Pale Rider (1985)

A mysterious preacher protects a humble prospector village from a greedy mining company trying to encroach on their land.

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers:

Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack

Stars:

Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clint Eastwood	...	Preacher
Michael Moriarty	...	Hull Barret
Carrie Snodgress	...	Sarah Wheeler
Chris Penn	...	Josh LaHood (as Christopher Penn)
Richard Dysart	...	Coy LaHood
Sydney Penny	...	Megan Wheeler
Richard Kiel	...	Club
Doug McGrath	...	Spider Conway
John Russell	...	Stockburn
Charles Hallahan	...	McGill
Marvin J. McIntyre	...	Jagou
Fran Ryan	...	Ma Blankenship
Richard Hamilton	...	Jed Blankenship
Graham Paul	...	Ev Gossage
Chuck Lafont	...	Eddie Conway (as Chuck LaFont)

Storyline

A gold mining camp in the California foothills is besieged by a neighboring landowner intent on stealing their claims. A preacher rides into camp and uses all of his powers of persuasion to convince the landowner to give up his attacks on the miners.

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Plot Keywords:

preacher | gold | miner | sheriff | grave | 

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Taglines:

... and hell followed with him.

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 June 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

El jinete pálido

Filming Locations:

Columbia State Historic Park - 22708 Broadway, Columbia, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,900,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$41,400,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Malpaso Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Other clues to the Preacher's true nature are the ghastly bullet wound scars seen when he is dressing, and his sudden appearances and disappearances throughout the movie.

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Goofs

When the Preacher rescues Megan Wheeler from the attempted rape by Josh, a modern bra strap can briefly be seen on her shoulder as she rides away on the Preacher's horse.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Megan Wheeler: Lindsey.

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Crazy Credits

The credit for catering just says "The Caterers" (including the quotation marks in the credit).

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Connections

Featured in Eastwood... A Star (1992)

User Reviews

You can't beat a good bit of Hickory.

The opening to Pale Rider is just excellent, at first all is calm and serene, but then the peace is shattered by the thundering of hooves. A group of men employed by Coy LaHood, tear thru a small mining community, shooting guns and trampling over all in their way. During this callous act of bullying, one of the men shoots and kills young Megan's dog. When Megan buries her beloved pet, she calls to god to send someone to help them against the greedy LaHood, because LaHood is intent on stripping the locals of their claims, and he literally will stop at nothing to get them. Later on Megan is reading from the bible, she reads aloud to her mother about "beholding a pale horse and that the man who sat on it was death", we then see a lone horseman riding towards this under fire place...........

Behold the pale horse because the man that sat on him was Clint Eastwood! And that's all you really want to know as regards what drives the film on. It had been quite some time since the movie watching world had witnessed a damn good Western, so it is obvious that Eastwood, knowing the genre inside out, felt it time to remind all and sundry about this engrossing genre and all its little peccadilloes. Riffing on his own High Plains Drifter from 1973, Eastwood again uses supernatural leanings to play out this intriguing tale. Pale Rider works well because Eastwood cares for the genre so much, no frame is wasted and the acting on show delivers the necessary amount of quality to enhance the picture's impact. From the thundering opening to the gorgeous final shot, Pale Rider is an expertly crafted Western that still holds up today as a great entry on Eastwoods CV.

Pale Rider. 8/10