Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Uriah43 After his wife and son are murdered by a group of Redlegs from Kansas a farmer name "Josie Wales" (Clint Eastwood) teams up with others from Missouri intent on having their revenge. And since the Redlegs are allied with the powerful Union army, they join the Confederacy in an attempt to somehow lessen the odds against them. Unfortunately, the Union eventually wears the Confederacy which eventually forces the leader of the Missouri guerrillas named "Fletcher" (John Vernon) to discuss the terms of surrender. Although Fletcher accepts money for his efforts, what he doesn't know is that the treacherous Redlegs have no intention of honoring any deal and subsequently slaughter almost all of his men when he brings them in to surrender. What the Redlegs don't count upon is the fact that the most dangerous and deadly guerrilla of them all—Josie Wales—has opted not to surrender and having now witnessed the massacre of his colleagues is now even more determined to kill all of them. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I believe that this is one of the finest Western movies ever produced. The plot moved along at a very entertaining pace and I especially enjoyed the humor provided by the old Cherokee warrior named "Lone Watie" (Chief Dan George). Be that as it may, those looking for a good Western from days gone by should certainly check this one out. It is extremely entertaining.

zkonedog After recently watching Unforgiven and being completely blown-away by it once again, I decided (on the advice of others) to try out The Outlaw Josey Wales, which I had not seen since I was probably about 12 years old. Though I didn't hate it, it never really gripped me like Unforgiven or my other top-shelf westerns.For a basic plot summary, The Outlaw Josey Wales tells the story of Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood), a man who witnesses his home and family destroyed by a group of Union soldiers. After witnessing this terrible event, Josey first hooks up with a Confederate troupe on the verge of surrender. When he refuses to officially lay down arms, he is soon hunted by the very people who destroyed his entire life.There are two overwhelmingly positive things I have to say about this movie:1. Eastwood is solid-as-usual as his typical "man with no name" character.2. I really liked the supporting cast, including Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, and John Vernon, among others. What this film lacked in direction/plot for me it often made up for in witty or emotional character interactions.On the flip side, though, I also have two scathing critiques of the film (i.e. the reasons why it is a three-star experience to me):1. Unlike Unforgiven, which gives a bit more background on its Eastwood-played protagonist, Josey Wales failed to make a mark on me in that regard. Besides the very quick family- establishing scene in the beginning, very little is revealed about Josey's family life. To me, then, the film didn't do a good enough job of establishing just why exactly we should care about the plight of Mr. Wales.2. This movie was made in 1976, or at the tail end of John Wayne's popularity. Wayne, of course, made a much different kind of western than did Eastwood, and I think sometimes Outlaw Josey Wales goes a bit too far in trying to illustrate those differences. Whereas Unforgiven (I know I reference this film a lot...but it is truly one of my all-time favorites) gets that balance just right, this one seems to revel a bit too much in its gritty approach to the West. Very little backstory is given to any character, and one scene in particular (the Sondra Locke rape scene) is very out-of- context from the rest of the film.Thus, when I look at The Outlaw Josey Wales, I see Clint Eastwood in the beginning stages of honing his own Western on-screen mentality. He hadn't quite found the perfect formula yet, but all the elements were beginning to come into place.

jacobs-greenwood This is one of my favorite Clint Eastwood films, and he directed himself in the title role. It has one of the best stories and features some of the best action sequences, IMO, of any of his Westerns. It's musical Score was Oscar nominated. It was added to the National Film Registry in 1996.After the Civil War, having served an honorable man Fletcher (John Vernon) that was tricked by higher authorities, Clint (the title character) settles down as a farmer. Then, his property is burned and his family killed by a bunch of renegades. He receives a scar across the face when he's hit by the butt of a rifle, and is knocked out. While recovering, he teaches himself to shoot while he plots his revenge. He then sets out to find each and every one of the men responsible in order to kill them. He is mostly successful, so the authorities send Fletcher out to find and stop him. About this time, Clint has met and joined with a Native Americans (Chief Dan George). They run across a "green" pioneering family headed West, which includes a pretty young Sandra Locke. So, he helps them, having to make peace with the local Indian chief Ten Bears (Will Sampson). But, he's yet to find the last of the men he'd hunted and Fletcher is on his tail.

brasco-63139 I grew up in a household where Clint Eastwood and John Wayne were the norm. I have seen countless westerns over the years, but I have to say that my all time favorite is The Outlaw Josey Whales. It is Eastwood at his bad ass best. No one is faster, tougher, smarter, or delivers better one liners than Mr. Josey Whales. "You boys gonna pull them pistols or whistle Dixie." Eastwood made a lot of great westerns that I wish had blu ray quality. But out of all of them, The Outlaw Josey Whales ranks number one. What a great supporting cast too. Chief Dan George is awesome, and it's John Vernon's best role. I can't believe it's been 40 years since it came out.