Great Films, Disappointing Box

If you're interested in this boxed set, then you probably are already familiar with the movies. Apart from Clint Eastwood's 'spaghetti westerns', the films in this package are amongst his best westerns. Made in three different decades, each film represents Clint Eastwood as the star and director in three different eras.

'The Outlaw Josey Wales' (1976) was Eastwood's last 70's western. In the film, Josey Wales makes his way west after the Civil War, determined to live a useful and helpful life. He joins up with a group of settlers who need the protection that a man as tough and experienced as he is can provide. Unfortunately, Josey is a wanted man and his past catches up with him.

'Pale Rider' (1985) was filmed after a 9 year western-hiatus and was his only 80's western. Here, a gold mining camp in the California foothills is besieged by a neighboring landowner intent on stealing their claims. A preacher (Eastwood) rides into camp and uses all of his powers of persuasion to convince the landowner to give up his attacks on the miners.

'Unforgiven' won critical acclaim in 1992 with four Oscars including best picture and his first best-directing gong. Eastwood stars as a retired, once-ruthless killer-turned-gentle-widower and hog farmer. He accepts one last bounty-hunter mission--to find the men who brutalized a prostitute--to help support his two motherless children. Joined by his former partner (Morgan Freeman) and a greenhorn (Jaimz Woolvett), he takes on a corrupt sheriff (Oscar winner Gene Hackman) in a showdown that makes the viewer feel the full impact of violence and its corruption of the soul.

The only drawback to this product is the package itself. Although the DVD's come in a box, they are not contained in the typical plastic DVD case with the original stand-alone DVD sleave. Instead, the original stand-alone sleave is printed on a cheaper cardboard DVD case which clips into a plastic backing. I was disappointed to receive this, so I'm just letting you know.

clint eastwood--westerner

three of clint's best movies and they came quickly and in very good condition.

Riding high

This is a great 3-pack. I always thought that Pale Rider was his best personal effort, but he got the Oscar for The Unforgiven. Now you can compare the two, and you have The Outlaw Josey Wales to boot. Eastwood built a Western filmography almost as great as the legend himself, John Wayne. Eastwood always looked good in the saddle and his preternatural scowl fit the High Plains well, whether in early Italian/Spanish productions with Sergio Leone, or his later personal westerns. He covers much of the same material, but his delivery gets ever better. The Unforgiven has a deconstructionist feel to it with memorable performances by Gene Hackman and Richard Harris. It was probably the most daring of his western movies, but Pale Rider has the greatest visual appeal, set in the rugged backdrop of Montana, it exudes the romance of the Old West, like A.B. Guthrie's Big Sky novels. The Outlaw Josey Wales makes a good bridge between his early "spaghetti" westerns to his later big screen performances.