The Outlaw Josey Wales

The Outlaw Josey Wales
by Clint Eastwood

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DVD Reviews of The Outlaw Josey Wales

DVD Review: Great film with some UGLY skeletons...
Summary: 5 Stars

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) is a personal favorite of mine from childhood, and was the second Western Eastwood directed himself; the first was 1972's High Plains Drifter. It features a compelling story, beautiful cinematography, and a fully realized protagonist. The latter is a welcome change of pace from the characters in the Leone films and High Plains Drifter, who were loners with no name and no past.

Wales is a dirt farmer in Missouri shortly after the Civil War whose wife and young son are murdered by a renegade Union cavalry unit called the Red Legs, under the command of the evil Captain Terrill. Wales falls in with the Missouri Bushwhackers, a group of similar men who ride the Ozarks fighting a guerilla war against the Union even after the War has ended. They are under the command of Fletcher, who persuades them to turn in their guns and surrender to the Union. Only Wales refuses, and only Wales and Fletcher survive-Wales because he flees, Fletcher because he reluctantly betrays his men, who fall before a Gatling gun as they take an oath of allegiance to the Union. When it becomes known that Wales is the lone survivor, a price is put on his head and Terrill and Fletcher set out after him. Wales embarks on a journey that will take him to Texas en route to Mexico, and ultimately to bloody revenge.

Along the way he picks up a few friends: an elderly Cherokee man, a young Apache woman, and a family of Kansas Jayhawkers, including a troubled young woman played by Sondra Locke, Eastwood's longtime live-in companion (this is quite possibly the only role in which I find her even remotely appealing). Eastwood has memorable lines galore and seems to walk around in a perpetual cloud of cordite, spitting tobacco juice on the face of anything and everything around him; in other words, this is a classic.

All in all, this is probably my favorite Clint Eastwood Western, but there is one troubling aspect to the film. The degree to which it acts as an apologist text for the Confederacy can sometimes be a bit much. Anyone from North of the Mason-Dixon line who wants to know how English audiences felt about The Patriot is urged to screen this film-its bias is naked. The Union Army is portrayed as an honorless bunch of ruffians and murderers; the only mention made of slavery is a scene in which the young Native American woman Wales rescues remarks that his actions mean that he now owns her. Wales replies simply that he "doesn't want to own anyone," and the matter is never mentioned again. Considering the source, I suppose this is to be expected. TOJW is based on an at the time unpublished novel entitled Gone to Texas, by Forrest Carter. Carter is better known for his controversial fictitious autobiography The Education of Little Tree (about his imaginary childhood as a Native American boy - guess he forgot he's always been just a hateful Cracker), but his best-known work is probably the speech he wrote for Alabama Governor George Wallace's inauguration, the highlight of which was "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!" He also headed a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan at one time. It explains a lot. If you can simply accept the film on its own terms, it certainly will not detract from your enjoyment (at least two of my ancestors fought for the Union, one in a fairly high-ranking position, and it's still a sentimental favorite), but you have been warned.

On the positive side, Warner Home Video's DVD presentation is flawless-the print used was obviously the absolute best that could be found, with excellent sound and color as crisp as the day it premiered. There's nothing much in the way of extras except for a large collection of trailers for other Westerns, but the film itself is gloriously presented in its original aspect ratio and will only set you back about fifteen bucks. There is absolutely no excuse for anyone who collects Western film not to own this film.