Rating: 
Summary: Not Clint's best, but good.
Review: If you're a Clint Eastwood fan, I'd recommend viewing this movie. If you like movies that are true-to-life and that make some sort of statement, this isn't one I'd recommend.The plot is well developed, although it's the usual David vs. Goliath story. John Russell gives an excellent performance as Marshall Stockburn, a man who you'll love to hate when the movie is over. Richard Dysart also does a nice job as the wealthy miner Coy LaHood, bringing out the snobbishness and arrogance of 19th Century aristocrats very well. Eastwood gives his usual performance as the "bad" good guy. This time Clint Eastwood plays a man known only as "Preacher", descriptive only of his name, certainly not of his profession. I'd compare "Preacher" to Robin Hood, robbing from the rich (Dysart) and giving back to the poor (Michael Moriarty and others). If you can handle a little blood and violence, this is a very watchable film, though it's not Eastwood's best, and it's not something I'd let a five-year-old watch.
Rating:
Summary: Eastwood's homage to "Shane" and "High Noon"
Review: In "Pale Rider", director/leading man Clint Eastwood helps to resurrect the western with a tribute to two of the greatest in history, "Shane" and "High Noon". Eastwood's character, "Preacher" rides into the lives of some gold miners who are being threatened by one of the largest mine owners in the West who wants to add their stake to his own.
Just as Alan Ladd was in "Shane", Eastwood's "Preacher" is a larger than life character who's able to inspire the pan miners to stand up against the Lahoud family and their dozens of men. Even when Lahoud calls for back-up in the form of a mercenary sheriff (John Russell) and his six deputies, the "Preacher" stands tall. The body count ends up almost as high as a Sam Peckinpaugh western but without the slow motion death scenes and jets of blood. I don't have to go into much more detail about the plot because most viewers will figure out the ultimate ending long before the film is halfway completed.
Fans of the Eastwood style of Western ("Hang 'Em High", "Unforgiven", and all of the spaghetti westerns, just to mention a few) will certainly like "Pale Rider". It's action-filled and and has few "draggy" scenes. The supporting cast is strong with Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgrass, Robert Dysart, Chris Penn and classic western bad guy, John Russell all playing solid characters. Even Richard Kiel ("Jaws" in the James Bond movies) is present and gets hit in the groin once again by a mega-star (the other time was by Paul Newman's "Butch Cassidy").
While the DVD is not loaded with much in the way of extras (limited to scene selection, cast & crew biographies, and a couple of trailers), it is a pretty good transfer and the sound quality and cinematography are outstanding.
RECOMMENDED FOR ALL EASTWOOD AND WESTERN FANS!
Rating:
Summary: Eastwood's return to the saddle will make your day.
Review: Made years prior to his classic Unforgiven, Pale Rider offers positive proof that no other contemporary filmmaker understands the mythic texture and rhythm of the American Western better than actor/director Clint Eastwood. Combining elements from Shane and High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider tells the tale of a mysterious gunslinging preacher that comes to the aid of embattled settlers in the Pacific Northwest. While the film does have its weakness, namely too closely resembling superior films, it has its strengths as well, mainly invoking the laconic, rugged individualism that is the hallmark of all great westerns, some rousing actions scenes, and well drawn characters and situations. The religious underpinnings are also of larger interest thanks in part to the screenwriting of Dennis Shyrack and Michael Butler (who used similiar theological symbolism in their scripts for the Eastwood chase thriller The Gauntlet as well as the B-movie level horror show The Car).
Rating:
Summary: A Fun, Decent Western with a small Fistful of Problems
Review: Pale Rider is a nice, eerie western. It is almost the opposite of Eastwood's masterpeice, "High Plains Drifter." Eastwood plays The Preacher, a ghosly, um, well... ghost, that appears out of nowhere to help a town under attack by a corrupt mining tycoon's henchmen. He, oddly, becomes adored by the women of the town(unlike in High Plains Drifter, in which he was despised). He is actually more ghostly than in "Drifter," being there one second, and when you turn your back for a second, dissapearing. Eastwood delivers his normal, quiet, squinting appearance. However, it seems like the bad guys have nothing better to do than look out the window all day, and the main villain walks right up to Eastwood in the final battle, as if he WANTS to be shot. You keep wanting to say "WHY DIDN'T YOU SHOOT HIM?" Pale Rider is a fun western, and quite enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Clint as avenging angel
Review: Pale Rider is Clint EASTWOOD ON HIS WAY TO UNFORGIVE,GETTING OUT SOME wESTERN CLICHES ON THE WAY TO A MASTERPIECE. tHE STORY IS ONE PART SHANE, ON PART SPAGHETTI WESTERN,AND THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE. HE PLAYS A MAN WITH NO NAME[CALLED PREACHER]WHO AMBELS INTO A MINING COMMUNITY DURING A RANGE WAR.MICHAEL MORIARITY PLAYS THE 'LEADER' OF THE PROSPECTERS,WITH CARRIE SNODGRASS AS HIS WIFE AND A YOUNG SYDNEY PENNY AS THE COMING OF AGE STEP DAUGHTER.THE ENSUING CARNAGE IS TYPICAL WESTERN, SOMEHOW EASTWOOD DOES IT WITH SUCH EASE YOU ENJOY IT THOUGH YOU HAVE SEEN IT ALL BEFORE.THE AVENGING ANGEL MOTIF WORKS IF YOU WATCH THE CREDITS ALL THE WAY TO THE END,BY THE WAY.A GOOD WORKABLE WESTERN,GOOD NOT GREAT EASTWOOD,THOUGH VERY ENJOYABLE.
Rating: 
Summary: Pale Rider
Review: PALE RIDER is Clint Eastwood's heartfelt and somewhat disappointing homage to George Steven's classic SHANE. It looks fine, has a strong cast and satisfying enough action, but there's something amiss. Somehow it worked better when it was ranchers threatening sodbusters than big miners threatening little miners. Maybe Alan Ladd helping Van Heflin bust out a stump was a little more heroic than Eastwood helping Michael Moriarty break a rock.
In Shane Ladd created a rough western prototype of the quiet, mysterious stranger blown in on a strange wind to clean out the bad guys. Eastwood refined the model and rode it to stardom. Eastwood's scowl-squint-and-shoot Man With No Name is one of the most highly polished movie icon ever. It's small wonder Eastwood would look back to SHANE with fond gratitude.
In PALE RIDER, Eastwood's character, Preacher, may have ridden into the grub mining town on a heavenly wind. The movie hints at supernatural origins, anyway. It may have been divine intervention that led the two lead actresses, mother Carrie Snodgress and daughter Sydney Penny, to so abruptly fall and declare their love for him. The declaration scenes are forced and awkward. PALE RIDER doesn't really show us how or why the women feel this way, and the plot doesn't need it. In the end, all it really does is delay the action. Another mystery - what the heck is Richard Kiel (James Bond's Jaws) character all about? He seems to be a Dense Thug with Pure Heart type, but the movie pulls him out of the oven half-baked.
The big problem, though, is that the movie takes so long before letting Clint be Clint. Well over half the movie is over before he trades in the clerical collar for the gun. Even then the final showdown, although well choreographed, is uninspired and a tad flat.
For his fans Eastwood never made a bad film, and PALE RIDER has enough going for it to make it enjoyable. I like to think it was a test run for Eastwood's next western, the classic UNFORGIVEN.
Rating:
Summary: Decent Eastwood Western is hurt in comparison to Shane
Review: Pale Rider is worth watching, but unfortunately, it draws too heavily on George Stevens's classic western Shane, which just might be the greatest western ever made. It is well-acted and nicely shot, but it really can't hold a candle to Shane. Three stars.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, OK DVD
Review: Pale Rider may not be follow the most original storyline in history, but it makes for a darn good story anyway, and is one of my favorite westerns. Clint plays a the answer to a young girls prayers, a character only known as "Preacher" who mysteriously comes to town to help out a group of miners. These miners are being harassed by the local "rich guy" who wants to mine their land. Seems like most westerns seem to have that one "rich guy" who owns almost everything in the town. He can't own everything of course, or the good guys wouldn't be able to get supplies. The performances are good, and Clint certainly knows how to direct a movie. My only complaint was with how dark the movie was. It seems that it was done on purpose to create a certain sense of ambiance. I just found it annoying, and any movie that causes me to adjust my TV's settings is gonna lose a star. Otherwise as a big Clint fan this one would have gotten 5 stars. - John
Rating:
Summary: A Good, Though Cliched, Western. 3.5 Stars
Review: The late 70's-early 80's were not very kind towards westerns, and it was feared that the genre might be gone forever. But then, in 1985, Lawrence Kasdan's masterpiece "Silverado" blazed across the screen, and westerns were back again, unfortuanately for a rather short-lived comeback (until 1994, with the last great western: "Tombstone"). "Silverado" was not alone, however, because that same year Clint Eastwood also returned to the saddle after a nine-year period (his last, "The Outlaw Josey Wales", was back in 1976). And though not among his best, "Plae Rider" makes for worthy entertainment. The story concerns a group of prospectors who are constantly harassed by the neighboring millionare and his thugs, warning the miners to clear out or else. But the prospectors have held strong, though none of them are sure how long they can keep it up. One day, however, a mysterious stranger rides into town (sound familiar?) and decides to help them out. The whole film is basically nothing more than a rehash/merging of "Shane" and "High Plains Drifter" (Eastwood's first directorial western), with Eastwood repeating his signature role (no, not Dirty Harry) of the mysterious gunman without a name. I know that critics have declared Clint Eastwood one of the greatest actors who has ever lived (and I fondly agree), this is getting a little old, isn't think?! I mean, the man has played the part a hundred times over! "A Fistful of Dollars", "For A Few Dollars More", "The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly", "Two Mules For Sister Sara", "High Plains Drifter". . . . . . . the list goes on and on. Okay, those were the cons, and now for the pros. However unoriginal the plot is, it has little sprinkles of the supernatural here and there, and the film possesses the dark, errie atmosphere that was found in "High Plains Drifter". And this time, the stranger is a preacher (or claims to be). And, like Eastwood's first western, you never really can tell: is the stranger just an ordinary man out for revenge, or is he a shadow of the past from beyond the grave? Whatever your opinion on it, the whole feel of it is really cool. As usual, Clint is at his squint-eyed best, and the rest of the cast does an overall great job as well. It's really nice to see John Russell ("Rio Bravo") back in a western again. Just that whole thing with the Preacher and the teenage girl I found weird, out of place, and simply pointless. The climactic showdown holds some suspense, but it's nothing to get excited about. "Pale Rider" has been placed under the awesome Clint Eastwood Collection brand of DVD's. But it's a bit of a disappointment, especially after buying/viewing the CEC of "The Outlaw Josey Wales". While that western received a seamless remastering job as well as special features worthy of the title Special or Collector's Edition, this DVD's picture and sound quality are only passable. It's a bit blury, and the darks (especially during the night scenes) seem more blue than black. And all you get is production notes and a trailer. Oh well; I guess the better the movie, the better the DVD treatment. Conclusion: If you're an Eastwood fan, buy it. If you're partial to originality, go get "Shane" or "High Plains Drifter" instead.
Rating:
Summary: A Good, Though Cliched, Western. 3.5 Stars
Review: The late 70's-early 80's were not very kind towards westerns, and it was feared that the genre might be gone forever. But then, in 1985, Lawrence Kasdan's masterpiece "Silverado" blazed across the screen, and westerns were back again, unfortuanately for a rather short-lived comeback (until 1994, with the last great western: "Tombstone"). "Silverado" was not alone, however, because that same year Clint Eastwood also returned to the saddle after a nine-year period (his last, "The Outlaw Josey Wales", was back in 1976). And though not among his best, "Plae Rider" makes for worthy entertainment. The story concerns a group of prospectors who are constantly harassed by the neighboring millionare and his thugs, warning the miners to clear out or else. But the prospectors have held strong, though none of them are sure how long they can keep it up. One day, however, a mysterious stranger rides into town (sound familiar?) and decides to help them out. The whole film is basically nothing more than a rehash/merging of "Shane" and "High Plains Drifter" (Eastwood's first directorial western), with Eastwood repeating his signature role (no, not Dirty Harry) of the mysterious gunman without a name. I know that critics have declared Clint Eastwood one of the greatest actors who has ever lived (and I fondly agree), this is getting a little old, isn't think?! I mean, the man has played the part a hundred times over! "A Fistful of Dollars", "For A Few Dollars More", "The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly", "Two Mules For Sister Sara", "High Plains Drifter". . . . . . . the list goes on and on. Okay, those were the cons, and now for the pros. However unoriginal the plot is, it has little sprinkles of the supernatural here and there, and the film possesses the dark, errie atmosphere that was found in "High Plains Drifter". And this time, the stranger is a preacher (or claims to be). And, like Eastwood's first western, you never really can tell: is the stranger just an ordinary man out for revenge, or is he a shadow of the past from beyond the grave? Whatever your opinion on it, the whole feel of it is really cool. As usual, Clint is at his squint-eyed best, and the rest of the cast does an overall great job as well. It's really nice to see John Russell ("Rio Bravo") back in a western again. Just that whole thing with the Preacher and the teenage girl I found weird, out of place, and simply pointless. The climactic showdown holds some suspense, but it's nothing to get excited about. "Pale Rider" has been placed under the awesome Clint Eastwood Collection brand of DVD's. But it's a bit of a disappointment, especially after buying/viewing the CEC of "The Outlaw Josey Wales". While that western received a seamless remastering job as well as special features worthy of the title Special or Collector's Edition, this DVD's picture and sound quality are only passable. It's a bit blury, and the darks (especially during the night scenes) seem more blue than black. And all you get is production notes and a trailer. Oh well; I guess the better the movie, the better the DVD treatment. Conclusion: If you're an Eastwood fan, buy it. If you're partial to originality, go get "Shane" or "High Plains Drifter" instead.
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