Pale Rider (1985)
Storyline
A small gold mining camp is terrorised by a ruthless land owner wanting to take their land. Clint Eastwood arrives riding a pale horse just as a young girl is praying to God to help the miners. He is revealed to be a preacher with mysterious and possible otherworldly origins who teams up with the miners to defeat the land owner and the corrupt sheriff.
Directors
Cast
Clint Eastwood, Chris Penn, Terrence Evans, Richard Hamilton, Robert Winley, Randy Oglesby, Richard Kiel, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, Sydney Penny, Doug McGrath, John Russell, Marvin J. McIntyre, Fran Ryan, Graham Paul, Chuck Lafont, Jeffrey Weissman, Allen Keller, Herman Poppe, Kathleen Wygle, Jim Hitson, Loren Adkins, Thomas H. Friedkin, S.A. Griffin, Jack Radosta, Billy Drago, Jeffrey Josephson, John Dennis Johnston
Trailer
Reviews
100
No actor is more aware of his own instruments, and Eastwood demonstrates that in Pale Rider, a film he dominates so completely that only later do we realize how little we really saw of him.
90
This veteran movie icon handles both jobs with such intelligence and facility I'm just now beginning to realize that, though Mr. Eastwood may have been improving over the years, it's also taken all these years for most of us to recognize his very consistent grace and wit as a film maker.
90
Though the metaphysical overtones of the screenplay are sometimes awkwardly handled and Eastwood's direction of actors (other than himself) is occasionally uncertain, this was one of the better American films of 1985.
90
It’s all been seen before, but Eastwood serves it up with authority, fine craftsmanship and a frequent sense of fun. This film is graced not only by an excellent visual look and confident storytelling, but by a few fine performances, led by Eastwood’s own.
80
There are sufficient question-marks inserted to lift it out of the routine: Eastwood's preacher man seems to carry the stigmata of a ghost; and he arrives as the answer to a maiden's prayer. Furthermore, his care for the landscape puts him in the Anthony Mann class. It's good to be back in the saddle again.
