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Pale Rider Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 14 Reviews)
MIKE 2922 Is Full of It!
I did read some (but not many) of his reviews. (I think he's about 15). He called this movie "better than 'Unforgiven'." (Where do these people come from?) This movie is like a rehash of "High Plains Drifter" with an embarrassing rip-off of Shane at the end. We get it, Clint, the otherwordly (possibly a ghost) avenger who helps the victims of the west. A well-done rehash for sure with Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, western veteran John Russell, and assorted other interesting faces. Thanks for moving onto "Unforgiven", "Bridges of Madison County", "Mystic River" and so many more. (Did one of your women inspire you?). There were mystical episodes of Clint's old TV show "Rawhide". Maybe that's why we had so many "mystical" avengers. Stick with William Munny. And ignore MIKE 2922 every time.
Eastwood's homage to "Shane" and "High Noon"
In "Pale Rider", director/leading man Clint Eastwood helps to resurrect the western with a tribute to two of the greatest in history, "Shane" and "High Noon". Eastwood's character, "Preacher" rides into the lives of some gold miners who are being threatened by one of the largest mine owners in the West who wants to add their stake to his own.
Just as Alan Ladd was in "Shane", Eastwood's "Preacher" is a larger than life character who's able to inspire the pan miners to stand up against the Lahoud family and their dozens of men. Even when Lahoud calls for back-up in the form of a mercenary sheriff (John Russell) and his six deputies, the "Preacher" stands tall. The body count ends up almost as high as a Sam Peckinpaugh western but without the slow motion death scenes and jets of blood. I don't have to go into much more detail about the plot because most viewers will figure out the ultimate ending long before the film is halfway completed.
Fans of the Eastwood style of Western ("Hang 'Em High", "Unforgiven", and all of the spaghetti westerns, just to mention a few) will certainly like "Pale Rider". It's action-filled and and has few "draggy" scenes. The supporting cast is strong with Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgrass, Robert Dysart, Chris Penn and classic western bad guy, John Russell all playing solid characters. Even Richard Kiel ("Jaws" in the James Bond movies) is present and gets hit in the groin once again by a mega-star (the other time was by Paul Newman's "Butch Cassidy").
While the DVD is not loaded with much in the way of extras (limited to scene selection, cast & crew biographies, and a couple of trailers), it is a pretty good transfer and the sound quality and cinematography are outstanding.
RECOMMENDED FOR ALL EASTWOOD AND WESTERN FANS!
Eastwood's Underrated Western Masterpiece
Pale Rider foreshadows the genius of Unforgiven, following a more compact and focused story than Eastwood's multi-Oscar winner. This one gets behind the myth of the Western hero by overlaying that archetype onto a preacher--the viewer has to rethink either his stereotypes about the clergy or his equation of violence with heroic action, if not both. Pale Rider doesn't take on the scope of Western folklore the way Unforgiven does, instead concentrating on a good vs. evil allegory in which a robber-baron raping the earth for mineral riches is equated with a rich boy raping a poor girl. Chris Penn is surprisingly effective as the "heir to the throne" for whom sex is just another expression of power. Pale Rider features some impressive visual passages, especially an Eastwood staple, an interior dimly lighted and all but blacked-out in contrast to daylight outside. Here, that effect supports a scene in which Eastwood's Preacher keeps the town baron "in the dark" about his intentions and loyalties. The shootout at the end of the film is exciting even while it is winking at and parodying some of Sergio Leone's more operatic moments of violent excess. This film doesn't have the broad ambition of Unforgiven, instead providing a closely focused, intensely sustained narrative world both realistic and fabulous in equal doses. In this widescreen version with digital sound, Pale Rider proves a real treat to recover from its undeserved obscurity.
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