The Outlaw Josey Wales. 1976. Directed by Clint Eastwood.

(2/11/00)

The landscape is so beautiful, but the people re so ugly--a lot of them, anyway. That sort of sums up the feel of The Outlaw Josey Wales. It depicts a beautiful world which is paradoxically an ugly, violent, brutal one. And the blame is laid at the feet of government. It is the government which provides the sanction for the violent act at the beginning of the film and the horrendous massacre of men who have surrendered upon a promise of amnesty. It is government which induces people to sell out theirneighbors for big rewards and which creates the profession of "bounty hunter." It is not much of a stretch to imagine that government has caused the economic dislocations which cause people to fall back on the profession of bounty hunting. In this respect it is quite a libertarian film.

Clint Eastwood plays a modern reincarnation of the strong, silent type. (Modern not in terms of story, but that this is a more modern film.) What impressed me is that he is totally relaxed all the way through. If he is really totally in control of his mind, this is the reason for his success. And yet I have to wonder: he suffers a terrible trauma at the beginning of the film, so what happened to all that emotion? Something really doesn't seem quite right to me, doesn't all add up. It is not impossible, however. A superior man could allow himself to fully experience those emotions of grief and then go on and do what needed to be done.

I really liked the interaction between Eastwood and Chief Dan George. They played off of each other so well, both with an impeccably dry delivery. Their exchanges provide a comic relief that actually works. Eastwood's habit of spitting was also interesting--it somewhat made me think of Edgar Kennedy's slow burn which was different in that it wasn't limited to one film. A great moment is when he goes to spit and the old lady just looks at him and he stops and turns and leaves, presumably to spit outside. I did feel story for the dog that kept getting spat on.

He leads a group of characters to theirhome--sort of like Moses and the Israelites. At the end of the film we don't see Josey Wales going to join them. The ending appears to be left open. However, we have seen him living a settled life at the beginning of the film, his nemesis is dead, and an "official" account of his death has been created. He has completed his mission and is at liberty to return. And he has an attractive young lady waiting for him. The only question is whether he really can return to that sort of life or if his experiences have scarred him so badly that settling down is impossible. But if he does have that much control over his mind and emotions he ought to be able to handle it.