Pale Rider (1985)

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  • PALE RIDER


    DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY CLINT EASTWOOD
    MALPASO/ WARNER BROTHERS



    Information From IMDb


    Plot Summary
    Clint Eastwood is a mysterious preacher who comes to a gold mining camp near a small town in the mountains. The miners are in grave danger as a ruthless landowner decides to take their land, with the support of the sheriff. The only one who seems brave enough to save them is this preacher who came from nowhere and nobody knows his past or his real name. Why is the sheriff afraid of him? Why is he such a good shooter? Is he really a preacher?


    Cast
    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)
    Jeffrey Weissman ... Teddy Conway
    Allen Keller ... Tyson
    Randy Oglesby ... Elam (as Tom Oglesby)
    Herman Poppe ... Ulrik Lindquist
    Kathleen Wygle ... Bess Gossage
    Terrence Evans ... Jake Henderson
    Jim Hitson ... Biggs
    Loren Adkins ... Bossy
    Thomas H. Friedkin ... Miner Tom (as Tom Friedkin)
    S.A. Griffin ... Deputy Folke
    Jack Radosta ... Deputy Grissom
    Robert Winley ... Deputy Kobold
    Billy Drago ... Deputy Mather
    Jeffrey Josephson ... Deputy Sedge
    John Dennis Johnston ... Deputy Tucker


    And many others


    Writing Credits
    Michael Butler
    Dennis Shryack


    Also Produced by
    Fritz Manes .... executive producer
    David Valdes .... associate producer


    Trivia
    * Warren Clarke has said in an interview with TV Times that he was offered a role in this project


    * The first horse assigned to Richard Kiel collapsed the first time he climbed aboard. He was then assigned a stronger horse.


    * Preacher uses a Remington 1858 revolver, a percussion revolver with a top strap that allowed the entire cylinder to be removed, permitting the user to carry multiple loaded cylinders. This enabled the shooter to reload much more quickly than Colt percussion revolvers of the same time period.


    Goofs
    * Continuity: Amount of snow in town, and seasons in general.


    * Continuity: The stick of dynamite that Barret throws away after it is dropped by the Preacher explodes much too soon considering the length of the fuse still attached to it.


    * Continuity: When Barret throws a stick of dynamite into the tent, it lands near the front of the tent. The explosion comes from inside the tent. After the explosion the lit fuse of the thrown dynamite can clearly be seen.


    * Continuity: When Hull Barret rides into town by himself on the wagon he is fine. When riding out with The Preacher after the fight you can see a cast on his arm. It is also visible as he mounts the wagon. Back in camp, it's fine again.


    * Crew or equipment visible: During the final gunfight, one of the gunslingers walks under a roof overhang on the side of a building where what appears to be a pair of aluminum colored floodlight housings can be seen.


    * Miscellaneous: When Preacher splashes the man holding a lit match over Barret's wagon with a bucket of water, he actually fails to put the match out.


    * Continuity: In the final scenes where the Preacher searches out and shoots the Deputies, the Preacher is shown shooting one of the Deputies in the back and the Deputy falls forward onto what should be his front. We then see a Deputy with a bullet hole in his forehead, presumably put there by the Preacher, he staggers a little then falls face down. The next we see of the dead Deputy is that he is lying face up with a couple of the other Deputies walking slowly around the body while continuing to search out the Preacher.


    * Revealing mistakes: when the preacher approaches Stockburn he unlocks his fire arm to re-chamber it. The bullet chamber he chooses is empty yet he locks it in place and kills the Marshal Stockburn. The cylinder is visibly empty!


    * Revealing mistakes: When Megan picks up her dog which has just been shot dead the dog's body is stiff, an obvious prop.


    Memorable Quotes
    The Preacher: Nothing like a good piece of hickory.
    Coy LaHood: Sacramento ain't worth moose piss.
    Coy LaHood: Do you imbibe?
    The Preacher: Only after nine in the morning.
    Megan Wheeler: Preacher? Preacher? We love you Preacher... I love you!... Good-bye!
    The Preacher: Well, if you're waitin' for a woman to make up her mind, you may have a a long wait.


    Filming Locations
    Columbia State Historic Park - 22708 Broadway, Columbia, California, USA
    Railtown 1897 State Historical Park, Jamestown, California, USA
    (rail station)
    Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Idaho, USA

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 2 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Pale Rider is a 1985 American western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood,
    who also stars in the lead role.


    The title is a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,
    as the rider of a pale horse is Death.
    The film, which took in nearly $41 million at the box office,
    became the highest grossing Western of the 1980s.


    I think this is a superb movie, with it's religious
    undertones, and a ghostly feel, that makes for a dark,
    but captivating film.
    Clint Eastwood was at the top of his career,
    and at his very best, both as director and actor.
    He puts in a solid performance and also credit due,
    to his fine selection of support actors, many of which,
    were relatively unknown but turned in able performances.
    John Russell, was meancing as Stockburn.


    All in all, a classic western

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited once, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Pale Rider is no.2 behind The Outlaw Josey Wales as my favorite Eastwood western. Watching it, I almost get the feeling that he's darn near playing the same character he played in High Plains Drifter. Looked the same, acted the same, stranger coming from nowhere to take care of business. Only in this he was alot nicer to the folks he was protecting. Great movie, great cast.

  • I'm with you on that one. It is also high on my list of Clint movies. But it is third, behind Jose Wales and The Unforgiven. Very good acting and the scenery was pretty good too. I thought they did a good job of showing how terrible and ugly strip-mining is. But why did Clint have to go and sleep with Hull's sweetheart? I felt bad for the man. lol

    Mark

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

  • This thread sort of morphed into what is a genuine western. I don't believe Westworld, Futureworld or Paleface land in that category. Which leads me to ask what you gents (and ladies) think of High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider. They had overtones of ghost movies that aren't traditional.
    The moderators may want to start a new topic with this. Again, being a neophyte here, I hope this hasn't been covered in a thread I haven't yet found.




    We deal in lead, friend.

  • In my opinion High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider are genuine Westerns that had a slight twist to make them interesting. The both deal with a mysterious stranger coming to town to dispense justice which is a mainstay plot device of westerns, the only difference is that these avenging angels are actually otherworldly.


    I never watched Drifter all the way through, but it seems to me that they are 2 sides of the same coin. For instance in "Drifter" Eastwood is a curse come to life and as such brings a reign of terror to the town. But in Pale Rider he is a blessing come to help those in need, and as such he restores instead of destroys.

  • The pale rider is not good, it is to deal stiff justice on the earth when unleashed upon the earth when Christ breaks opens one of the seals. That is the history or Bible behind the pale rider the movie uses for the theme.
    Clint though he does a good thing in removing the bad marshal is still a bad person, and thus that is why he slept with Hull's sweetheart.


    I like the movie, but it sits behind Josey Wales and Unforgiven in his western roles.