Clint Eastwood had already passed into Western folklore when he helmed THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, but his 1976 offering is one of the all-time greats of the genre.
Based on a novel, GONE TO TEXAS by Forrest Carter, THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES is the tale of an outlaw who is determined to seek justice when his wife and daughter are raped and killed by Union Jayhawkers in 1850s Missouri. After a group of fellow rebels are deceived at a base where they are all killed, Wales goes into hiding with a bounty on his head. Along the way, he picks up a group of people on the run, including Indian Lone Watie (Chief Dan George) and Laura Lee (Sondra Locke)
Made at a time when the Vietnam War was coming to a close, the cynicism as well as the effect and consequence of violence is well co-ordinated throughout the film, but the film maintains much of Eastwood’s unique brand of delivery and the stillness of character that has defined much of his career with films like DIRTY HARRY and the ‘Man With No Name’ trilogy of films, A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.