I love me some Clint Eastwood, especially as a director, but I will be the first to admit that he’s lost a step or two in recent years, where his better movies usually rely on good casting. I mean, I gave Cry Macho a good review, and even then, I admit to grading on a curve for Eastwood. It is far from his best. So, why not check into some of his older movies that I haven’t seen and see him at the height of his power and not at whatever level he’s at now?
Point is, Pale Rider is on HBO Max until the end of the month, and that’s usually when I see a lot of things anyway.
A group of about 20 poor prospectors are panning for gold near the mountain town of LaHood, California. Armed goons in the employ of mining baron Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart) and his no-good son Josh (Chris Penn) ride in and wreck their settlement, with one going so far as to gun down a teenage girl’s dog. That girl, Megan Wheeler (Sydney Penny), prays for vengeance, and it seems to come in the form of a nameless man who wears a clerical collar, but also a man who seems to be gifted when it comes to violence. Referred to only as the Preacher (Eastwood), he seems to be a benevolent force from the moment he rides in on his pale horse to help prospector Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty) survive a beating from a group of LaHood’s minions. Things seem to start to go the settlement’s way, but LaHood wants the entire valley to himself. And thanks to the law, the only way he can claim the settlement’s claims is if the prospectors all leave voluntarily. With the Preacher there, that seems less likely.
However, the Preacher doesn’t simply go for his guns. Heck, he doesn’t even seem to have any at first. He’s a smart man, and his biggest skill isn’t in how he fights but how he inspires. The Preacher’s presence seems to be enough to give the prospectors a bit more of a backbone, to the point where LaHood’s increasing desperation doesn’t seem to be able to shake them anymore, where the settlement realizes that they can get what they want if they stick together and still retain their dignity. Meanwhile, both Megan and her single mother Sarah (Carrie Snodgrass), despite Sarah’s tentative romance with Hull, find themselves feeling something like love for the Preacher. LaHood isn’t the sort of man to take “no” for an answer, he does know of a US Marshall (John Russell) who with his six deputies are basically a deadly bunch of guns-for-hire. Those guys might be the sort of men that are needed to take care of the Preacher…if anyone can do it.
Yeah, the Preacher’s origin is something of a mystery. The movie never outright says it, but it does imply heavily he might not be human. He’s not a monster necessarily, but more like a supernatural force for good. He doesn’t really perform miracles or have any special powers that can’t be explained by dumb luck or something, and the movie does have some strong parallels to the classic Western Shane, but given his first appearance onscreen comes around the same time as Megan’s prayers, his appearance in the camp occurs as Megan is reading about the Four Horsemen in the Book of Revelations, and there are some odd clues that he maybe shouldn’t be, it is a conclusion that isn’t too hard to come to. Given the one character who recognizes him seems to believe he shouldn’t be there, there’s enough ambiguity as to whether or not the Preacher is a ghost or something.
Regardless, this one is a good, traditional sort of Western, the kind Eastwood made a lot of before he finally managed to purge the Western from his system so to speak with the masterful Unforgiven. This one is about the little guys learning to stand up against the greedy rich man, all with the help of a mysterious but somehow benevolent stranger with a seemingly dark past. The Preacher, unlike the Man With No Name, doesn’t seem inherently threatening, but he likewise comes across as a man who knows how to handle any problem. In fact, when the man finally does go for his guns, the formidable nature of Marshall Stockburn and his killer squad suddenly seems a lot less dangerous. That’s the sort of thing only a character played by an actor like Eastwood could pull off, and while it wasn’t Eastwood’s best Western, it was truly a fine one that I am glad I got to see.
Grade: A-
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