“The first act here… I actually love it. From there, though, the film starts to feel episodic in nature—like a television series with a ‘damsel of the week.’”
The Outlaw Josey Wales was a Western film released in 1976. Directed by Clint Eastwood, written by Phil Kaufman and Sonia Chernus, it starred Clint Eastwood as Josey Wales, alongside Chief Dan George as Lone Watie and Sondra Locke as Laura Lee. It is ultimately about a regular, everyday farmer who turns into a vengeance machine during the Civil War after some ruthless Union soldiers murder his wife and kid. This kicks off a wild journey where he goes on the run as an outlaw because he refuses to surrender. As he plans to exact his vengeance, he keeps running into more and more people who need his help, creating a bit of a ragtag team of misfits along the way.
So, I’m moving right along in my journey through all of Clint Eastwood’s directed films. The Outlaw Josey Wales is yet another one of his films that I’d never heard of before. As far as I understand it, this is supposed to be a masterpiece within the Western genre. Westerns aren’t really my forte... cowboys, Native Americans... I don’t think there’s ever been a Western where I’ve sat down and said, “You know what, I love this movie.” The closest might be Back to the Future Part III, if that even counts, and even so, I still think that third movie is the weakest of the trilogy. Wait, no, I know: Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. Those are solid Westerns. However, take that with a grain of salt, because the biggest Western movies ever made... I’ve never seen. So... it is what it is.
How about this Josey Wales story? Is it truly a masterpiece?
Hard to say. As this film is from the late ‘70s, I’m not sure what people considered Western masterpieces back then, but I guess the movie is fine. From my perspective, it is a pretty solid example of what I imagine when I think of a Western film, at least visually. Clint Eastwood kicks butt. He’s imposing, but personally, if the film came out today, I just have a hard time believing folks would call it a masterpiece.
It has an issue with pacing. The film kicks things off right away with the murder of Clint Eastwood’s wife and child. It is brutal, he has no control over the situation, and there’s a lot of emotion there. It kicks off the vengeance story perfectly. The first act here... I actually love it. From there, it goes into a bit of a Civil War montage depicting Eastwood’s rise to legendary status before he goes on the run as an outlaw. Still good. Still good.
From there, though, we head into the second act of the film, where Clint is on his own... which feels appropriate for a Western cowboy film. No notes, really. However, this is where the movie starts to do... strange things, in my opinion.
In a strange way, the film starts to feel episodic in nature. It feels like a television series where each episode Eastwood’s character runs into yet another damsel in distress experiencing some sort of hardship that he feels obligated to help with. This could be a TV show. Damsel of the week, right?
I like the general idea that this is him building this ragtag team together, and the overall concept that they’re all very different types of people who, in several different ways, remind him what he has to live for after his family died. There’s heart there. I definitely respect it for that.
I try my best to watch a movie from this time period and think about what it was like for the audiences of the time, especially for fans of the genre. It’s hard for me to compare, since I haven’t seen the best Western movies out there. But for me, this was a film where I liked the idea and the overall message of what they were going for, but something about the pacing just rubs me the wrong way.
It’s not a terrible film, but I can’t help but feel bored here and there throughout it, and so far, that’s been kind of a running theme with these Eastwood films. Every non-Western film of his that I’ve covered, I’ve enjoyed immensely. Truly. Some of them I love, and most of them I consider hidden gems. But my experience watching High Plains Drifter and The Outlaw Josey Wales, his first two directed Western films... have been the experiences where I’ve struggled the most to get into them. That’s where my bias outshines everything else.
Unbiased/Technical Score: 30/50 (60%)
Biased/Entertainment Score: 20/50 (40%)
Total Combined Score: 50/100 (50% or 2.5/5 on Letterboxd)