Pale Rider (1985) User Reviews

You can't beat a good bit of Hickory.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 27 July 2008]

The opening to Pale Rider is just excellent, at first all is calm and serene, but then the peace is shattered by the thundering of hooves. A group of men employed by Coy LaHood, tear thru a small mining community, shooting guns and trampling over all in their way. During this callous act of bullying, one of the men shoots and kills young Megan's dog. When Megan buries her beloved pet, she calls to god to send someone to help them against the greedy LaHood, because LaHood is intent on stripping the locals of their claims, and he literally will stop at nothing to get them. Later on Megan is reading from the bible, she reads aloud to her mother about "beholding a pale horse and that the man who sat on it was death", we then see a lone horseman riding towards this under fire place...

Behold the pale horse because the man that sat on him was Clint Eastwood! And that's all you really want to know as regards what drives the film on. It had been quite some time since the movie watching world had witnessed a damn good Western, so it is obvious that Eastwood, knowing the genre inside out, felt it time to remind all and sundry about this engrossing genre and all its little peccadilloes. Riffing on his own High Plains Drifter from 1973 and homaging Shane in the process, Eastwood again uses supernatural leanings to play out this intriguing tale. Pale Rider works well because Eastwood cares for the genre so much, no frame is wasted and the acting on show delivers the necessary amount of quality to enhance the picture's impact. From the thundering opening to the gorgeous final shot, Pale Rider is an expertly crafted Western that still holds up today as a great entry on Eastwoods CV. Pale Rider. 8/10

A strange preacher comes to defense miners in their struggle against the nasty owners

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 22 October 2012]

A drifter (Clint Eastwood) comes to a mining village in the Old West just in time to reckoning gunslingers and owners . He is a mysterious preacher who comes to the aid of gold prospectors and protects a humble embattled prospector (Michael Moriarty) and his woman (Carrie Snodgres) from a greedy mining company (ruled by LaHood , Richard Dysart, and his son Josh LaHood , Chris Penn) trying to encroach on their land . Meanwhile , the Good Stranger is idolized by their daughter named Megan (Sydney Penny). As the wealthy owner contracts a group of outlaws as hired gunfighters (led by John Russell who also acted as villain in Rio Bravo) to kill miners . The title ¨The Pale Rider¨ refers to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation, chapter six , Megan is reading the exact verse when she and her mom first see Preacher ride up to their house.

Well crafted Western with interesting screenplay written by Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack . Although atmospheric , it's also sometimes slow-moving and winds up into a spectacular showdown . This stirring picture contains a powerful examination of morality and hypocrisy on people as well as an enjoyable message about faith and hope . Clint Eastwood is unforgettable in the title role coming to help a group of struggling miners and homesteaders . Clint Eastwood revealed in interviews that his character is in fact a ghost. Other clues to the Preacher's true nature are the ghastly bullet wound scars seen when he is dressing, and his sudden appearances and disappearances throughout the movie . During shooting, Clint Eastwood sustained what he describes as the worst injury he has ever had on set when a horse he was riding fell through thin ice and launched him forward as Clint suffered a dislocated shoulder . Good casting with several secondaries as Carrie Snodgress , Chris Penn , Doug McGrath , Richard Kiel , Charles Hallahan , Billy Drago and special mention to John Russell as a downright nasty. Exquisitely shot in Panavision by Bruce Surtees , son of classic cameraman Robert Surtees , with a magnificent cinematography on the wooded exteriors and snowy mountains backgrounds. Acceptable production design by veteran Edward Carfagno , though the train station built for production was used again late in 1988 for Back to the Future Part III . Thrilling as well as sensitive musical score by Lennie Niehaus . The film is made in somewhat similar style to ¨Shane¨ by George Stevens , and which so much cloning of ¨High plains drifter¨ also directed by Eastwood only this time the drifter appears to have been sent from hell rather than heaven to right from ordinary injustices . Star, producer , filmmaker Eastwood realizes an excellent film and perfectly directed . This classic Western as good as the notorious ¨Josey Wales¨ is splendid in every way . Later on , Eastwood produced and directed another successful Western ¨Unforgiven(1992)¨ also with some common theme.

"Tell the preacher to meet me here tomorrow morning."

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 7/10 · 4 November 2007]

Shot on location in Sun Valley, Idaho, and to some esteem to "Shane," "Pale Rider" succeeded with sweeping landscapes and magnificent cinematography, to be an interesting Western that helps to bring back something from Eastwood's mystique…

In 1850 California, a small group squatters and their families find themselves terrorized by Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart), who are standing win the way of his progress… Desperate, LaHood begins using violence in an unsuccessful attempt to run the peaceful yet determined homesteaders from their land… Leading the homesteaders is a decent man Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty), who dreams of a better life for himself, his girlfriend Sarah Wheeler (Carrie Snodgress) and her lovely daughter from a previous marriage, 14-year-old Meagan (Sydney Penny).

Into the lives of these strong-willed people rides a mysterious man—tall and lean with something strange in his eyes —known only as "The Preacher" (Clint Eastwood). He says little, divulges nothing of his past, but for a man wearing a clerical collar he seems an expert at handling weapons… He pulls the miners together and gives them the confidence to defy LaHood even in the face of mounting violence...

Although both Sarah and her daughter become enamored of the pale preacher, he gently rejects their advances and makes them see that Hull is a less capable but far better man… There is a good scene when Spider Conway—went into town alone and running out of steam—invited LaHood to come out and have a drink with him… But instead Stockburn and his deputies came out asking him to dance…

Richard Dysart creates an all-too-believable villain, and Western veteran John Russell is well-cast as a middle-aged mercenary and his hired guns to face a legendary hero… It's an old score and it's time settle it

Death Rides a Pale Horse!

[bsmith5552 · 7/10 · 6 March 2005]

"Pale Rider" is Producer/Director/Star Clint Eastwood's unofficial remake of George Stevens' "Shane" (1953). I've never heard that he's acknowledged it as such but the two stories are more than a little similar. The film also presents Eastwood in another variation of his "man with no name" character, similar to the one he portrayed in "High Plains Drifter" (1973).

The story begins with a raid on a small mining community by rival miners trying to drive the residents off of their claims and take them over. Among the miners are Hull Barret (Michael Moriarity), his intended Sarah Wheller (Carrie Snodgrass) and her budding teenage daughter Megan (Sydney Penny). When Megan's dog is killed during the raid, she prays for someone to help her against the oppressors.

Out of the mist comes a mysterious stranger (Eastwood), whom the scriptural passage Megan is reading describes him as "death riding a pale horse". The stranger saves Barret from a beating at the hands of the town bullies and comes home with him wherein he reveals himself to be a preacher. We learn that mining magnate Coy La Hood (Richard Dysart) and his son Josh (Christopher Penn) are behind all of the troubles.

When LaHood's men including McGill (Charles Hallahan and the gigantic Club (Richard Kiel) are unable to handle this preacher, he sends for gunslinging Marshal Stockburn (John Russell) and his six deputies. Meanwhile, one of the miners, Spider Conway (Doug McGrath) goes into town alone after striking it rich and is goaded into a gunfight with Stockburn & Co. Conway is brutally gunned down in front of his two young sons after which Stockburn tells the boys to tell the preacher to meet him on the street the following morning.

The preacher then goes to retrieve a strong box containing his hardware and into which he tosses his preacher's collar. He and Barret then start for town where............

Eastwood's character as in "High Plains Drifter" appears to embody elements of the supernatural. We see the scars of several bullet holes in his back and at one point is recognized by Stockburn as someone he had killed years before. The teen-aged Megan throws herself at the preacher (she's only 14 in the story) but he wisely (for the sake of the censors) let's her down easy while having an eye for her mother.

The comparison between this film and "Shane" is inevitable. In "Shane we have the squatters versus the cattlemen; here its between the powerful miner and the "tin panners". There's the solitary gunfighter who helps out the underdogs, the vicious hired gun, the loner who gets gunned down in the street, the bad guy who turns good and the hero who rides off into the sunset all common to both films.

Though not Eastwood's best western it is nevertheless good enough to wish that he had made more of them.

a film that revived the Western genre

[TheUnknown837-1 · 10/10 · 2 December 2007]

During the early 80s, the Western genre was beginning to lose its position in Hollywood, and losing its impact on the audience. And the financial disaster of the Western "Heaven's Gate" did not really make very many producers any more enthusiastic about putting their money in to make Western films. But one of the producers, more famous as an actor and director, who was willing to make another Western, was Clint Eastwood. Maybe because Westerns like "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" had started his career in the 60s, he felt he owed it to at least himself to try and revive the genre before Hollywood officially threw it in the scrap pile.

"Pale Rider" was, and still is, a phenomenal success of a film. After its release, the Western genre was saved and brought back to life for several more years. It has fallen down nonetheless, but has not disappeared from cinema screens. And we really owe it all to Clint Eastwood for this film. "Pale Rider" is one of his best Westerns. It is well-acted, well characterized, has plenty of action, and is overall a great achievement.

As one might expect, Clint Eastwood plays a mysterious stranger in this film. Very much like in the Dollars Trilogy and "High Plains Drifter", his character is never given an actual name. The character Eastwood plays in this film, however, is different than the squinting gunslingers he played in the past. This character is more anti-violent than the previous ones and doesn't even put his hand on a six-gun until the film is more than half-over. He mingles with the bad guys plenty of times, but rarely ever with a shooting iron. He's still a man of few words, but isn't as cold and self-concerned.

Along with Eastwood, we have a cast made up of fine actors such as Michael Moriarty, the late Chris Penn, Richard A. Dysart, and one of the most popular of Western villains John Russell as a corrupt marshal by the name of Stockburn. Russell's character is one of the coldest cinema villains I've seen in a long time and his limited screen time aids in his impact and appearance. Russell's cold, almost lifeless voice added with Lennie Niehaus's eerie background music score brings a spine-chilling atmosphere to the film when the character speaks some of his first dialogue in the film. Like Eastwood's character, Stockburn is a character that says little, yet still delivers an enormous impact.

Scenery in "Pale Rider" was absolutely beautiful, especially when combined with the effective lighting and cinematography. Many times in the film, we see a mountain directly smack center in the background. The cinematography is most of the time, dark and eerie. Dark scenes are even darker than usual, making this vision of the Old West even dirtier and savage than in most Westerns. And yet it isn't shown as being entirely savage, for it wasn't. True, the West was a tough place to live in the 19th century, especially during feuds over gold, but it wasn't a day of just regular killing.

Some people have accused "Pale Rider" was being a rip off of the classic 1953 film "Shane". I will not deny the fact that they are very similar in a lot of regards and share similar scenes. A stranger coming to a settlement in the Old West during a feud between a successful land tycoon and homesteaders on land he wants was used in "Shane". But "Pale Rider" is in no way, shape, or form a rip-off. Any similarities to "Shane" is a homage, a tribute of respect. After all, Eastwood was attempting to save the Western genre, and perhaps this was his way of reminding the audiences of the great films of the past. Yet, he could do it without copying it. He just re-visioned it.

Well enough done in the big picture to keep it rolling through some glitches.

[secondtake · 7/10 · 19 January 2013]

Pale Rider (1985)

An American Western trying (and often succeeding) at being an archetypal example of the genre. Clint Eastwood is a maturing actor and director at this point, and the movie has a kind of heft of someone who knows the ropes and has a good crew.

But Eastwood as director maybe lacks perspective on his abilities, and he overwhelms the intelligence of the excellent cinematographer (Bruce Surtees, son of the legendary Robert) and the young be competent editor. Mostly this doesn't matter--the many rough edged character actors keep an Old West authenticity to the acting, and the sets and scenery are both true and real seeming. It's more the little decisions now and then that push you from the realism, and not in a stylized way other directors make obvious.

An example right away: when one man is shot, he gets a dozen or twenty bullets in him and is still alive and responsive. It takes a final bullet to the head to put him down like a dog. This is theatrics, and it's dramatic in a cheap way. Much of the movie is not cheap, but somehow Eastwood can't avoid himself.

Other example. The first scene is a classic, intelligent case of parallel editing--two separate stories told back and forth in tandem until they meet. We see the galloping bad guys interspersed with scenes of a small settlement of innocents. Suspense builds. We see the inevitable coming, and then it comes. Mayhem death and destruction.

So why do the two women have to act like idiots? I mean, there are a dozen horses ravaging the tents and buggies and people in the village and instead of running to the trees or just hiding, the two women are running through and between the horses, oblivious to their danger, the younger one of them mindlessly looking for her dog. It's sentimentally nice, but it doesn't seem right. Or smart.

The women actually serve as props for manly expressions throughout, from the 14 year old hitting sexually on Eastwood (his ego is unbridled, but the character, flattered, avoids such obvious abuse) to her mother wanting, just once, to know what making love to this great paradigm is all about (before marrying the much nicer fellow who loves her a lot).

I don't mean to put too much emphasis on what doesn't work here. The movie overall is a masculine, beautiful western in the updated sense of later westerns, anything after "The Wild Bunch." Eastwood always enjoys playing the unorthodox hero. The enemy is a corporate kind of presence, a ruthless mining company with no environmental tenderness. The archetypes of good and bad people run wild here, and if you let them it's fine.

So really we have what is another reworking of familiar themes from the genre, well enough done to keep it afloat if you turn a blind eye now and then.

One of my favorite Westerns of all time

[movie-man-76 · 7/10 · 26 March 2003]

Pale Rider is one of my favorite Westerns of all time. The story is of a stranger arriving in a small mining town on a pale horse, thus Pale Rider. This man is tall, fearless, strong, brave, and a man of God. The story starts off when a much bigger and stronger mining company tries to force a group of people that are mining for gold off their territory. They try to do this by stampeding their camp with their horses and using guns. After the dust has settled the leader of the camp {Hull} goes into town for supplies. While there, the gang that just stampeded the camp beats up Hull with hickory sticks. This all ends when the stranger throws a bucket of water on one of the men to stop him from lighting Hull's wagon on fire. Then the beating beings. The stranger goes threw these four men with his own hickory stick like they weren't even there. All of them laid out on the dirt road in pain. Hull then invites the stranger to the camp for food and somewhere to stay. Through the whole film the Preacher, as everyone calls the stranger, stands up for the people of the mining camp. Clint Eastwood gives a strong performance with his double role as a preacher and man with no fear that is not afraid to fight and stand up to people bigger then him. The end of the film is one of the best ends for a Western or any film for that matter that I have ever witnessed. People say that Pale Rider copies off Shane, that might be true in some aspects, but Shane is slow and somewhat boring when comparing it to Pale Rider. I give Pale Rider * * * ½ {out of four stars} and an 8/10.

An Overlooked Gem

[tightspotkilo · 8/10 · 9 October 2005]

Clint Eastwood made this film in 1985 and at the time many people said it was the best movie that he had ever made. Some people even went further and said it was the best western ever made. But the raucous shoot-em-up Silverado came out that very same year, basically foisting Kevin Costner onto an unsuspecting world, and it ended up making a bigger splash in 1985 than did Pale Rider. Then, after that, two more things happened: Costner went on to make Dances With Wolves (1990), and Eastwood went on to make The Unforgiven (1992), and with all that Pale Rider slipped into obscurity. The Unforgiven now wears the mantle of being Clint's masterpiece, his finest western, of being maybe the best western ever. And other people marvel much the same way at Dances With Wolves. Meanwhile, nobody thinks about or even remembers Pale Rider, a sorry fate that this fine film doesn't deserve.

There are two distinctly remarkable things about Pale Rider: On the one hand we have a return to The Stranger, the character Eastwood played in High Plains Drifter (1973). But, he's no longer called "The Stranger," maybe because he has evolved in life, and he's now known as "The Preacher." But he seems to be the same guy, at a different place in his life's journey. When you think about it, The Stranger from High Plains Drifter was pretty much just an Americanized presentation of the no-name character Eastwood played in the spaghetti western dollar series for Sergio Leone. And if you're going to categorize it, that's probably where this film belongs, as a part of that Sergio Leone series: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1967). Add High Plains Drifter and this, Pale Rider, into that mix and you have a complete set. And it's noteworthy that Eastwood never again returned to the character. Eastwood's The Stranger appears to be finito.

All that's on the one hand. On the other hand we unmistakably see Eastwood using Pale Rider to pay homage to what was once regarded by many as being the finest western of all time, Shane (1953). In fact, it's more than mere homage that's being paid here. Pale Rider is really a full-blown retelling of Shane, updated, done in Eastwood's style, and with Eastwood's trademarked mystery man stepping into Alan Ladd's boots for the classic Shane role. Same story. Same plot dynamics. The biggest difference from Shane being that in Pale Rider the young lad is replaced by a blossoming adolescent ingénue, the gender change altering the tensions between the characters. Whereas in Shane the boy compared his father to Shane, and found his father lacking, in Pale Rider the girl competes heads up with her mother for The Preacher's attention.

Another difference from Shane is that here the dirty deed is accomplished. Yes, Mama beds the manly stranger. In Shane's life and times the cowboy way was to resist that temptation --to rise above it-- and walk away. But here The Preacher takes off his boots and drops trousers. I suppose in Eastwood's view the world changed between 1953 and 1985. Of course one aspect of the story was "fixed" to make this "acceptable." While in Shane Mama was ostensibly an otherwise happily married hausfrau, here she was a widow, unremarried, thereby rendering the tryst at least technically non-adulterous, although Mama was in a semi-committed relationship with her intended.

But don't misunderstand. Pale Rider is a fine film. I like it a lot. I like it as much as Shane. I like it almost as much as The Unforgiven. It ought to be remembered. It deserves to be remembered. It is a well-told western from the 1980s, and there weren't many of those made. If you like good westerns, I strongly recommend it.

Shane Redux

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 26 November 2006]

As much as I like Pale Rider, I cannot believe the author of the novel Shane that the classic film is based on didn't sue for plagiarism. The only thing I can think of is that he must have allowed the copyright to lapse.

Clint Eastwood reworked the plot of Shane to fit a mining camp located in a canyon where a big mine owner is looking to take over. The film opens with hired help of the mine owner, Richard Dysart, running through the place, shooting it up and causing general mayhem.

Clint with clerical collar displayed is called 'The Preacher' although you see no sermons in this film. He's pretty handy with whatever it takes, fists, clubs and a six gun and upon his arrival in town helps out miner Michael Moriarty who is being set upon by five of Dysart's men. Moriarty ever so grateful takes him home to meet his intended and her daughter, Carrie Snodgrass and Sydney Penny.

Alan Ladd's Shane was a quiet peaceable sort whose manner belied his skill with a weapon. Clint Eastwood's Preacher is borrowed a whole lot from his character in High Plains Drifter. As a preacher, he must definitely favor the angry old vengeful Deity of the Old Testament. None of these bad guys gets much of a chance at redemption.

Pale Rider is Clint Eastwood's homage to Shane redone to fit his style of western hero. Definitely not your parent's Shane.

One good reason to watch it: Clint Eastwood

[philip_vanderveken · 8/10 · 22 June 2005]

I'll give you one good reason why shouldn't miss this movie: Clint Eastwood. If you are a fan of Westerns or even when you only like to watch one occasionally, than you should know more than enough. In my opinion Clint Eastwood is the one and only true Hollywood cowboy.

When a mysterious preacher - no-one knows where he comes from, what his past is, they don't even know his real name - comes to a gold mining camp near a small town in the mountains, the local miners are in great danger. A ruthless landowner has decided to take their land, he doesn't mind using violence and he has the support of the sheriff. No one seems to be able to stop them. But than the preacher proves to be more than a man of God. He's a good shooter, the sheriff is afraid of him and he's the only one brave enough to rise against the landowner...

If you are looking for an original movie, than you'll have to look somewhere else. This movie uses all the possible clichés that can be found in this kind of Westerns. But on the other hand I must also say that all is done in a very proper way. Eastwood is a fine director and he did what he was best in at the time: he made a Western. The story, the direction, the acting, the scenes,... it all looks professional and more than OK and especially thanks to Eastwood's acting performance in it, this movie is still a 'must-see'. I'm not a big fan of Westerns, but every time that I'm able to see one with Eastwood in it, I'll not let it pass. My advice: if you can see past the fact that it isn't very original, you will almost certainly enjoy it. I certainly did and that's why I give this movie a 7.5/10.

"The Lord certainly does work in mysterious ways."

[Mr-Fusion · 7/10 · 5 November 2021]

A memorable western with plenty of action, but the guns-holstered moments really kept me invested; the quiet scenes, surprisingly. There's a purity to this beat-down mining town and its unassuming people struggling under the thumb of its unmistakable black hat. That goodness extends to the star himself, Eastwood's ghostly Samaritan who volunteers to step in and even the odds. He's good in this role, and the developing relationships with his surrounding characters feel authentic (Moriarty and Penny are integral).

Eastwood has attained godlike stature in this genre over the decades; there's a reputation involved here. But I found myself wanting more of the day-to-day scenes, even after the smoke cleared and the job was done. How often does that happen?

Come back Shane! they're ripping you off!

[Samiam3 · 5/10 · 24 June 2009]

Not only was I disappointed in Pale Rider, but I was angry with it. To put it as directly as I can, this story is a rip-off of the 1953 emotionally-unparalleled western 'Shane' with Alan Ladd.

The plot is identical; only instead of cattle farming it is gold mining. Instead of the menacing gunfighter Wilson, we get a less menacing, crooked lawman who is no good without his deputies. Instead of cute little Joey, there is a dumb adolescent girl who just wants to have sex, and then there is the lead role of the Preacher.

Clint Eastwood seems a little unsure of how to approach this character. He is not sure whether to make him a tough brutal gunfighter, or an emotionally warm human being. as a result, he is not much of either.

I will say this, the first half hour of Pale Rider is sufficiently strong and engaging, enough so that you don't even notice the Shane connection. It is only when the conflict starts to emerge that things get worse and worse until the ending. Whereas Shane ended in a heart-wrenching, tear jerking way, Pale Rider ends in a bore.

This is Clint Eastwood's weakest western, and it is not one I recommend.

an atmospheric story

[chris-1191 · 21 October 2002]

Pale Rider is my all time favourite movie.From the opening scene with it's atmospheric audio sounds that bring the scenery alive to the Shane-like ending Pale Rider plays out as a very competent and well structured story.It is a thought provoking movie,leaving one wondering is this 'Preacher' really the physical entity he appears to be?Echoes of his past resonate throughout the film as to his past,and,perhaps,his fate.The plot is not original but is superior to the likes of Shane and HPD in that the cinematography lends itself to favour the subtle supernatural theme.Hazy filters in the forest scene where Megan buries her dog work to create a 'spiritual' effect for example,yet it is merely a 'suggestive' effect,and not everyone will pick up on it.The 'Preachers' arrival at the cabin just as Megan reads from the scriptures could be seen as purely coincidental, or is a higher power at work?The story builds to the inevitable showdown and again subtle ploys are used to suggest that the 'Preacher' is not all that he seems to be,though this time a finely crafted script is the medium to put the feeling across.The script is dry but is emotive and one gets a feel for the characters,not common in westerns.The ending is left somewhat open and has compelled me to write a 'sequel' which I've called Megans Odyssey.Sydney Penny's portrayal of the vulnerable yet strong willed Megan added the winning formula to this movie,creating both a romantic sub-plot and a sense of family values,another rare quality in westerns.A 10 out of 10 gem.

Bad Clint Eastwood's effort

[jackasstrange · 6/10 · 10 January 2014]

Pale Rider has a Cult-classic like reputation, but frankly, is undeserved. It's a very weak attempt by Clint Eastwood to close the "man-with-no-name" circle of films, and kinda retire him. The story though is way too cliché and forced. There is nothing good, in fact, about it. It's a boring and clearly uninterested film to pledge the viewer.

The acting is horrendous, cringe-worthy. The plot is surreal and almost everything isn't explained at all(how the man-with-no-name got the priest clothes and etc). Storyline, as I said, cliché. The old and overused 'rich wants to take the poor's lands' kind of plot. But of course, wholly uninteresting. You know how it's going to end in the first twenty minutes or so. And what bothered me more is the fact that the 'man-with-no-name' made both daughter and mother to fell in love for him. Just laughing. And worse, there is a lot of time wasted in that pathetic sub-plot. It alone definitely lowered a lot the level of the entire film.

And even the climax is a mess, because there isn't any tension on it. All we knew is that the 6 bandits had killed a drunk man. That's all. What to expect from these villains? Obviously they would gonna lose to mister badass, and as I said previously, it was predictable in the very first twenty minutes. One-dimensional characters, cliché story…only the cinematography is worth, I guess. Maybe not even it. Don't waste your time with that film. 5.6/10

'Pale Rider'

[rah604 · 8/10 · 10 April 2004]

In the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns of the 60s, Clint Eastwood rose to fame playing the man with no name. In 'Pale Rider', Eastwood creates his own variation of this character. Eastwood plays a mysterious gunfighter who is given the name 'preacher' because of the preacher's collar he wears. When the 'preacher' arrives at a gold mining community, he helps them stand up against a callous landowner.

Eastwood cuts deep into the film's characters in what is a rather standard script. Particularly, in the scenes involving the preacher and a gold-mining family. Eastwood also succeeds in giving his film a dark atmosphere which only adds to its intensity.

'Pale Rider' may not be as good as the director's best westerns, 'Unforgiven' and 'The Outlaw Josey Wales', but it can be regarded as a strong effort in what has been an illustrious career for Eastwood.

Rating: (8/10)

Solid Eastwood western.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 18 July 2007]

Pale Rider starts on Carbon Canyon high in the mountains where a group of prospectors are panning for gold, however local businessman Coy LaHood (Richard A. Dysart) wants the land to expand his own mining company & is using intimidating tactics to force the prospectors to move on. While in town one of the prospectors Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty) is beaten by some of LaHood's men, then seemingly out of nowhere a mysterious preacher (Clint Eastwood) comes to his rescue. The presence of the preacher brings the feuding prospectors together & they decide to stand up against LaHood & his bullying tactics, however LaHood has had enough & calls in gun for hire Stockburn (John Russell) & his six deputies who kill for the right price...

Produced & directed by Clint Eastwood who also stared in it Pale Rider is an entertaining western that I rather liked. The script by Michael Butler & Dennis Shryack tales itself very seriously with a fair amount of character development, anyone looking for constant gunfights & action would be advised to look elsewhere but if your looking for a solid, well written western with a moral then you could do a lot worse then Pale Rider. It deals with faith & pulling together & those are it's main themes which it gets across in a effective manner. The film has a sedate pace about it, it's not the fastest moving film ever but at the same time I never felt bored with it. The ambiguous nature of Eastwood's character is well handled & his origins are intriguing although we never find out anything about him other than he's a preacher & that at some point he has met Stockburn before, I have to say I liked the mystery surrounding him & it cuts down on sentimental type dialogue. Overall I thought Pale Rider was a decent western that I enjoyed.

Directed Eastwood does a good job, I'm not sure how he can direct & star at the same time but he pulled it off here. The crisp 2:35:1 widescreen photography is very nice as it captures the mountain locations very well as does it the period town. There's a good atmosphere to Pale Rider & the climax where Eastwood kills the six deputies is a well sustained tension filled sequence. There's not much in the way of violence here, a few gunshot wounds & a couple of fights is about it.

With a modest sounding $6,900,000 budget Pale Rider is well made with top production values & period design. The acting is very good from all involved, it was nice to see & recognise Billy Drago as one of the deputies, Richard Kiel better know for playing Jaws in a couple of James Bond films makes an appearance & Chris Penn turns up in an early role for him.

Pale rider is a watchable western with some nice action scenes & a decent story as well, I liked it & it's as simple & straight forward as that.

Excellent and underrated western from Clint

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 6 October 2016]

Here's another eerily evocative western from the undisputed master of the genre. PALE RIDER might well be my favourite Eastwood western yet: it's a perfectly made movie in which the star is at the top of his career both in terms of direction and acting. The plot itself is nothing remarkable – poor gold panners are hassled by a big wig business boss and a mysterious stranger turns up to fight for their cause – but it's the execution where this film excels. With a beautiful backdrop of mountainous scenery and a talented supporting cast, Eastwood delivers one of the finest westerns of the 1980s.

I particularly enjoyed Eastwood's turn as the unnamed preacher in this one. It's a reprise of a similar character he played in HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, although his origins here are perhaps even more mysterious (he shows up when one of the characters prays to God for a miracle). Michael Moriarty, the archetypal quirky star of '80s genre fare, has possibly his most sympathetic role as the family man striving to do good who finds himself outnumbered by the bad guys. Carrie Snodgress gives sterling support as the backbone of his family, and the beautiful young Sydney Penny is captivating as his young, innocent daughter. The bad guys are well supported, too, with a brief show-stopping turn from Richard Kiel, Chris Penn playing a typical sleaze, Richard Dysart as the bluff businessman, and the excellent John Russell as the sinister lawman with whom Eastwood's character has a score to settle.

The story plays out pretty much as you'd expect, but there's an emphasis on plot and character over lame shoot-outs. The action, when it occurs, is stylishly done (early on our hero kicks backside with a piece of wood in a scene that would act as inspiration for Steven Seagal's entire career), with the traditional shoot-out at the climax particularly accomplished. Overall, this is a moving production, with believable characters and a story arc that doesn't disappoint. An underrated favourite.

Rich, Exciting, Spine-Tingling, Gorgeous-Looking Avenging Angel Western

[ShootingShark · 7/10 · 10 February 2007]

A small group of panhandling gold miners are gradually being run off their land by thugs working for Coy LaHood, the local robber baron. Things look bleak until a mysterious preacher on a pale horse appears to defend the mining community. Who is he ? Can they trust him ? And can they follow his example ?

This is the last of Eastwood's great mythic westerns he began with Per Un Pugno Di Dollari / A Fistful Of Dollars, and my personal favourite of his American cowboy films. The only criticism I could possibly make of it is that it's a little derivative - it's essentially the plot of Shane mixed with Eastwood's earlier High Plains Drifter. But it's better than both those movies, and Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack's script (they also wrote The Gauntlet) is full of strong characterisation and accentuates the mystery and mythicism of The Preacher with just the right balance of subtlety and action. We really have no idea who he is but his origin, his connection with the gunslinger Stockburn and the hints at his past - like the bullet-hole scars in his back - are endlessly fascinating. This is also a movie which looks gorgeous, thanks to Bruce Surtees' incredible photography of the Sawtooth National Forest in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho. Surtees is a great cameraman; this was the last of his twelve films with Eastwood (see Dirty Harry, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Firefox especially) and one of his best - the first seven minutes are a textbook in shooting men on horseback, there's an amazing night-time campfire scene with no artificial light, and the showdowns are perfectly poised. Equally first-rate are the cast, with Eastwood, Moriarty, Snodgress and McGrath all excellent, and Kiel and Russell truly iconic as LaHood's head goon and killer-for-hire respectively. As ever, Eastwood's direction is calm and unhurried, giving his performers all the room they need to develop their characters without losing sight of the story. Lennie Niehaus' ominous brass percussive score tops off a memorably atmospheric picture, which, for my money, is much richer than the Oscar-laden westerns of a few years later (Dances With Wolves and Eastwood's Unforgiven). The Biblical title derives from Revelation, chapter six, verse eight, "And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death ... ". No other actor has managed to epitomise the mythical western stranger like Eastwood, and this is his last great hurrah in a genre he made his own. Not to be missed. 7/10

Best Western of the 80's?

[LuboLarsson · 8/10 · 24 July 2003]

I don't know if this is the best Western of the 1980's, it wouldn't be too hard I suppose as there wasn't really that many made in that decade, or now unfortunately. Its the best Western of that decade that I have seen, the only other good one I can recall is Silverado and Young Guns was pretty good though the sequel was even better. The 1990's was a much better decade for Western fans, Dances with Wolves, Unforgiven, Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, Young Guns 2, The Quick and the Dead and of course Bad Girls (Only joking!). Anyway Pale Rider seen Clint Eastwood return to the Western after quite a few years doing other types of movies and luckily Pale Rider is a great film. As has been mentioned in numerous other user comments it does borrow very heavily from the Classic Western Shane and Clint's own High Plains Drifter but it never tries to hide this fact and its a great film in its own right. Very moody and beautifully shot with great performances all round. Clint was on top of his game on this one and produced a top notch Western that ranks amongst one of his best below The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Unforgiven and The Outlaw Josey Whales. I would love to see Eastwood make another Western but find it highly unlikely as he couldn't possibly top his last one Unforgiven but at least Kevin Costner has got one coming out later this year. Look out for Richard Kiel in this one he played Jaws in a couple of Bond films and Sean Penns brother Chris, who was a lot thinner in those days! Highly recommended ***8/10***

Clint's Homage To "Shane"....

[ferbs54 · 7/10 · 26 April 2017]

Just caught another Clint Eastwood film that I had never seen before, 1985's "Pale Rider." In this film, the most successful Western of the 1980s, as it turned out, Eastwood directs AND stars as a mysterious entity called only The Preacher. After a small group of gold prospectors is attacked by the thugs of a larger mining company in northern California, a 14-year-old girl in the group (pretty Sydney Penny) prays to God for assistance, after having had her dog shot dead by the goons. Seemingly in answer to her prayers, into the area rides the Eastwood character, who may or may not be a ghost seeking vengeance (at one point, we see that his back is covered by the scars of ancient bullet wounds, and the viewer is left to draw his or her own conclusions). The Preacher comes to the aid of one of the prospectors (Michael Moriarty) who is being beat up by the goons in the small nearby town, and later enjoys the hospitality of the prospectors, including Sydney's Mom, played by Carrie Snodgress. This, of course, does not sit well with mining exec Richard Dysart, who sends another of his goons (Richard "Jaws" Kiel) to intimidate the group, and who later gets even more serious by hiring a corrupt marshall (John Russell) and his seven "deputies" to do away with the tin panners and their Preacher friend. The film is more than a little in debt to the great '50s Western "Shane," one of MY all-time favorites, and many scenes echo that earlier Western fairly slavishly. The picture builds to a fairly exciting ending, with the Preacher taking on Russell and his similarly attired thugs (the badmen look very impressive in matched, tan-colored dusters) in a gun battle that reminds one not of "Shane," but rather "High Noon." In a satisfying denouement, the Preacher fills Russell with bullets that exit from his back, echoing the wounds that the Preacher himself once suffered (after having been shot in the back?). Visually, Clint's picture is fairly spectacular, having been filmed in both Idaho and northern California; the script is intelligent; and the players all uniformly fine. Clint is effortlessly cool in the film, and has himself said in interviews that he believed his character to be a straight-out ghost. All in all, a most impressive outing, and one that I was very glad to have finally caught up with....

Ghost story

[royo56-642-450082 · 10/10 · 14 September 2019]

One thing that I noticed was missing in the comments is that The Pale Rider is a ghost. The hints and clues are running right through the movie. For example while he is washing up for a meal we see a number of bullet holes in his back, tie this with the fact that when the marshall and his 6 deputees turn up later the Marshall said that he had earlier killed the preacher, also in the final shoot out the preacher comes up very close to the marshall and I wondered why is he closer than usual for a shoot out? then all becomes clear when preacher shoots him many times and the bullets go straight through and the camera makes a point of showing how they leave exactly the same pattern of bulletholes in the marshal (payback) Why would it be in the movie that he is able to dissappear at will? Consider this; when Megan is praying for help she asks for a miracle, she is later reading about the four horsemen from the book of Revelation in the Bible where the fourth horse is a pale one and the rider is Death with Hell following him. This is all very similar to high plains drifter and there is an interview somewhere on Youtube wher Clint himself says "Of course you know that he is a ghost.

It left me pretty unimpressed.

[punishmentpark · 6/10 · 5 May 2016]

There is a lot of beautiful scenery in 'Pale rider', which is probably the best thing about it. The story, about a group of 'tin pans' who are in conflict with the big shot gold digger who owns most of the land around them, and more specifically, the girl who prays to the Lord to help them and then a tall, dark stranger is sent their way, could have worked, but things stay pretty simple, clichéd and blunt.

The hero is always there at just the right moment and is basically a western Superman, even if he is also referred to as Death himself. The intended dramatic impact of the two women who both have their hearts set on the hero and the other man (Hull Barrett) who quietly wants to be part of the 'family', remains pretty much absent, all the more because the films switches between Eastwood's macho efforts, Superhero gunslinging, simplistic moral lessons and some bloody killings. But I wasn't much impressed with Sydney Penny's acting either. The rest of the cast did okay, mostly.

Maybe this one is simply not for me, even if I was certainly mildly amused by most of it. 5 out of 10.

The film should be called "Pale Remake"

[Originalthinkr · 4/10 · 26 May 2006]

A pale, shameless and unnecessary remake of George Stevens's classic 1953 Western "Shane," down to its homesteaders-versus-cattlemen story (here gold-panners-versus-sluice-miners) being told through the eyes of an adolescent so taken with a mysterious gunfighter-come-from-nowhere to help the humble underdogs that he/she idolizes the gunfighter more than his/her parents.

"Pale Rider" is a handsome film, shot in the Rocky Mountain high country, with a more than competent cast, but it's also thin and bloodless, and utterly lacking in any real feeling, tension or reason for being.

Brilliant remake of "Shane"

[chrstphrtully · 9 February 2000]

One of the most interesting comments I hear about this film is that it "rips off" the 1953 George Stevens western "Shane." Most of those who make this comment have apparently missed the point -- "Pale Rider" is not a rip-off of "Shane", it's effectively a remake of that film, which adds a good deal more in terms of character and atmosphere.

Effectively, the plot is the same as a group of would-be tin-panners are terrorized by a major corporate concern. The squatters, led by Michael Moriarty (in a fine, low-key performance in the Van Heflin role), are near the end of their rope when a mysterious Preacher (Eastwood easily improving on Alan Ladd) answers a prayer and rides to their aid. Along the way, there is some wonderful character work among Eastwood, Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress and especially Sydney Penny. In particular, it is the sexual tension between Eastwood -- an older man of mystery -- and Penny, a young woman blossoming into maturity, that really keeps the tempo going. This tension, counterposed with more traditional Western moments makes for a fine Western experience, the type Eastwood the director has mastered in films like "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Unforgiven". Likewise, a slight element of the supernatural is added with the ending, not unlike "High Plains Drifter". While some of this is less successful, the impact on the film as a whole is minor.

Eastwood and Moriarty are great in the low-key way, while Penny gets a role here that should have been the start to a big career. Other wonderful characters enhance the flavor of the picture even more -- Carrie Snodgress, Richard Dysart, Christopher Penn, and especially classic Western villain John Russell.

If this film is a "ripoff" of "Shane", maybe we need more ripoffs. In my view, the film is one of the rarities -- a remake that surpasses the original.