Editing The Outlaw Josey Wales

{{Short description|1976 film by Clint Eastwood}}
{{distinguish|text = the Jamaican deejay [[Josey Wales (singer)|Josey Wales]]}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The Outlaw Josey Wales
| image          = The outlaw josey wales.jpg
| alt            = A man, two guns, held high by his face.
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Clint Eastwood]]
| producer       = [[Robert Daley (producer)|Robert Daley]]
| based_on       = {{Based on|''[[The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales|Gone to Texas]]''|[[Forrest Carter]]}}
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist|
* [[Philip Kaufman|Phil Kaufman]]
* Sonia Chernus
  }}
| starring       = {{Plainlist| 
* Clint Eastwood
* [[Chief Dan George]]
* [[Sondra Locke]]
* [[Bill McKinney]]
* [[John Vernon]]
  }}
| music          = [[Jerry Fielding]]
| cinematography = [[Bruce Surtees]]
| editing        = [[Ferris Webster]]
| studio         = [[The Malpaso Company]]
| distributor    = [[Warner Bros.]]
| released       = {{film date|1976|6|30}}
| runtime        = 135 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $3.7 million<ref>Munn, p. 156</ref>
| gross          = $31.8 million<ref name="mojo">{{cite web | url = https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=outlawjoseywales.htm | website = [[Box Office Mojo]] | title = The Outlaw Josey Wales | access-date = January 23, 2012 | archive-date = February 1, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120201114556/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=outlawjoseywales.htm | url-status = live }}</ref>
}}
'''''The Outlaw Josey Wales''''' is a 1976 American [[revisionist Western]] film set during and after the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Foote |first=John H. |author-link=John H. Foote |title=Clint Eastwood: Evolution of a Filmmaker |date=2008 |page=32 |location=Westport, CT |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Praeger]] |isbn=978-031335247-8}}</ref> It was directed by and starred [[Clint Eastwood]] (as [[Josey Wales (character)|Josey Wales]]), with [[Chief Dan George]], [[Sondra Locke]], [[Bill McKinney]], and [[John Vernon]].<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Variety Staff |title=The Outlaw Josey Wales |url=https://variety.com/1975/film/reviews/the-outlaw-josey-wales-1200423601/ |date=December 31, 1975 |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |department=Film – Reviews |access-date=May 19, 2021 |archive-date=May 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519222040/https://variety.com/1975/film/reviews/the-outlaw-josey-wales-1200423601/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=IMDB>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075029/ |title=IMDB - The Outlaw Josie Wales |website=[[IMDb]] |access-date=May 19, 2021 |archive-date=May 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513214752/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075029/ |url-status=live }}</ref> During the Civil War, Josey Wales is a Missouri farmer turned soldier, who seeks to avenge the death of his family and gains a reputation as a feared gunfighter. At the end of the war, his group surrenders, but is massacred, and Wales becomes an outlaw, pursued by [[bounty hunter]]s and soldiers.

The film was adapted by Sonia Chernus and [[Philip Kaufman]] from author [[Asa Earl Carter|Asa Earl "Forrest" Carter]]'s 1972 novel ''[[The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales]]'' (republished, as shown in the movie's opening credits, as ''Gone to Texas'').<ref name="little_fraud">{{cite web|last=Barra|first=Allen|url=http://www.salon.com/2001/12/20/carter_6/|title=The Education of Little Fraud|website=[[Salon.com]]|date=December 20, 2001|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716164927/http://www.salon.com/2001/12/20/carter_6/|archive-date=July 16, 2014}}</ref> The film was a commercial success, earning $31.8 million against a $3.7 million budget. In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Josey Wales was portrayed by [[Michael Parks]] in the film's 1986 sequel, ''[[The Return of Josey Wales]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Return of Josey Wales|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/41066/The-Return-of-Josey-Wales/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209173905/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/41066/The-Return-of-Josey-Wales/overview|url-status=dead|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=Eleanor Mannikka|date=2015|archive-date=2015-12-09}}</ref> His wife Laura Lee was played by Mary Ann Averett in the sequel.

==Plot==

During the American Civil War, the wife and son of [[Missouri in the American Civil War|Missouri]] farmer [[Josey Wales (character)|Josey Wales]] are murdered by [[Jayhawker|pro-Union paramilitaries]] led by the brutal Captain Terrill. After burying their corpses, Wales seeks vengeance for his family by joining a group of Confederate [[bushwhacker]]s under the command of [[William T. Anderson]], attacking the [[Union Army]] and pro-Union sympathizers. After the war ends in 1865, Wales's superior, Captain Fletcher, persuades his men to surrender, having been promised amnesty by Union Senator [[Jim Lane (politician)|Jim Lane]]. However, Terrill's men massacre the bushwhackers after they surrender, with Wales, Fletcher, and fellow bushwhacker Jamie being the only survivors. Wales and Jamie flee, and Lane forces Fletcher to assist Terrill in hunting them down. A mortally wounded Jamie helps Wales kill two [[bounty hunter]]s before dying.

With a $5,000 bounty on his head, Wales flees to [[Texas]]. On the way he meets elderly [[Cherokee]] man Lone Watie, who informs Wales that Confederate General [[Joseph O. Shelby]] is fleeing to [[Mexico]] and suggests they do likewise. Wales subsequently rescues young [[Navajo]] woman Little Moonlight and kills two other bounty hunters. Alongside Little Moonlight, Wales also rescues an elderly [[Kansas|Kansan]] woman Sarah Turner and her granddaughter Laura Lee from marauding [[Comanchero]]s. At the town of Santo Rio, two employees of Turner's dead son Tom, Travis and Chato, also join the group. Wales and his companions find Tom's abandoned [[ranch]] and settle down there. Discovering that Travis and Chato have been kidnapped by [[Comanche]] chief [[Ten Bears]], Wales rides into his camp and negotiates the return of the two men; an impressed Ten Bears becomes [[blood brother]]s with Wales.

A bounty hunter whose partner was killed by Wales at Santo Rio guides Terrill and his men to the town. On the following morning, Terrill's men launch a surprise attack on the ranch, but Wales's companions manage to gun them all down. A wounded and ammunitionless Wales follows the fleeing Terrill back to Santo Rio, where he corners him. A wounded Terrill attempts to draw his sabre, but Wales grabs his hand and forces the blade through Terrill's chest, killing him. Returning to the town [[Western saloon|saloon]], Wales discovers its patrons telling Fletcher, accompanied by two [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]], that an outlaw named Josey Wales was recently killed in [[Monterrey]] by five gunmen. The Rangers accept the story and leave, while Fletcher pretends not to recognize Wales, and tells him he will go to Mexico himself to look for Wales and tell him the war is over. Wales responds by stating, "I reckon so. I guess we all died a little in that damned war." He then rides off into the sunset.

==Cast==
{{cast listing|
* [[Clint Eastwood]] as Josey Wales
* [[Chief Dan George]] as Lone Watie
* [[Sondra Locke]] as Laura Lee
* [[Bill McKinney]] as Captain Terrill
* [[John Vernon]] as Fletcher
* [[Paula Trueman]] as Grandma Sarah Turner
* [[Sam Bottoms]] as Jamie
* [[Geraldine Keams]] as Little Moonlight
* [[Woodrow Parfrey]] as Carpetbagger Percy Long
* [[Joyce Jameson]] as Rose
* [[Sheb Wooley]] as Travis Cobb
* [[Royal Dano]] as Ten Spot
* [[Matt Clark (actor)|Matt Clark]] as Kelly
* John Verros as Chato
* [[Will Sampson]] as [[Ten Bears]]
* [[William O'Connell (actor)|William O'Connell]] as Sim Carstairs
* [[Madeleine Taylor Holmes]] as Grannie Hawkins
* [[John Quade]] as Comanchero Leader Ciril E. Forebaugh
* Frank Schofield as [[James Henry Lane (Union general)|Senator James H. Lane]]
* [[Buck Kartalian]] as Shopkeeper
* [[Len Lesser]] as Abe
* [[Doug McGrath]] as Lige
* [[John Russell (actor)|John Russell]] as [[William T. Anderson|"Bloody Bill" Anderson]]
* [[Charles Tyner]] as Zukie Limmer
* [[Bruce M. Fischer]] as Yoke
* [[John Mitchum]] as Al
* [[John Davis Chandler|John Chandler]] as First Bounty Hunter
* Tom Roy Lowe as Second Bounty Hunter
* [[Clay Tanner]] as First Texas Ranger
* [[Bob Hoy]] as Second Texas Ranger
* [[Richard Farnsworth]] as Grady P. Merideth, comanchero
}}

==Production==

[[File:Locke-Eastwood-1975.jpg|thumb|upright|Locke and Eastwood in 1975 during the movie's filming]]

''The Outlaw Josey Wales'' was inspired by a 1972 novel by supposedly Cherokee writer Forrest Carter, alias of former KKK leader and segregationist speech writer of [[George Wallace]], [[Asa Earl Carter]], an identity that was exposed in part due to the success of the film,<ref>{{cite news |title=Is Forrest Carter Really Asa Carter? Only Josey Wales May Know for Sure |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/26/archives/is-forrest-carter-really-asa-carter-only-josey-wales-may-know-for.html |quote=You could have fooled some of the people around here. They thought for sure that Forrest Carter, whose novel has become Clint Eastwood's current shoot-em-up movie "''The Outlaw Josey Wales''," is the man they knew as Asa Carter, a speech writer for Gov. George C. Wallace. |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 26, 1976 |access-date=October 2, 2014 |archive-date=December 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203080550/https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/26/archives/is-forrest-carter-really-asa-carter-only-josey-wales-may-know-for.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and was originally titled ''[[The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales]]'' and later retitled ''Gone to Texas''. The script was worked on by Sonia Chernus and producer [[Robert Daley (producer)|Robert Daley]] at Malpaso, and Eastwood himself paid some of the money to obtain the screen rights.<ref name="McGilligan257">McGilligan (1999), p. 257</ref> [[Michael Cimino]] and [[Philip Kaufman]] later oversaw the writing of the script, aiding Chernus. Kaufman wanted the film to stay as close to the novel as possible in style and retained many of the mannerisms in Wales's character that Eastwood displayed on screen, such as his distinctive diction with words like "reckon", "hoss" (instead of "horse"), and "ye" (instead of "you"), and spitting tobacco juice on animals and victims.<ref name="McGilligan257"/> The characters of Wales, the Cherokee chief, [[Navajo people|Navajo]] woman, and the old settler woman and her daughter all appeared in the novel.<ref name="McGilligan258">McGilligan (1999), p.258</ref> On the other hand, Kaufman was less happy with the novel's political stance; he felt that it had been "written by a crude fascist" and that "the man's hatred of government was insane".<ref name="little_fraud"/> He also felt that element of the script needed to be severely toned down, but he later said, "Clint didn't, and it was his film".<ref name="little_fraud"/> Kaufman was later fired by Eastwood, who took over the film's direction himself.

[[File:Pahreah (Paria) Town Site, Utah1.jpg|thumb|left|[[Paria, Utah|Paria]] site in Utah, filming location of the film]]

Cinematographer [[Bruce Surtees]], [[James Fargo]], and Fritz Manes scouted for locations and eventually found sites in [[Page, Arizona]], [[Tucson, Arizona]], [[Kanab, Utah]], and [[Oroville, California]] even before they saw the final script.<ref name="McGilligan258"/> The movie was shot in [[DeLuxe Color]] and [[Panavision]].<ref name=IMDB/> Kaufman cast Chief Dan George, who had been nominated for an Academy Award for Supporting Actor in ''[[Little Big Man (film)|Little Big Man]]'', as the old Cherokee Lone Watie. Sondra Locke, also a previous Academy Award nominee, was cast by Eastwood against Kaufman's wishes<ref name="McGilligan261">McGilligan (1999), p.261</ref> as Laura Lee, the granddaughter of the old settler woman; at 32, she was a decade older than the character.{{refn|name=age|group=N|Locke (1944–2018) debuted onscreen in her mid-20s but always lied about how old she was, even going so far as to refer to herself as a "child star".<ref>Mills, Bart (June 25, 1978). "Sondra Locke: The cynic proves to be equal to Eastwood". ''Chicago Tribune''. Section 6, p. 24.</ref> The late actress is considered a paradigm of how easy it was in pre-internet times for celebrities to deceive the public, as there was no way to [[fact-check]].<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/021590 "Starring Sondra Locke"]. TCM.</ref><ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/sondra-locke-clint-eastwood-b2550936.html "Sondra Locke, Clint Eastwood and the tragic disappearance of a Hollywood trailblazer"]. ''The Independent''.</ref>}} This marked the beginning of a professional and domestic relationship between Eastwood and Locke that spanned six films and lasted into the late 1980s. [[Ferris Webster]] was hired as the film's editor and [[Jerry Fielding]] as composer.

In June 1975, Eastwood was announced as starring in the film, with a scheduled Bicentennial Celebration release.<ref>{{cite news|title='Gone to Texas' Packs Eastwood-Style Action|first=Gynter|last=Quill|newspaper=Waco Tribune-Herald|date=June 29, 1975|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/43751803|page=4}}</ref> Principal photography began on October 6, 1975.<ref>{{cite news|date=July 7, 1975|title=Clint Eastwood gets top role in outlaw film|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/27294521|newspaper=Greeley Daily Tribune|page=24}}</ref> A rift between Eastwood and Kaufman developed during the filming. Kaufman insisted on filming with a meticulous attention to detail, which caused disagreements with Eastwood, not to mention the attraction the two shared towards Locke and apparent jealousy on Kaufman's part in regard to their emerging relationship.<ref name="McGilligan262">McGilligan (1999), p. 262</ref> One evening, Kaufman insisted on finding a beer can as a prop to be used in a scene, but while he was absent, Eastwood ordered Surtees to quickly shoot the scene, as light was fading, and then drove away, leaving before Kaufman had returned.<ref name="McGilligan263">McGilligan (1999), p. 263</ref> On October 24, 1975, Kaufman was fired at Eastwood's command by producer Bob Daley.<ref name="McGilligan264">McGilligan (1999), p. 264</ref> The sacking caused an outrage among the [[Directors Guild of America]] and other important Hollywood executives, since the director had already worked hard on the film, including completing all of the pre-production.<ref name="McGilligan264"/> Pressure mounted on Warner Bros. and Eastwood to back down, and their refusal to do so resulted in a fine, reported to be around $60,000, for the violation.<ref name="McGilligan264"/> This resulted in the Director's Guild passing a new rule, known as "the Eastwood Rule", which prohibits an actor or producer from firing the director and then personally taking on the director's role.<ref name="McGilligan264"/> From then on, the film was directed by Eastwood himself with Daley as the second-in-command. With Kaufman's planning already in place, the team was able to finish making the film efficiently. Filming ended on December 6, 1975.<ref>Sutherland, Bob (December 6, 1975). "Filming of Eastwood Movie Scheduled to End Today". ''Oroville Mercury Register''. p. 3.</ref>

==Reception==
===Critical response===
{{Quote box
| quote  ="Eastwood is such a taciturn and action-oriented performer that it's easy to overlook the fact that he directs many of his movies—and many of the best, most intelligent ones. Here, with the moody, gloomily beautiful, photography of Bruce Surtees, he creates a magnificent Western feeling."|width=33%|align=right|source=Roger Ebert<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-outlaw-josey-wales-1976 | author=Ebert, Roger | title=The Outlaw Josey Wales | access-date=October 31, 2022 | archive-date=October 31, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031081418/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-outlaw-josey-wales-1976 | url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Upon release in August 1976, ''The Outlaw Josey Wales'' was widely acclaimed by critics, many of whom saw Eastwood's role as an iconic one, relating it with much of America's ancestral past and the destiny of the nation after the American Civil War.<ref name="McGilligan266">McGilligan (1999), p.266</ref> The film was pre-screened at the [[Sun Valley, Idaho|Sun Valley]] Center for the Arts and Humanities in [[Idaho]] in a six-day conference entitled ''Western Movies: Myths and Images''. Academics such as Bruce Jackson, critics such as [[Jay Cocks]] and [[Arthur Knight (film critic)|Arthur Knight]] and directors such as [[King Vidor]], Henry King, [[William Wyler]], and [[Howard Hawks]] were invited to the screening.<ref name="McGilligan266"/> ''Time'' magazine named the film one of the year's top 10.<ref name="McGilligan267">McGilligan (1999), p.267</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] compared the nature and vulnerability of Eastwood's portrayal of Josey Wales with his "[[Man with No Name]]" character in the [[Dollars Trilogy]] and praised the atmosphere of the film. On ''[[The Merv Griffin Show]]'', [[Orson Welles]] lauded the film, calling Eastwood "one of America's finest directors".

Review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]] retrospectively gave the film a 91% approval rating based on 44 reviews, with an [[weighted arithmetic mean|average score]] of 8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Recreating the essence of his iconic Man With No Name in a post-Civil War Western, director Clint Eastwood delivered the first of his great revisionist works of the genre."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/outlaw_josey_wales/|title=The Outlaw Josey Wales|website=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=November 29, 2022|archive-date=April 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430131327/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/outlaw_josey_wales|url-status=live}}</ref> The film received a [[Metacritic]] rating of 69 based on 9 reviews.

===Awards===
''The Outlaw Josey Wales'' was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Academy Award for Original Music Score]]. In 1996, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States [[Library of Congress]] and selected for preservation in the [[National Film Registry]]. It was also one of the few Western films to receive critical and commercial success in the 1970s at a time when the Western was thought to be dying as a major genre in Hollywood.

Clint Eastwood says on the 1999 DVD release that the movie is "certainly one of the high points of my career... in the Western genre of filmmaking".

==Meaning==
In 2011, Eastwood called ''The Outlaw Josey Wales'' an [[anti-war film]].<ref name="WSJ">{{cite web | last = Judge | first = Michael | author-link = Michael Judge | date = 2011-01-29 | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703293204576106080298279672 | title = A Hollywood Icon Lays Down the Law | work = [[Wall Street Journal]] | access-date = August 8, 2017 | archive-date = January 25, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150125004658/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703293204576106080298279672 | url-status = live }}</ref>

<blockquote>
As for Josey Wales, I saw the parallels to the modern day at that time. Everybody gets tired of it, but it never ends. A war is a horrible thing, but it's also a unifier of countries... Man becomes his most creative during war. Look at the amount of weaponry that was made in four short years of [[World War II]]—the amount of ships and guns and tanks and inventions and planes and [[Lockheed P-38 Lightning|P-38]]s and [[North American P-51 Mustang|P-51]]s, and just the urgency and the camaraderie, and the unifying. But that's kind of a sad statement on mankind, if that's what it takes.<ref name="WSJ" /></blockquote>

==References==
'''Informational notes'''
{{reflist|group=N}}

'''Citations'''
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last= McGilligan |first= Patrick |title= Clint: The Life and Legend |publisher= [[HarperCollins]] |year= 1999|isbn=0-00-638354-8|location=London}}
* {{cite book|last=Munn|first=Michael|title=Clint Eastwood: Hollywood's Loner|publisher=Robson Books|location=London|year=1992|isbn=0-86051-790-X}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title|0075029|The Outlaw Josey Wales}}
* {{TCMDb title|16945|The Outlaw Josey Wales}}
* {{AFI film|id=67963|title=The Outlaw Josey Wales}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|outlaw_josey_wales|The Outlaw Josey Wales}}
* {{Metacritic film}}
* {{mojo title|outlawjoseywales|The Outlaw Josey Wales}}

{{Clint Eastwood}}
{{Philip Kaufman}}
{{Asa Carter}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Outlaw Josey Wales}}
[[Category:1976 films]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:American Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:Cherokee in popular culture]]
[[Category:1976 Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:American Civil War films]]
[[Category:American films about revenge]]
[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
[[Category:Films based on Western (genre) novels]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Forrest Carter]]
[[Category:Films directed by Clint Eastwood]]
[[Category:Films scored by Jerry Fielding]]
[[Category:Films set in ghost towns]]
[[Category:Films set in Missouri]]
[[Category:Films set in Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Films set in Texas]]
[[Category:Films set in the American frontier]]
[[Category:Films shot in Wyoming]]
[[Category:Films shot in Arizona]]
[[Category:Films shot in Utah]]
[[Category:Malpaso Productions films]]
[[Category:Films about Native Americans]]
[[Category:Films about bounty hunters]]
[[Category:Films about outlaws]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. films]]
[[Category:Revisionist Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:American vigilante films]]
[[Category:Anti-war films]]
[[Category:Guerrilla warfare in film]]
[[Category:1970s American films]]
[[Category:Texas Ranger Division in fiction]]
[[Category:Comanche in popular culture]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Philip Kaufman]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Michael Cimino]]
[[Category:English-language Western (genre) films]]