Excellent essay. It is hard for me to pin down my favorite Eastwood western, but this has always been in the top 3. What do you think about the people who saw this as a type of continuation of “High Plains Drifter?”
I can see why they’d think that since “High Plains Drifter” is another movie that plays with the possibility of a revenant coming to enact retribution, but I think the movies are too different in tone to call “Pale Rider” a continuation. The Drifter is a far crueler character than Preacher is. His initial hostility and open disdain for the people of Del Lago practically paints him as a villain in the opening minutes of the film. It’s only as we’re opened to the greater context of what happened in the town and the mystery surrounding the Drifter’s coming is slowly revealed that we begin to understand why he’s come and what he might be.
Otherwise, it’s a fairly standard revenge story. Well told and well acted, I definitely have a lot of love for that movie, too, but tonally very different from the slow ramping escalation of “Pale Rider.” What I would say, though, is that “High Plains Drifter” is something of a transitory movie for Eastwood. It sits in a spot between what he did in the Dollars Trilogy, and what he’d end up doing with “Pale Rider,” leaning more into the gritty action of the Spaghetti Westerns than later fare like “Pale Rider” and “Unforgiven” do.
I tend to agree. I just remember that theory popping up with a lot of film critics over the years and wondered your take. You have referenced most of my favorite Eastwood westerns, but my all-time favorite is The Outlaw Josey Wales. Not that you asked… 😁
Excellent! I may watch the movie again, together with my brother. He is a massive Clint Eastwood and western fan.
It's well worth the watch.
Excellent essay. It is hard for me to pin down my favorite Eastwood western, but this has always been in the top 3. What do you think about the people who saw this as a type of continuation of “High Plains Drifter?”
I can see why they’d think that since “High Plains Drifter” is another movie that plays with the possibility of a revenant coming to enact retribution, but I think the movies are too different in tone to call “Pale Rider” a continuation. The Drifter is a far crueler character than Preacher is. His initial hostility and open disdain for the people of Del Lago practically paints him as a villain in the opening minutes of the film. It’s only as we’re opened to the greater context of what happened in the town and the mystery surrounding the Drifter’s coming is slowly revealed that we begin to understand why he’s come and what he might be.
Otherwise, it’s a fairly standard revenge story. Well told and well acted, I definitely have a lot of love for that movie, too, but tonally very different from the slow ramping escalation of “Pale Rider.” What I would say, though, is that “High Plains Drifter” is something of a transitory movie for Eastwood. It sits in a spot between what he did in the Dollars Trilogy, and what he’d end up doing with “Pale Rider,” leaning more into the gritty action of the Spaghetti Westerns than later fare like “Pale Rider” and “Unforgiven” do.
I tend to agree. I just remember that theory popping up with a lot of film critics over the years and wondered your take. You have referenced most of my favorite Eastwood westerns, but my all-time favorite is The Outlaw Josey Wales. Not that you asked… 😁
Every person who ends this with wanting to watch the movie is successful completion of my job as far as I'm concerned.