The Outlaw Josey Wales

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) is about a farmer whose family is killed in the Civil War, who joins the fighting and refuses to surrender when it ends. Josey Wales farms in Missouri. Union militia raid his house and kill his wife and son. He joins a southern band. When the war ends the band surrenders and the men who surrender are shot; Wales survives because he did not, and runs. The interesting part is the second half. He does not stay alone on the road: an old Cherokee, an Indian woman, a dog, a family and finally a town gather around him. A story that began as revenge becomes a story about building a community. The best scene is a conversation with a Comanche chief; two men reach an understanding instead of fighting, and the understanding rests on honesty rather than force. Something happened in production that changed a Hollywood rule. Philip Kaufman began directing it. Eastwood had bought the rights to the novel with his own money and disagreed with Kaufman about how to direct it; in the first week of shooting Kaufman was fired and Eastwood took the chair himself. The Directors Guild then introduced what became known as the Eastwood Rule: an actor or producer cannot fire the director and take the job. Eastwood also paid a fine. The rule caught up with him years later and in 1983 he could not take the directing credit on Tightrope. It runs 135 minutes. Good for: westerns, Eastwood, and stories about the aftermath of war. Less good for: it is long, the violence is harsh, and some supporting characters belong to their period.