IslandGuru Who payed the critics

Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

Hulkeasexo it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Prismark10 Warner Brothers executive David Geffen was correct, the film needed to be trimmed a bit.The Outlaw Josey Wales has long been regarded as the last great western set during and in the aftermath of the American Civil War.Josey Wales, a Missouri farmer watched his family being murdered by Union militants. Hell bent on revenge, Wales joins a band of Confederate guerrilla fighters. After the war, all the fighters apart from Wales surrender to Union officers who massacre them.Wales becomes an outlaw and an ace marksman. He is pursued both by bounty hunters and Unionist soldiers. As Wales attempts to head for Mexico he is befriended by an old Indian, a mangy dog and a young Indian woman. Wales slowly regains his humanity.Philip Kaufman co-wrote the screenplay and was slated to direct the film. He was fired by Eastwood part way through. I think it would had been a better film with Kaufman.When you see a movie over forty years after its initial release, you see it differently. This is an elegiac film with a lot of humour between Eastwood and Chief Dan George. Despite the action set up, it moves at times at a leisurely pace.Kaufman was unhappy with the source novel's political stance. Once again we have a film set in the civil war where the Unionist soldiers are seen as despicable. The pro slavery Confederates being painted as honourable and wronged.I did have problems as to how Wales goes on from being an ordinary farmer to such a sharpshooter. There is also a libertarian message that seems to be more anti government which reflects Eastwood's views somewhat. The Indian nations might have little issues with such a message given how they kept losing their land. Does this also mean I have a right to keep this black man as a slave and the big bad government has denied me this right?

slightlymad22 The Outlaw Josie Wales (1976)Plot In A Paragraph: Grieving Missouri farmer, Josie Wales (Eastwood) joins a Confederate guerrilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family.Hands down, not just my favourite Clint Eastwood Western, it is my favourite Clint Eastwood lead movie period. I have a real soft spot for this movie, as my Dad used to watch his video of it every Sunday afternoon. To some seeing the same movie every week could become annoyingly!! (I hated watching Where Eagles Dare once a year) Luckily it wasn't a problem as The Outlaw Josie Wales is a masterpiece. Despite a troubled start to the production, Clint fired the director within a week of principal photography starting. This move so outraged the Directors Guild they they passed an 'Eastwood Amendment' to their contracts for union pictures, in future no director could be replaced by anyone who was already working in the movie in any other capacity. Despite shutting down for two full days, Eastwood made up for lost time with a vengeance, actually finishing 8 days ahead of schedule. Everything about this movie is perfect, and for me, if it wasn't for Rocky being released the same year, I'd be saying this should have won Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 1976!! I rate it that highly!! Clint gives the best performance of his career at this point too, and should have been nominated too. 70 year old Chief Dan George was rightfully nominated though. There is not a weak link in the cast. Sondra Locke looks more appealing in this movie than in anything else she made, and what a fine bum she had!! Bill McKinney is given more to do than in his smaller roles in previous Clint movies and Dirty Harry costar John Vernon is also good as Fletcher. Following on from The Enforcer Jerry Fielding again scores the movie, and once again knocks it out of the park. Great score, great cinematography, great direcring, great acting. Just greatness in general. I could write Paragraph after Paragraph about the awesomeness of this movie, but I won't bore you with it!!

zkonedog After recently watching Unforgiven and being completely blown-away by it once again, I decided (on the advice of others) to try out The Outlaw Josey Wales, which I had not seen since I was probably about 12 years old. Though I didn't hate it, it never really gripped me like Unforgiven or my other top-shelf westerns.For a basic plot summary, The Outlaw Josey Wales tells the story of Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood), a man who witnesses his home and family destroyed by a group of Union soldiers. After witnessing this terrible event, Josey first hooks up with a Confederate troupe on the verge of surrender. When he refuses to officially lay down arms, he is soon hunted by the very people who destroyed his entire life.There are two overwhelmingly positive things I have to say about this movie:1. Eastwood is solid-as-usual as his typical "man with no name" character.2. I really liked the supporting cast, including Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, and John Vernon, among others. What this film lacked in direction/plot for me it often made up for in witty or emotional character interactions.On the flip side, though, I also have two scathing critiques of the film (i.e. the reasons why it is a three-star experience to me):1. Unlike Unforgiven, which gives a bit more background on its Eastwood-played protagonist, Josey Wales failed to make a mark on me in that regard. Besides the very quick family- establishing scene in the beginning, very little is revealed about Josey's family life. To me, then, the film didn't do a good enough job of establishing just why exactly we should care about the plight of Mr. Wales.2. This movie was made in 1976, or at the tail end of John Wayne's popularity. Wayne, of course, made a much different kind of western than did Eastwood, and I think sometimes Outlaw Josey Wales goes a bit too far in trying to illustrate those differences. Whereas Unforgiven (I know I reference this film a lot...but it is truly one of my all-time favorites) gets that balance just right, this one seems to revel a bit too much in its gritty approach to the West. Very little backstory is given to any character, and one scene in particular (the Sondra Locke rape scene) is very out-of- context from the rest of the film.Thus, when I look at The Outlaw Josey Wales, I see Clint Eastwood in the beginning stages of honing his own Western on-screen mentality. He hadn't quite found the perfect formula yet, but all the elements were beginning to come into place.

ivo-cobra8 Disclaimer: If you are a viewer that mainly prefers art-house-type movies, then you might as well ignore this review. In addition, if you're not able to take a Clint Eastwood's best classic western masterpiece film with a ton of great one liners , ignore this review, as well. We'll both be better off.The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) is another Clint Eastwood's direct debut after the success of High Plains Drifter (1974), The Outlaw Josey Wales is another western classics and Clint Eastwood's second best masterpiece that he directed! I love this film and it is my fifth favorite Clint Eastwood western movie. This is one in my top 5 Eastwood western films. I just love this movie to death and I love the story and the actors that it is in this film. Without any doubt, it is clearly one of the best westerns ever done, with a ton of great one liners! "you gonna draw those pistols, or whistle Dixie?". Clint is THE man! This is simply a superb western flick. The writing, acting, direction, production, It's just plain old solid in all aspects. And of course there's the classic one-liners that Clint's characters have been known for: "Aren't we gonna bury them guys, Josie"? asks the kid. "Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms" replies Josie. Classic Clint.Plot: An ex-Confederate soldier who returns home after the war to find his family murdered by a rogue group of Unionists. Refusing to surrender, he sets off on a path of lethal revenge, pitting him against his former commander.This is a classic western film set on the old wild west , the plot stars off after the end of the Civil war in USA, a soldiers that his family was murdered by the Union soldiers, doesn't surrender and flees all his friends dies by the end of war and they are double crossed. Josey Wales becomes an outlaw, who has to run away, he is pursed by Union soldiers and bounty hunters who want's him dead. This was the first time we see Sondra Locke working together with Clint Eastwood, she was his girlfriend during that time. They made 7 movies together and this was their first film together. Sondra started even in Sudden Impact (1983) in the fourth Dirty Harry franchise, she played Harry's love interest. Sudden Impact (1983) was their last film they worked together before they broke up in 1989. Still the movie has everything that I love about westerns, bounty killers, outlaws, union soldiers, Indians and a tons of shootouts.Everyone does amazing job, the pacing and acting is superb. No CGI or shaky cam, It is a film of portraying of how the old west really was. Clint Eastwood's "The Outlaw Josey Wales" is a strange and daring Western that brings together two of the genre's usually incompatible story lines. On the one hand, it's about a loner, a man of action and few words, who turns his back on civilization and lights out for the Indian nations. On the other hand, it's about a group of people heading West who meet along the trail and cast their destinies together. We meet his character, Josey Wales, just after the Civil War. He's an unreconstructed Southerner, bitter about the atrocities he's witnessed, refusing to surrender. When Northern troops cold-bloodily murder some of his comrades, he mows down the Yankees with a Gatling gun and becomes a fugitive. So far, we're on familiar ground; Eastwood plays essentially the same character he's been developing since the Dollar Westerns. He says little, keeps his face in the shadows, has an almost godlike personal invulnerability, and lives by a code we have to intuit because he'd die rather than explain it aloud.Eastwood's skill before and behind the camera connected with audience for it's humor and tenderness as well as its hair-trigger action. The editing is outstanding, the score is awesome. This is a Great film, However while this film may be one of my favorite westerns, my favorite is always and forever For a Few Dollars More. The dialogue as well as the camera angles, where superb. This movie is a great expression of western life. It speaks on so many levels yet retains its purity in telling a story of a man who lost his whole identity because the actions of cruel men in a war he did not start. Josey Wales is a man set on a path of reckoning and vengeance for the family and life he lost.Overall: I love this movie and it get's a perfect 10 by me. It is my fourth favorite Eastwood Western film that I will always watch it. The Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 American revisionist Western DeLuxe Color and Panavision film set during and after the American Civil War. It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood (as the eponymous Josey Wales), with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldine Keams.10/10 Grade: Bad Ass Seal Of Approval Studio: The Malpaso Company, Warner Bros. Starring: Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Bill McKinney, John Vernon, Paula Trueman, Sam Bottoms, Charles Tyner, Kyle Eastwood Director: Clint Eastwood Producer: Robert Daley Screenplay: Philip Kaufman, Sonia Chernus Based on Gone to Texas by Forrest Carter Rated: PG Running Time: 2 Hr. 16 Mins. Budget: $3.700.000 Box Office: $31,800,000