SummaryA mysterious preacher (Clint Eastwood) protects a humble prospector village from a greedy mining company trying to encroach on their land.
Directed By:Clint Eastwood
Written By:Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack
Pale Rider
Metascore
Generally Favorable
61
User score
Generally Favorable
7.4
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
62% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
8% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
31% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
100
No actor is more aware of his own instruments, and Eastwood demonstrates that in Pale Rider, a film he dominates so completely that only later do we realize how little we really saw of him.
90
Though the metaphysical overtones of the screenplay are sometimes awkwardly handled and Eastwood's direction of actors (other than himself) is occasionally uncertain, this was one of the better American films of 1985.
User score
Generally Favorable
82% Positive
27 Ratings
27 Ratings
12% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
6% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Jul 31, 2020
10
Pale Rider is honestly a masterpiece. The plot is great, the acting is top notch, the characters are enjoyable from start to finish and the action throughout this movie is honestly very bloody but it's godly. Overall, it's a western masterpiece and I'd honestly recommend it if you love these bloody but brilliant western movies, it's worth the watch.
Jan 31, 2022
8
This is a good'un. 'Pale Rider' features an enjoyable story featuring the gold rush, while the characters are all solid - Clint Eastwood gives a strong performance in the lead role, though I would've liked to have seen more of John Russell and his character. I don't think it's perfect or anything, but I got entertainment from it and that's enough for me - I've not got much more to note.
80
There are sufficient question-marks inserted to lift it out of the routine: Eastwood's preacher man seems to carry the stigmata of a ghost; and he arrives as the answer to a maiden's prayer. Furthermore, his care for the landscape puts him in the Anthony Mann class. It's good to be back in the saddle again.
75
Eastwood has a deep love and understanding for the genre, and it shows in every frame of PALE RIDER. The supernatural elements of the story are incidental and handled in a restrained, subtle manner that does not distract from the story but enhances it, bringing another dimension to the oft-told tale. Eastwood the director has delivered a thought-provoking, well-crafted western.
40
When Eastwood, who also directed the picture (from a Michael Butler-Dennis Shryack script), faces off against Russell's Maleficent Seven, viewers may get an old-fashioned western tingle. But Pale Rider does nothing to disprove the wisdom that this genre is best left to the revival houses. A double feature of Shane and Eastwood's High Plains Drifter will do just fine, thanks.
30
The trail is all too familiar and pretty soon we recollect why westerns lost their appeal. [28 June 1985, p.27]
30
There ins't a gleam of good sense anywhere in this picture.
Dec 26, 2017
8
Clint Eastwood rifts on George Stevens’ western masterpiece “Shane” with the soul of a master jazz musician. There are moments that don’t quite work, where he seeks but doesn’t quite find the right note or phrasing, but the whole is a work of rare beauty. Mr. Eastwood directs and stars, excelling in both. Bruce Surtees cinematography is among his finest work and Joel Cox’s editing is breathtakingly elegant. Carrie Snodgress, underrated and not seen in films nearly enough, gives a remarkably realized performance.
Apr 8, 2019
7
Clint Eastwood and westerns are synonymous for more reasons than just the "Dollars" trilogy, of course. And from what I've heard in my travels, this 1985 effort is one of the chief reasons why. For some, "Pale Rider" may come off as trite or tired in its efforts to improve upon the western genre. But I think those individuals would be missing the point here. "Pale Rider" isn't looking to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it aims to take the more conventional aspects of the western genre and polish them up for the coming generation of filmgoers (at the time, that is). Do the cliches and tropes grow bothersome at times? Sure, but lacking in originality is far from the movie's crippling flaw. In fact, it's when this movie tries to be different that it sorely, sorely misses the mark, namely due to some unfortunate sub-plotting work on the part of the screenwriters. Overall though, yes, you could say the content in play is -- for the most part -- tried. But that's not to say it isn't also true.
