearer. Here it seems everything gels. You've got a fantastic character who gets support from the unlikely wonderful treasure real life Indian Chief Dan George. This pairing thrusts the movie into rarefied air indeed. Plus the story is compelling and flows as if it recounts something that actually may have occurred. The wilderness of American and the spare landscapes of the Southwest in particular are brilliantly photographed. Early on newcomer Samuel Bottoms gives an honest very un- Hollywood co-starring role as a young Southerner who idolizes Wales as everything he aspires to. A movie with utterly fantastic characters and a fine story to match. Eastwood had his own vision and it moved slowly which some of the brass, reportedly, wanted to either fix with more action or edit to move faster. Eastwood, again reportedly, told them that's your choice and I'll be working at the studio across the street. They left it alone and the rest proved Eastwood already had a mastery of the genre much like Ford and Hawks. The story works in it's unhurried and steady flow to the inevitable final outcome never losing the viewer's interest. One really isn't asked to look too deep, but there are great truths too woven in the politics which are never insulting or fake. Truly a classic western for the ages.