Clint Eastwood’s fifth film as a director, The Outlaw Josey Wales derived from the novel Gone to Texas by Forrest Carter, is one of Eastwood’s best early westerns. Armed with a screenplay by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman, and music by Jerry Fielding (The Wild Bunch, The Enforcer, Semi-Tough), the film possesses the characteristics that mark a memorable film about the Old West. We have the terse loner, the stirring shoot-outs, the rescues, gorgeous outdoor vistas, a pretty girl, and a cast of colorful supporting players to keep things interesting.
A Missouri farmer, Josey Wales (Eastwood) finds himself spiraling into darkness after marauding Union guerillas kill his wife and towheaded “Little Josey” (played by Eastwood’s son Kyle). Lost, Wales dedicates what little desire he has left to revenge alongside Confederate guerillas. When the war ends, Wales remains on the run, refusing to surrender himself to the North. With a price on his head, Josey heads west, perhaps to Mexico, through the Indian Nations and down to Texas, he isn’t sure. Oddly enough, the man Josey is looking for, Terrill (Bill McKinney), is leading the posse charged with tracking him down, accompanied by one of Josey’s former friends, a man named Fletcher (John Vernon).
An independent man by nature, his journey brings him in contact with all variety of castaways. One by one, they all insist on tagging along with him. The first is a young soldier (Sam Bottoms); then it’s an old Indian (Chief Dan George); a young Indian woman (Geraldine Keams); an elderly lady (Paula Trueman); her beautiful granddaughter (Sandra Locke); and a mean red hound.
While The Outlaw Josey Wales shares marginal similarities with such western classics as Shane, and The Magnificent Seven, it really fuses Sergio Leone’s dark, gritty version of the Old West with the sweeping vistas of Jeremiah Johnson, and a vision of a mid-nineteenth century frontier populated by common people—farmers, ranchers, and other settlers trying to eek out a living in a rough-and-tumble environment.
Eastwood’s character is the kind of western hero we’ve come to expect, but he also has vulnerabilities. Haunted by the deaths of his wife and son, he has doubts about his place in this world, and realizes his limitations. It’s through his doubts and vulnerabilities that he finds new acquaintances and experiences new things.
The Outlaw Josey Wales comes to Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio, 2.40:1. While the image isn’t quite as vivid and detailed as some other titles, a sense of realism is there. A bit soft in some scenes, the film looks excellent at other times. Colors look fairly natural, with the greens, browns and yellows looking superior. Facial tones are occasionally intense, there’s a modicum of inherent print grain visible at all times, and the overall picture is somewhat dark, likely because of Eastwood’s and director of photography Bruce Surtees’s desire for natural lighting conditions.
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is solid for a mid-seventies film. Dialogue is clear and well-centered most of the time, only occasionally muffled during loud action sequences. There isn’t too much surround action, but when it does occur it can be startling. Gunshots crack and zing realistically, sometimes shooting from front to rear speakers, and thunderous hoof beats match the onscreen action, moving towards or away from the viewer.
We get the following special features:
- Commentary by Richard Schickel The critic and filmmaker discusses the development and production, while providing some insightful analysis. Schickel knows his stuff, particularly when it comes to Eastwood.
- Clint Eastwood’s West (29:03, HD) highlights Eastwood’s work in the genre, starting with TV’s Rawhide, touching on his big breakthrough in Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns, but ultimately settling on Eastwood’s own directorial voice with High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Pale Rider and Unforgiven. The piece includes interviews with film critics, directing and acting colleagues and Eastwood himself.
- Hell Hath No Fury: The Making of The Outlaw Josey Wales (30:29, SD) covers the film’s development and production, with interviews of various members of the cast and crew and behind-the-scenes footage. The closing interview with Eastwood includes a humorous description about the qualities of various brands of chewing tobacco. Produced in 1999.
- Eastwood in Action (7:55, SD) is a vintage, EPK style behind-the-scenes piece.
- Theatrical Trailer (2:16, SD)
- Digibook: part of the packaging, this thirty-six page, hardbound book includes numerous production stills, an Eastwood acting and directing filmography and an essay about the film.
