Pale Rider: Film #95 of Film 365

Sunday 27th November 2011

Director: Clint Eastwood
Year: 1985
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, Sydney Penny, Chris Penn

I keep telling myself I should watch more Westerns. I really enjoy them, and there are plenty of them on TV - especially with the recent Clint Eastwood season on Channel 5. I had recorded two - A Fistful of Dollars and this, Pale Rider. Dan decided we should go for this as it was a bit more recent - which turned out not to be a bad choice.

It may be a little more recent than many Westerns, but Pale Rider has all the elements of a traditional Western genre movie, and I loved it for it. Bad cowboys who hunt down the good guys, gun fights in a proper old-style Western town, and a mysterious stranger (Preacher - no surprises that this is Eastwood's role).

Like all good Westerns, the story had me waiting to see how the good guys would win (they always win - traditional, remember?), if the mysterious stranger would stay, and exactly how many fights there would be. What I especially liked about Pale Rider was the fact that the mysterious stranger stayed strange - far better than the recent too-often hashed together explanation of a character that makes no sense.

If you like "proper" Westerns, you'll more than likely love this. If you hate them, stay well away. Thankfully, I like them and could watch many more... maybe when I'm retired I can just sit and watch them on daytime TV every afternoon?

Rating: 4 out of 5