CS Film Club II

The words 'Clint Eastwood' and 'Western' have mostly been synonymous with each other for a vast number of years, with 1992's Unforgiven often serving as the film where both reached their peak for each other.  Although having now seen The Outlaw Josey Wales, I think I can say that this film walked so that Unforgiven could run.  That's not to say that this film is a shadow in any sense -- on the contrary, it's a very strong piece of work -- it just shares similar thematic and dramatic building blocks that Eastwood would go on to hone.  This definitely has the expected hallmarks of the more exciting, shoot-em-up brand of Westerns, but at its core, The Outlaw Josey Wales is a much more character-driven piece than the spaghetti westerns that Eastwood also built his image on.  And it's all the better for it.  The plot description for this movie details the main character going on a quest to avenge his murdered family -- which the movie opens with -- and that created certain expectations for me.  Plus, the first half hour to forty-five minutes have a lot of the action you would expect in a movie like this.  But I was pleasantly surprised when the movie began to slow down and delve into the characters more, allowing for a more meditative approach on the genre, something that seems like a bit of fresh air considering what the genre had mainly been like up until this point.  The film is also able to follow through on that approach by offering up a cast of interesting characters, a fairly gripping mood/atmosphere and effectively visceral bursts of violence.  Plus, Eastwood's performance is dramatically compelling and satisfying itself and helps hold everything together well.  The Outlaw Josey Wales is a revisionist Western before revisionist Westerns seemed to be in-style, and it has the material to back itself up.  A very pleasant surprise.

***1/2 /****