At a time when the western genre was experiencing a dry gulch of box office success, Clint Eastwood saddled up to star in and direct Pale Rider, nearly a decade after the critical and commercial success of The Outlaw Josey Wales, to make the highest grossing western of the 1980s. When a small group of gold miners and their families camp is overrun by the thugs employed by corporate mining baddie Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart), a stranger dressed as a preacher rides into town with the visage of a gunman, and an almost mystical demeanor that suggests a supernatural entity. The “Preacher” unites the demoralized miners, inspiring Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty) who implores his mining brothers and sisters to stand tall against the greedy LaHood who wants to run them off their land. In a nod to Shane,the mysterious man of the cloth will face LaHood’s hired gunmen in a final showdown in town, to settle scores both old and new. “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”
“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.” – Variety
“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.” – Roger Ebert
“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.” – Vincent Canby, The New York Times
