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Highly Overrated But Still Good

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

This movie begins with a group of hired thugs riding into a mining camp and destroying as much as they can in the process. Not satisfied with simply destroying property, one of them decides to kill a dog belonging to a 14-year-old girl named "Megan Wheeler" (Sydney Penny) as well. Devastated by this wanton act of cruelty, Megan buries her pet and afterwards prays for a miracle to deliver her and the rest of the miners from the men who did this. Not long afterward, one of the miners named "Hull Barret" (Michael Moriarty) goes into town to replenish some of the things that were destroyed during the raid. Once there, however, he encounters four of those same men who promptly attack him using axe handles gathered from a nearby general store. It's at this time that "a stranger" (played by Clint Eastwood) appears and proceeds to beat all four men senseless. Grateful for his assistance, Hull invites the stranger to his humble shack which he shares with Megan and her mother "Sarah Wheeler" (Carrie Snodgress). A little while later, as Megan is reading a passage from the Bible she comes across a verse concerning the four horsemen of the apocalypse. And at the precise moment she reads about "the pale horse" the stranger rides past the window in full view of both her and Sarah—and he is riding a pale horse. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this is an enjoyable film which I have seen on more than one occasion. On that note, I especially liked the performances of Clint Eastwood, Carrie Snodgress and Sydney Penny. However, I should also state that this film bears a striking resemblance to "High Plains Drifter" and as a result the novelty suffers somewhat along the way. Be that as it may, I liked this particular movie and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

'Pale Rider' is rarely mentioned when people recall the great Westerns. But whilst it may not excite discussion in the same way as 'The Outlaw Josey Wales', 'Unforgiven' or Sergio Leone's 'Dollars' trilogy, it absolutely shouldn't be dismissed. Traditionally, the Western was a genre of morality stories - usually basic ones, too. In this respect, 'Pale Rider' is a traditional Western. However, referencing the iconic Western 'Shane' from 1953, Eastwood attempts to blur the lines of morality. We are confident in who the antagonists are, and we certainly root for the protagonist, Preacher, but this isn't a story like 'Gunsmoke' where the good are completely good and the bad are completely bad. This wasn't the first time Eastwood worked with such a narrative - 1973's 'High Plains Drifter' has a similar kind of moral ambiguity, although 'Pale Rider' is a more optimistic story. The performances in this film are generally quite good, with leading man Eastwood proving that even in the middle of a career slump (from which he recovered with 'Unforgiven') he can deliver a strong, sincere performance. The other memorable character, besides Eastwood's Preacher, is one of the antagonists, Club, who is played by Richard Kiel. Mostly recognised for playing Jaws in some of the Bond films, Kiel wasn't a great dramatic performer, but landed a number of interesting roles on account of his very imposing size and menacing visage. Club is involved in a number of entertaining scenes, and he brings a similar quality to Eli Wallach's Tuco in the first half of 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly', exchanging blows with the hero but never becoming truly dislikable. I'd recommend 'Pale Rider' to any fan of the Western genre, as it heavily references the aforesaid classic 'Shane' whilst showing a return to form for Clint Eastwood, at a time when he had all but abandoned his Rowdy Yates image in favour of a more realistic, conflicted kind of character.

Pale Rider is without a doubt my favourite Clint Eastwood directed western. The lone gunman helping out small folk is nothing new in this genre but the way it's executed is worthy of great praise.The film has a cold bleakness to it that I've never seen anywhere before in any film. There is an eerie uneasiness which stems from the slight supernatural theme within the film and there are even tiny elements of horror featured too,not least of which is the score which sounds like a foreboding old Hammer Horror film. This add a sinisterness to the proceedings and to the Precaher character that suggests otherworldy doings and makes for some captivating viewing.It's also a nicely contained film, simply darting between the camp and the small town which always seems deserted and spooky further adding to the feel. The film is also deliberately ambiguous as to the history of the preacher and the Stockburn character which sends the curiosity factor through the roof and makes one wonder just what these two did in the past.Pale Rider isn't the most action packed film ever but it's Clint Eastwood playing his most famous character in the invincible gunfighter who kicks a lot of ass for what is sadly the last time.It's beautifully shot and thoroughly dramatic but with enough of an action climax to satisfy fans of gunplay.A very underrated classic sadly overshadowed by Clint's next Western "Unforgiven" which although superb, is an inferior film in my opinion.

A small group of miners and panhandlers are trying to make their claims pay despite local magnate and bully LaHood trying to force them out. Into the middle of this conflict arrives a hard man, known only as the Preacher. He provides a figurehead, encouraging the underdogs to stand up for themselves. Then LaHood brings in bogus lawman Stockburn and his deputies as enforcers.Superficially, this is a perfectly conventional western - underdogs vs bully, with the Preacher as the external catalyst who gives the underdogs the will to fight. Even the "family" who adopt the Preacher (the mother who might have a thing for him, and the daughter who definitely does) are no great surprise.But running alongside the formula is a secondary story, the subject of the film's title: dialogue tells us that the rider of the pale horse is Death, and it pointedly tells us this just as the Preacher rides up on his pale horse. The number of bullet wounds on his back is the same as the number of Stockburn's deputies. And Stockburn knows that the Preacher could not be HIM, because he saw HIM die. This mysterious and somewhat supernatural part of the story is never explained, and the film is all the better for it - we really don't need to know the nuts and bolts of the Preacher's previous existence.I'd put this one on a par with High Plains Drifter - they both have a quasi-supernatural thing going on alongside a traditional western story. This is great fun.