The Pale Rider Movie Analysis

📌Category: Entertainment, Movies
📌Words: 1249
📌Pages: 5
📌Published: 01 April 2022

Throughout western films, there are many common themes that are portrayed. The mythology that revolves around the idea of an outlaw is one that has a focus on masculinity. This theme of masculinity permeates every action of an outlaw. The outlaw in Pale Rider is a mysterious stranger who does not reveal his name but is also known as the preacher. The outlaw in The Outlaw Josey Wales is Josey Wales, a man who recently lost his family. Both of these men conform to the traditional aspects of an outlaw while also bringing a new approach to classic Western mythology. The idea of an outlaw is present throughout both Westen films as both represent death as well as possess the ability to fix the mentioned town through murder.

In the movie The Outlaw Josey Wales, Josey Wales finally achieves this status of being an outlaw once he kills people, portraying a necessity of being an outlaw the ability to take the life of another. After Josey Wales’ family is killed by a group of Union sympathizers , he seeks revenge and joins a group of Confederate soldiers. Despite formerly being a farmer, Josey Wales is willing to give up his previous profession and lifestyle in hopes of revenge against those that have wronged him. This group of Confederate soldiers partake in attacks on Union army units and eventually are forced to surrender with the end of the Civil war. Josey Wales is the one member of their unit to not surrender as he has not yet achieved what he sought out to do. Josey Wales is fully aware that by not following his unit’s decision to surrender themselves to the Union soldiers, he is giving up the protection that a large group of people afforded him, in hopes that he will achieve his revenge. Josey Wales knows that he could die on this quest but he decides to not go with his unit, and instead travels alone. This act of traveling alone was a common trait for outlaws within Western Mythology. This stoicism against a looming face of adversity was a trait that was seen as both extremely masculine as well as prevalent amongst outlaws and cowboys within films. This importance is emphasized in Nancy Schoenberger’s Wayne and Ford when it states that “that code…shaped America’s ideal of masculinity,what it meant to “be a man”... in three words, “stoicism,” “courage,” “duty.” John Wayne came to embody these virtues on-screen.”(Wayne and Ford) In the The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, Tom Wayne who plays Doniphon shares these characteristic with Josey Wales, further connecting him with the traits common with outlaws. However Josey Wales is not recognized as an Outlaw by other characters in the film until he acts as a hero from one side of the story, killing many Union soldiers. After many of his fellow soldiers are lied to and killed by the Union army, Josey Wales is forced to act in a heroic manner and save the one remaining soldier. Josey is forced to kill many soldiers in the opposing army. In this moment, Josey Wales is finally considered an outlaw by the opposing army when the senator tells Fletcher the necessity of capturing Josey Wales. This portrays how the idea of killing others is intertwined with the ability to be an outlaw. 

In the movie The Pale Rider,  the mysterious stranger appears to synonymous with death as he commands a sense of fear that affects everyone around him. The first comparison of the preacher to Death was early in the film. This first occurs after Hull Barret is saved by this mysterious stranger from getting beat up by four men. Soon after the stranger intervenes, the four men who previously were in a possession of power, are on the ground. In an attempt to pay back this act of kindness, Hull invites him back to his house. Just as they arrive, Megan reads a chilling quote, “And behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death,... and hell followed with him”(The Pale Rider-21:00). In this moment, the stranger that has arrived in carbon canyon is seen as Death. He not only symbolizes death, but he also appears to be the entity of Death from the Bible. This idea is furthered as this mysterious stranger immediately comes onto the screen atop a white horse. Within The Pale Rider, every person that encounters this outlaw, has a sense of fear that permeates crowds. This is first shown after he arrives at the gold mining site of Coy LaHood and the immense group of men seem to be scared of his presence. This fear that the outlaw holds over other men is once again apparent when Coy LaHood is talking to Stockburn. LaHood describes this stranger and Stockburn is immediately surprised and slightly frightened, stating that he reminds him of a man he once knew, however this man is now dead. Stockburn is proven incorrect at the end of the film as he seems to recognize the stranger, implying that he has risen from the dead, which only creates more fear within Stockburn.

In both films, the outlaws are able to enter a town with corruption, and leave that same town with a trail of dead bodies behind. One common theme within these western movies is the fact that there is a group of people that are causing problems within a society, and one outlaw rises up to remove this problem. In The Outlaw Josey Wiles, the problem is Captain Terrill, and Josey Wiles has been relentless in his attempts to rid this society of him. Captain Terrill is a man that has commit great atrocities, such as the murder of Josey Wiles’ family as well as the murder of his entire Unit. Josey uses this determination to carry himself through this arduous task and eventually kill Captain Terrill, removing this cruel man from society. This idea of removing a problem in society is also portrayed The Pale Rider. However the problem in this film is the group of men led by Coy LaHood that are attempting to strongarm the poorer gold miners into selling their land. Once Coy LaHood hears that a preacher is within Carbon canyon and this scares him as a preacher could convince the people to not give up their land. As a result LaHood sends men to tell the preacher to leave. Upon this demand the Preacher says “You wouldn't want me to leave before i finish my work, would you?(Pale Rider 32:16). This comes off as threatening during the film while also implying that the preacher has a reason for being in Carbon canyon and he will pursue that reason until he accomplished what he came for. The preacher is finally able to leave Carbon valley once he has killed many people that worked for Coy LaHood as well as made it possible for the poorer people to keep their land. As the preacher rides his horse away from the town it is clear that he was able to remove the corruption from the town while killing many people at the same time, upholding the believe that outlaws bring violence to towns. This idea of the outlaw leaving a town once he has completed what he originally set out to accomplish is also prevalent in The Outlaw Josey Wales as Josey is also able to ride away on a horse after killing Captain Terrill, making it possible for the people that were affected by the brutality of Captain Terrill to not have to worry about him. Both the Outlaw Josey Wiles as well as the stranger looked out for the safety of other while killing those that endangered people. 

Despite having the same actor portraying the main outlaw as well as the same director, both films have a different way of setting up the background of the main characters. While the backstory of Josey Wales was explained early in the film, the preacher in Pale Rider’s backstory remains ambiguous throughout the film and seems to receive clarification at the very end.

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