Pale Rider

1985

1h 55m

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

1.2K

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Western

Drama

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

Directors

Clint Eastwood

Writers

Dennis Shryack(screenplay by)

Michael Butler(screenplay by)

Stars

Clint Eastwood

Michael Moriarty

Carrie Snodgress

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Top cast

Preacher

Hull Barret

Sarah Wheeler

Josh LaHood

Coy LaHood

Megan Wheeler

Club

Spider Conway

Stockburn

McGill

Jagou

Ma Blankenship

Jed Blankenship

Ev Gossage

Eddie Conway

Teddy Conway

Tyson

Elam

Directors

Clint Eastwood

Writers

Dennis Shryack(screenplay by)

Michael Butler(screenplay by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

If you’re_italic text_ a regular watcher of Westerns, then you’ll be familiar enough with the format of the film. A bunch of prospectors are being bullied by a local kingpin determined to muscle-in on their land and intimidate, or kill, them out of their claims. A bit like “Sir Galahad”, a travelling preacher (Clint Eastwood) arrives and is soon trying to galvanise their efforts to thwart the ambitions of the calculating “LaHood” (Richard Dysart); his violent son “Josh” (Christopher Penn), sheriff enforcer “Stockburn” (John Russell) and their gentle giant (Richard Kiel). Chief amongst the miners is “Barret” (Michael Moriarty) who with the feisty “Sarah” (Carrie Snodgrass) are at their wits-end. They don’t lack for courage but they are heavily outnumbered and ill-equipped to combat their antagonists, so the enigmatic churchman clearly has his work cut out for him. The remainder of the plot plays out pretty much as expected, and the supporting cast deliver competently enough, but the film really just belongs to an Eastwood who has a little more dialogue here than in his other, Leone, man-with-no-name features. He charismatically owns the screen as this toxically-charged story builds and there is even a certain element of the avenging angel to his performance set amidst some beautiful scenery. It emphases a little the difficulties faced by these pioneers, and of the unscrupulousness, greed and violence that prevailed too but the use of a man of God is effective at curtailing the brutality. He combines his wits, his muscles and the reluctance of their enemies to actually physically engage with a minister to made his sparing use of a gun all the more potent when it happens. It’s steadily paced and though I did find the sub-plot with the dog-loving “Megan” (Sydney Penny) a bit creepy, the film is well worth a couple of hours.

Geronimo196701 Sep, 2025