Pale Rider

Summary

“Behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death….. and Hell followed with him.”

Warner Bros. has chosen to release three classic Clint Eastwood films on 4K UHD over the last couple weeks – Dirty Harry, Pale Rider, and The Outlaw Josey Wales. I admire Clint Eastwood’s acting and directing, so I was excited to see Warner celebrate his filmography in this way. Of the three, Dirty Harry is the most famous and celebrated, but The Outlaw Josey Wales and Pale Rider are both strong choices for the 4K format. I have been having a blast watching the films on 4K and have been really impressed with the work Warner put into each of these releases. 

Pale Rider was the only Western directed by or starring Clint Eastwood in the Eighties. Clint had a strong background in front of and behind the camera for Westerns, and fans of his prior Westerns will find a lot to like about Pale Rider. The film paired Clint up for one last time with his frequent collaborator Bruce Surtees. Bruce Surtees had worked on pictures directed by or starring Clint Eastwood going back to The Beguiled, Play Misty for Me, and Dirty Harry, so Pale Rider served as an excellent final project for them. Despite having grown up watching Clint Eastwood films (I was obsessed with The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and Dirty Harry,) I had never seen Pale Rider until just now. For fans of Clint Eastwood, there is no better time than now to check out these films.

In the hills of California, in the small gold-mining town of Carbon Canyon, a small band of families have staked their claim. As the film begins, a group of bandits ride into town out of the nearby forest. Shooting in the air and causing general mayhem, they tear down the small tents and shabby houses of the villagers. Hull Barret (Michael Mortuary) manages to hit one of the bandits with a shovel, but for the most part the bandits are unscathed in their attack. One of the bandits shoots a cow, and another callously kills a small dog that belonged to a thirteen year old girl named Megan. She cries as her mother Sarah Wheeler and Sarah’s boyfriend Hull look on dejected. Megan buries the dog and she prays for a miracle. Against the advice of his fellow villagers, Hull Barret heads into the nearby town. He ties up his wagon and looks on at the men who stormed his village who are casually standing across the street. Hull picks up some supplies from a merchant to do the repairs to the village before the winter cold really sets in and potentially kills the children. Local magnate Coy Lahood (Richard Dysart) is set on driving the people out of Carbon Canyon. While Hull loads up his supplies into his wagon, he is beaten by McGill (Charles Hallahan) and the same hoods who attacked his village. As they are about to set fire to Hull’s supplies a mysterious stranger (Clint Eastwood) shows up and throws a bucket of water on the flame. The stranger beats the men down with ease and makes a mockery of them. Hull Barret offers the man a place to stay and a meal as a way of thanking him. Back at their home, Sarah Wheeler (Carrie Snodgress) has apprehensions about having a hired killer in their place for dinner. When the stranger arrives at the dinner table, to their surprise, he is wearing a preacher’s collar. Megan asks him to say the blessing and they dine. The hoods report to their boss’s son Josh (Chris Penn) who is amazed that they were beaten by one man. This sets the stage for a confrontation between Coy and his men and the Preacher and the villagers of Carbon Canyon.

Pale Rider is sure to appeal to all fans of Clint Eastwood’s Western films. Like his prior work under Leone, or in High Plains Drifter, Clint plays a nameless hero who can stand against those who plan to harm innocents. What sets apart Pale Rider from those films is that the picture intentionally remains ambiguous about whether or not “Preacher” is a dead man who has come back to exact vengeance, some form of angel of death, or just a man. Is this some form of Biblical vengeance that is being doled out on the villains of the film? Taken at its face value, the story is similar to all of the other Westerns that had come before it, but that mythological ambiguity adds another interesting layer to an enjoyable story. The script by Michael Butler and Dennis Shyrack feels a little paint-by-the-numbers to me, but it also is economically written and yields some great moments. The finale of the picture, which pits the Preacher against a slew of hired lawmen, is particularly memorable and enjoyable. Eastwood is a capable director and Bruce Surtees was a very talented director of photography. Their working relationship of fifteen years yields some dynamic results. The imagery is striking and truly benefits from the 4K upgrade. Surtees worked with lighting in similar ways to Gordon Willis. Both of them believed in using shadows to their benefit, so the 4K upgrade brings a lot more depth out of the imagery. 

Eastwood has a unique approach to directing his films in which he expects his actors and crew to be prepared, and therefore he only shoots a couple takes of his setups. It is an interesting approach, and from what I can tell it works well. Eastwood has always managed to finish his pictures on time and on budget, which is impressive considering the amount of films he has made. The key to doing so is to hire people that are very professional. For Pale Rider, Clint cast Michael Moriarty in the supporting protagonist role of Hull Barret. Moriarty is an enjoyable actor who can seemingly play any type of role (I loved him in Law and Order, but I also loved him in Larry Cohen’s cult film The Stuff.) He was a good choice. Chris Penn stood out to me in the role of Josh. He nails the role. Sadly, he passed away too young at the age of forty. He had great presence onscreen, while never quite having the successful career of his brother Sean. Richard Dysart is an enjoyable villain, but he is less memorable than John Russell who plays the gun-for-hire Stockburn in the most memorable showdown of the film. In a notable scene, Richard Kiel, who played Jaws in the Roger Moore James Bond films, shows up to battle the Preacher. Sydney Penny is very well cast as the impressionable Megan, who quickly becomes infatuated with the preacher. Billy Drago even shows up for a few moments of the picture. Clint efficiently managed the actors in their parts, including himself. He is dynamite onscreen, but that is to be expected.

Overall – Pale Rider is a Western that is sure to please Clint Eastwood fans. While it is not better than some of Clint’s other Westerns, it is another well made and memorable entry in his canon. I enjoyed watching the film and could see the picture being even better on my next viewing. Definitely check it out!

Video

Presented in Native 4K in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1, Pale Rider looks fantastic in Warner’s new UHD presentation. Bruce Surtee’s naturalistic cinematography has never looked better than it does now. The film was shot for the most part in Sun Valley, Idaho (subbing in for California,) and the mountainous terrain lends a sense of grandeur to the film. Surtees knew how to use shadow to great effect and lit this picture with an eye towards realism. It makes sense that the homes of gold-miners in the nineteenth century would be dark. The 4K UHD absolutely does wonders for this type of film due to its ability to improve the shading within the shadows themselves. Grain is extremely well resolved and the HDR brings out the very best in the film’s color palette. There is no room for improvement here. The finale of the picture is incredibly impressive visually.

Audio

Warner Bros. has presented Pale Rider with both a remixed Dolby Atmos track and an original DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo track which replicates the original theatrical sound design. I listened to the Atmos track for my viewing of the film and thought it sounded great, especially for a catalogue title. Fans of the picture will be very pleased.

Supplements:

• The Diary of Sydney Penny: Lessons From the Set- in this new piece, actress Sydney Penny briefly discusses working on the film as a thirteen year old and some of the lessons she took from working with Clint Eastwood.
• Painting the Preacher: The Cinematography of Pale Rider – in this newly produced feature, cinematographer Bruce Surtees is given praise for his work on Pale Rider.
• Reinventing Westerns – a 2021 episode of the docuseries Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy featuring brief interviews with Mel Gibson, producer Peter Morgan, producer Albert S. Ruddy, producer David Valdes, screenwriter George Gallo, editor Joel Cox, and more,
• The Eastwood Factor – this hour and a half long piece was first featured in 2013’s Clint Eastwood 20 Film Collection. Morgan Freeman narrates. This recycles some footage from some other Clint Eastwood docs, but it is still pretty darn satisfying. 
• Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story – this hour long piece is also a nice look into the directing career of Eastwood.
• A Digital Code is included

Overall Scores:

Video – 5/5 

Audio – 4.75/5

Supplements – 4.5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Pale Rider was the only Western that Clint Eastwood made in the Eighties. It was also the most successful Western of that decade financially, which makes good sense. Despite some paint-by-numbers elements to the script, Pale Rider manages to deliver what fans of Clint Eastwood Westerns want to see. The picture is aided by excellent cinematography by Bruce Surtees, some mystery about the hero’s backstory, and a fantastic finale. I had not seen the film before until the other night, and I was impressed. I could see myself revisiting it every so often. I am also extremely pleased with the way Warner has handled this 4K release. Warner’s new UHD release features a gorgeous 4K transfer, Dolby Atmos (and 2.0 Stereo) tracks, alongside some in-depth supplements (including two long form documentaries on Eastwood and a few new supplements.) I love the way that Warner is showing respect to these Clint Eastwood pictures. Fans of the film will be blown away by this release. Check it out!