| Pale Rider | | Cast : | Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, Sydney Penny | | Director : | Clint Eastwood | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | June 28, 1985 | | DVD Released Date : | September 02, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 12, 2005 | | Summary | "Nothing like a good piece of hickory!" | Content
 | The Gold Rush in nineteenth-century California attracted all types of people seeking their fortunes. Some would settle in small mining encampments where each had their claims to search for the precious ore, but greed could encourage some to try and drive people away from their claims. Such was the setting for the 1985 film "Pale Rider", which was directed by Clint Eastwood. Located a few miles from a small town, a mining encampment includes the hard-working Hull Barrett (Michael Moriarty), a woman that he's been living with named Sarah Wheeler (Carrie Snodgrass) and her teenaged daughter Megan Wheeler (Sydney Penny). Frustrated with rising bills at the nearby country store and a greedy & wealthy man named Coy LaHood (Richard A. Dysart) who is trying to drive away the miners, Hull and Sarah's relationship is somewhat strained. After Megan prays for assistance and is reading a verse in the Book of Revelation that states "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death" (Rev. 6:8), she sees a man riding a pale horse approaching. The rider comes to be known only as "The Preacher" (Clint Eastwood) and after helping Hull out of a skirmish with some of LaHood's men, Hull invites the Preacher to stay with him, Sarah and Megan. It isn't before long that the Preacher begins to give the miners at Hull's encampment courage to stand up to LaHood and to work together. LaHood, of course, is furious that a preacher is helping them because he wants their land so that he can use his very destructive hydraulic mining technology to strip the land of whatever gold may be there. When LaHood can't buy the Preacher out of the encampment, he resorts to hiring a "marshal" of sorts named Stockburn (John Russell, 1921-1991) and his "deputies" to get rid of the Preacher. LaHood, however, doesn't know what the Preacher is capable of doing.
With excellent cinematography, interesting characters, an engaging story and good acting, "Pale Rider" is an excellent film. Other memorable characters include LaHood's son Josh (Chris Penn), Club (Richard Kiel, who is better known for his portrayal of the character "Jaws" from the James Bond films "The Spy Who Loved Me" & "Moonraker" in 1977 & 1979 respectively), McGill (Charles Hallahan), Ma Blankenship (Fran Ryan, 1916-2000) and Jed Blankenship (Richard Hamilton, 1920-2004). Memorable scenes include the Preacher's arrival, the boulder, visiting LaHood's hydraulic mine, the arrival of Stockburn and the final scenes. Overall, I rate "Pale Rider" with 5 stars. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 10, 2005 | | Summary | Behold a Pale Horse, and His Rider Was Death | Content
| Revelation 6:8 provides a quotation that Megan Wheeler (Sydney Penny) is reading when the Preacher (Clint Eastwood) arrives on his pale horse. There seems to be an underlying biblical theme to this movie, as a short time before Megan was praying for a miracle to save them all from Coy Lahood (Richard Dysart). The Preacher's appearance may be a miracle, or it could spell death for them all.
"Pale Rider" is a classic tale of good versus evil, set near the tail end of the old west. Coy Lahood is a hydraulic miner, which means that he uses water to wash tons of dirt into sluices to find gold, versus less destructive method, such as panning for gold. Lahood has just about mined all the valleys in the surrounding area, with the exception of Carbon Canyon, where a group of miners have legal claims that they duly filed in Sacramento. Of course, Lahood wants Carbon Canyon so that he can rip the dirt from the land efficiently to obtain whatever gold there might be.
Lahood steadily elevates the pressure on the miners to leave, but the Preacher thwarts Lahood's when he appears just in time to save miner Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty in his pre-"Law and Order" days) from being thoroughly beaten by Lahood's thugs. The appearance of the Preacher causes ripples through the mining camp. The miners gain hope. Young Megan Wheeler feels the yearnings of womanhood and develops an intense crush on the Preacher. Megan's mother Sara (Carrie Snodgrass) feels a similar attraction for the charismatic Preacher. Hull gains a role model who has perseverance and abilities greater than his own.
Much of the movie is spent in developing the central characters, most particularly Hull, Sara, Megan, Coy Lahood and his son Josh (Christopher Penn). What we learn about the Preacher comes from his actions, though we see him with his shirt off at one point and realize that he was severely wounded at one time in his life.
Lahood finally becomes so frustrated with removing the miners and the Preacher that he sends for Marshall Stockburn (John Russell) and his deputies. When Stockburn arrives, he and his men have a confrontation with one of the miners, Spider Conway (Doug McGrath), a confrontation that leaves Conway significantly worse for the encounter. We now know that Stockburn and his men are ruthless murderers.
The question is what is the relationship between Stockburn and the Preacher? We never learn the details, but we have sufficient evidence to know that a showdown is inevitable. We also know Clint Eastwood well enough to know that the meeting will likely leave Eastwood as the last man standing.
Clint Eastwood filmed this movie darkly and simply, with constant sharp contrasts between dark and light. It appears that Eastwood was keeping as many things as possible in this movie in terms of good and evil. There are no grays in this movie. There are even moments when you think that there may be gray, such as when Club (Richard Kiel) keeps Josh Lahood from killing the Preacher, but we quickly realize that Club did so because he was good.
This movie was filmed in Sawtooth Recreation Area in Idaho. This area is gorgeous and wild, as we can readily see in the movie. The backdrop could easily be parts of California. The only problem I had with the location was the changes in the amount of snow that we see from scene to scene.
One other thing to notice is the relative weight of Spider Conway's huge gold nugget. Gold has a density similar to that of lead. Spider's nugget appeared to be quite large, and thus would weigh a lot. Spider would not be handling the nugget as portrayed in the movie.
This movie won a Young Artist Award for Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress in a Motion Picture for Syndey Penny. Her performance is excellent and is one of the features of this movie. The Western Writers of America gave Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack a Spur Award for Best Screenplay. Clint Eastwood was nominated for a Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
The character of the Preacher is much like the Man with No Name of Clint's early films. The Preacher seems to be a bit more human than the early years of that character, but then again, Clint Eastwood was a lot older in this 1985 movie. The contrast between good and evil is much clearer in this movie than in the early movies as well. This movie has a lot going for it, especially Clint Eastwood in his first western since "The Outlaw Josey Wales." This movie deserves to be in your collection of westerns or action films.
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| Rating | | | Date | March 30, 2005 | | Summary | Eastwood's Underrated Western Masterpiece | Content
| Pale Rider foreshadows the genius of Unforgiven, following a more compact and focused story than Eastwood's multi-Oscar winner. This one gets behind the myth of the Western hero by overlaying that archetype onto a preacher--the viewer has to rethink either his stereotypes about the clergy or his equation of violence with heroic action, if not both. Pale Rider doesn't take on the scope of Western folklore the way Unforgiven does, instead concentrating on a good vs. evil allegory in which a robber-baron raping the earth for mineral riches is equated with a rich boy raping a poor girl. Chris Penn is surprisingly effective as the "heir to the throne" for whom sex is just another expression of power. Pale Rider features some impressive visual passages, especially an Eastwood staple, an interior dimly lighted and all but blacked-out in contrast to daylight outside. Here, that effect supports a scene in which Eastwood's Preacher keeps the town baron "in the dark" about his intentions and loyalties. The shootout at the end of the film is exciting even while it is winking at and parodying some of Sergio Leone's more operatic moments of violent excess. This film doesn't have the broad ambition of Unforgiven, instead providing a closely focused, intensely sustained narrative world both realistic and fabulous in equal doses. In this widescreen version with digital sound, Pale Rider proves a real treat to recover from its undeserved obscurity. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 17, 2005 | | Summary | Eastwood's homage to "Shane" and "High Noon" | Content
| In "Pale Rider", director/leading man Clint Eastwood helps to resurrect the western with a tribute to two of the greatest in history, "Shane" and "High Noon". Eastwood's character, "Preacher" rides into the lives of some gold miners who are being threatened by one of the largest mine owners in the West who wants to add their stake to his own.
Just as Alan Ladd was in "Shane", Eastwood's "Preacher" is a larger than life character who's able to inspire the pan miners to stand up against the Lahoud family and their dozens of men. Even when Lahoud calls for back-up in the form of a mercenary sheriff (John Russell) and his six deputies, the "Preacher" stands tall. The body count ends up almost as high as a Sam Peckinpaugh western but without the slow motion death scenes and jets of blood. I don't have to go into much more detail about the plot because most viewers will figure out the ultimate ending long before the film is halfway completed.
Fans of the Eastwood style of Western ("Hang 'Em High", "Unforgiven", and all of the spaghetti westerns, just to mention a few) will certainly like "Pale Rider". It's action-filled and and has few "draggy" scenes. The supporting cast is strong with Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgrass, Robert Dysart, Chris Penn and classic western bad guy, John Russell all playing solid characters. Even Richard Kiel ("Jaws" in the James Bond movies) is present and gets hit in the groin once again by a mega-star (the other time was by Paul Newman's "Butch Cassidy").
While the DVD is not loaded with much in the way of extras (limited to scene selection, cast & crew biographies, and a couple of trailers), it is a pretty good transfer and the sound quality and cinematography are outstanding.
RECOMMENDED FOR ALL EASTWOOD AND WESTERN FANS!
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| Rating | | | Date | January 06, 2005 | | Summary | MIKE 2922 Is Full of It! | Content
| I did read some (but not many) of his reviews. (I think he's about 15). He called this movie "better than 'Unforgiven'." (Where do these people come from?) This movie is like a rehash of "High Plains Drifter" with an embarrassing rip-off of Shane at the end. We get it, Clint, the otherwordly (possibly a ghost) avenger who helps the victims of the west. A well-done rehash for sure with Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, western veteran John Russell, and assorted other interesting faces. Thanks for moving onto "Unforgiven", "Bridges of Madison County", "Mystic River" and so many more. (Did one of your women inspire you?). There were mystical episodes of Clint's old TV show "Rawhide". Maybe that's why we had so many "mystical" avengers. Stick with William Munny. And ignore MIKE 2922 every time. |
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