Taking the Collar Off: Pale Rider

Pale Rider (1985)

"...and behold, a pale horse, and his rider was Death and hell followed with him." Revelation 6:8

After a nine year hiatus from westerns, actor-director Clint Eastwood strapped on his guns once again, giving us 1985's Pale Rider. For fans of the western classic Shane, the story will be familiar - while Pale Rider will help to bring new viewers to one of the greatest westerns yet made, Shane.

A mysterious stranger (Eastwood) comes to a remote mining camp that is being terrorized by a big mining concern that wants them off their claims, pronto. Coming to the assistance of a lone miner in town being assaulted with pick handles, the stranger shows a remarkable array of martial arts skills as he disarms and defeats the gang. Grateful, the miner "Hull" (Michael Moriarity) takes him back to the camp where he has his fiancee (Carrie Snodgress) and her 14 year old daughter, "Maggie" (Sydney Penny). Like Shane, the history of who this stranger is is never given, some have speculated he is a ghost or an angel. The film never says, but hints are given like the introduction of the stranger intercut with young Maggie's prayer over her dog's grave. When Moriarty brings Eastwood home the lady verbally ties into him while Clint freshens up. Re-entering the scene, Eastwood startles the woman by displaying a preacher's collar. She stammers her apologies, greetings, etc.

Again, like Shane, the two men bond while working together, trying to break a huge rock with sledge hammers, while Shane and the sodbuster chopped at a huge tree stump. Eastwood also has the opportunity to beat up a couple of bad guys who try to intimidate him, thus adding to his legendary status. Like following a checklist, it almost seems like Eastwood ticked off the plot points as he made a point by point comparison with Shane. "Wife loves stranger" - check. "Little kid/teenage girl admires stranger" - check. "Bad guy hires a gunfighter" - check. "Gunfighter kills one of the miners who comes to town" - check. And so on.

Clint Eastwood has been known for his westerns, beginning with the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns and moving into some truly superb films like High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Unforgiven. Although Pale Rider is derivative, it is a good film full of memorable characterizations and action. Like most of Eastwood's westerns, he also amped up the violence as compared to the old classics. What really keeps me coming back to Pale Rider is the coolness factor. Clint Eastwood, by and large, is the coolest actor to ever essay the cowboy or detective. Despite some horrific mistakes like the films with Sondra Locke as co-star :> (but even those are watchable) Clint is far cooler than Steve McQueen (the king of cool) ever was. So even though the story is a bit threadbare, the Eastwood persona carries it through. There are lots of memorable moments, like when Eastwood goes to the Wells Fargo office, looks in his safe deposit box, takes out his guns, and drops in his collar. Endlessly cool.

The rest of the cast is well chosen and do their parts well with John Russell (Outlaw Josey Wales) and Michael Moriarity (Who'll Stop the Rain) carrying the biggest male parts, while Carrie Snodgress and Sydney Penny provide the feminine leads. Chris Penn, Richard Dysart, and Richard Kiel provide good supporting performances. Cinematography, by Bruce Surtees, takes great advantage of the vistas provided by the Sawtooth Mountains and is suitably mysterious and dark when dealing with the stranger character. Original music by Lennie Niehaus is sparse and well suited to the visuals.

The Warner Bros. DVD clocks in at 113 minutes, in color, and is presented in 2.35:1 theatrical format. English, Spanish, and French subtitles are provided, cast and crew bios, and an interesting few text screens on Clint Eastwood's directorial philosophy - quite enlightening. I would like to hear Clint do a full length director's commentary, which he has yet to do, I believe.

All told, Pale Rider is a good choice for fans of "the man with no name," Clint Eastwood, and western fans in general.

More great westerns I highly recommend include:

Shane

The Wild Bunch

Ride the High Country

Enjoy a good film tonight. Thanks for reading!