amc@mhuxl.UUCP (COHILL) (07/01/85)
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I went to see Clint Eastwood's new movie "Pale Rider" the other
night. It is a must for Clint Eastwood fans, naturally, but it is
also one of the best westerns that I can remember seeing in a long
time. Eastwood directed, and he plays the the same character
he always has, with a little twist I won't reveal for those that
don't want it spoiled.
The story is stolen almost verbatim from 'Shane', although it is
big miners against little miners, rather than cattle ranchers
against farmers. Although the story is predictable, Eastwood has
given all the characters very interesting personalities, something
you never saw in the old Leone films he made.
There was also a lot of attention given to costume and setting,
that reminded me of "Heaven's Gate." You really had the feeling that
this is how things must have looked. The most interesting thing I
noticed was that all of the interior scenes were shot in natural
light (or a minimum of artificial light). It was startling at
first, but after you think about it you realize that this was the
*real* thing--it was always dark inside then. Eastwood has the
characters move toward and away from the windows frequently to bring
them in and out of the light.
The whole movie, though, is dark and somber. Eastwood has tried
for some allegory here (there is a clumsy Biblical reference to the
"pale rider" at the beginning) and on the whole, I thought he
succeeded. The one gunman character has a mystical quality that I
liked.
Eastwood also injects some moments of real humour in the film,
something else that was always missing from his earlier "spaghetti"
days. Finally, there is no wanton bloodshed in the movie. There is
some killing, but it is strictly part of the plot, and none of the
Peckinpah blood all over the place scenes.
This is a very elegant Western.
Andy Cohill
{allegra,ihnp4}mhuxl!amcmoriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (07/08/85)
A TALE OF TWO WESTERNS, Part I: Pale Rider
One of the two westerns being released this year (_Silverado_ will be
reviewed next), _Pale_Rider_ is being watched to see if a Western can be a
breadwinner in these days of sci-fi and schlock. This really isn't fair, as
Clint Eastwood has his own independent drawing power, which has nothing to
do with the genre of the film he is making (as long as it's violent, and
_Pale_Rider_ fits that description aptly). However, for those critics who
are curious to see the staying power of the Western, I think Eastwood shows
(bot as director and as star) that given some imagination, the West is still
a fine place to set an adventure or drama. _Pale_Rider_ has many faulty
moments; however, it has many more successful moments, showing me that
Eastwood decided to take chances with the film, and that Eastwood as
Director has a style all his own.
As you probably know, _Pale_Rider_ opens up with a group of independent
miners being attacked by the henchmen of a powerful mining magnate. The
miners are basically a group of poor men and their families, living and
working together panning off of a gold stream, and the attack destroys much
of their equipment and their efforts. A young girl, whose grandfather was
killed in a previous raid, and whose mother lives with a honest, decent
independent miner (Michael Moriarty in a truly excellent performance), has
her dog shot in the raid, and takes it to be buried in the forest. While
there, she prays to God for a miracle, and suddenly (beautifully) the film
takes a mystical bent. While the dialogue is stilted during the girls
prayer, the imagery of the photography is anything but. There is a mist
rising up from the ground of the forest (rather like _Excalibur_), and as
she prays, the scene dissolves to a shot of the Rockies, capped with clouds
and looking as foreboding and stark as the Mount Olympus of legend. And
suddenly, out of the frozen wastes, comes one man riding....
[OK, maybe it sounds corny, but it works -- got my blood stirring. I keep
thinking of God deciding how to answer the prayer: "Plague of frogs? Flood
the villains out?.... No, I'll send Clint Eastwood in...."]
The film continues in this vein; we're never sure if Eastwood is a man, a
ghost, or someone who has been re-animated by supernatural forces to right
wrongs and take vengence on his killer. It doesn't matter, because he plays
the role just right, with his normal taciturn comments, but with almost none
of his Dirty Harry sarcastic humor. The attachments he makes to the rest of
the camp are nicely done, in particular the friendship offered to him by the
Michael Moriarty character, who has the rare ability to take the type of
dialogue Frank Capra used to use in his films and make it sound stirring
instead of corny. I was very impressed with the his work here.
Suffice it to say that the photography and the plot make up for any
deficencies in the dialogue; I think you'll enjoy this film a great deal.
Worth $4 anytime (along with _Cocoon_, it's the only film I'll give a
complete thumbs-up to this summer).
THE BLAZING SADDLES SYNDROME:
It is, however, tough to watch a western these days after seeing
_Blazing_Saddles_ several times. Let me ask those of you who've seen
_Pale_Rider_:
1) In the opening credits scene, how many of you expected to see a toll
booth pop up in front of the bad guys?
2) How many of you expected to see Richard (Jaws) Kiel ride up on a bull?
3) How many of you expected, after Eastwood shoots the gun out of
Christopher Penn's hand, that the rest of the hired guns would begin
applauding?
"In the end, it will be the insects who rule the earth."
-Noted scientist
"In the end, who cares?"
-Remo Williams
"End? What end? You whites will be with us forever."
-Chiun, Master of Sinanju
If he's not one thing,
he's another. ---> Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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