The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
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The story
During the American Civil War, a Missouri farmer named Josey Wales becomes a soldier after his family is murdered by pro-Union paramilitaries. Following the war's end in 1865, his comrades are betrayed and slaughtered, leaving him as one of the few survivors. Now a hunted outlaw, Wales flees to Texas, where he gathers a group of companions, including a Cherokee veteran and a Navajo drifter. He settles on a ranch, seeking to survive while being pursued by bounty hunters and the men who betrayed his unit, all while navigating the lawless landscape of the post-war frontier.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After his family is murdered by pro-Union forces, Josey Wales joins a group of bushwhackers. When they are betrayed and slaughtered at the end of the war, Wales and a young man named Jamie escape. Wales eventually finds refuge in Texas, where he forms a makeshift family with a Cherokee veteran, a Navajo drifter, and a woman and her granddaughter. He settles on a ranch and forms a bond with a Comanche chief. When the men who betrayed him find him, a bloody shootout occurs. Wales defeats his primary pursuer, then creates a ruse to convince his former commander that he is dead, allowing him to live in peace on his ranch.
- First release year
- 1976
- Runtime (minutes)
- 135
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Clint Eastwood
- Writers
- Phil Kaufman · screenplay; Sonia Chernus · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Clint Eastwood · Josey Wales; Chief Dan George · Lone Watie; Sondra Locke · Laura Lee; Bill McKinney · not specified; John Vernon · not specified
- Genres
- Western; Revisionist Western
- Themes
- Anti-war; Survival; Retribution
- Tone and mood
- Gritty; Somber
- Premise and plot tags
- Western; Revisionist Western; Anti-war; Vigilante
- Source material / true-story basis
- The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales (1972)
- Reception
- The film was widely acclaimed by critics as an iconic portrayal of the American past and was considered a success both critically and commercially.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 91% · scale: percentage · review count: 46; Metacritic · score: 69 · scale: 100 · review count: 9
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Original Music Score · Nominated; National Film Registry · Preservation · 1996 · Selected
- Production trivia
- The original novel was titled 'The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales' and later 'Gone to Texas'.; The film was one of the few Westerns to achieve critical and commercial success in the 1970s.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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