Pale Rider (1985)

Directed by Clint Eastwood. Starring Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, Sydney Penny, Chris Penn, Richard Dysart, John Russell, Doug McGrath, Richard Kiel. [R]

An enigmatic preacher (Eastwood) wandering through a mining camp decides to stick around and protect the prospectors from the thuggish interference of Dysart and his goons. Borrows heavily from earlier Westerns (especially Eastwood’s own High Plains Drifter and George Stevens’ Shane, which is scenically quoted so closely that it borders on plagiarism), but makes for an adequate genre piece when it sticks to the aesthetically-exciting formula. When it diverges, however, like with mother/daughter Snodgress and Penny both professing love for the tall stranger, or the overbearing religious/supernatural bent (the title is inspired by a biblical passage), it can be a drag. Writers Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack take repeated stabs at classic storytelling archetypes, but Eastwood curiously muffles the myth-making. Bleak, wintry locations and gloomy interiors photographed by Bruce Surtees.

62/100