Starring: Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, Christopher Penn, Richard Dysart, Sydney Penny, Richard Kiel, Doug McGrath, John Russell
Written By: Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack
Directed By: Clint Eastwood
Studio: Warner Bros
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Pale Rider is 40 years old and now available on 4k UHD but it’s the first time seeing the movie from Clint Eastwood.

The movie is about a nameless stranger (Clint) who stumbles upon a California gold-rush village filled with families and young children. The town suffered raids from a local, greedy mining syndicate trying to scare off the town. People begin to call him Preacher and help him go up against the mining thugs.

Pale Rider was the only Clint Eastwood Western movie from the 80s and it was just a decent Western. Nothing really stood out from it and was enjoyable to watch for the most part. It felt like Blazing Saddles in the sense of a group of prospectors raided and killed by another group, including the damn dog. Good thing John Wick didn’t see that!

It’s a somewhat generic revenge Western story but I’m sure Eastwood fans still don’t mind watching him kill a bunch of dudes. It was a bit weird seeing this 15 year old girl trying to throw herself at Clint but hey – the wild west I guess. I thought Clint’s direction was sort of slow at times and this probably could have cut down the fluff and add up the tension. The shots of the beautiful landscape were worth the extra few minutes I guess.

Since I haven’t seen this one before, I thought the 4k looked great for what it was and looked nice on my TV. There’s a few featurettes that are new to watch like The Diary of Sydney Penny: Lessons from the Set, and Painting the Preacher: Bruce Surtees and Pale Rider. The other featurettes are old but pretty lengthy.

Pale Rider isn’t up there with Clint’s best movies but it’s still decent nonetheless. Clint’s character is nameless, uses a gun well and goes for revenge. What more can you really ask for?

Features:
The Diary of Sydney Penny: Lessons from the Set – NEW
Painting the Preacher: Bruce Surtees and Pale Rider – NEW
Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy – Reinventing Westerns
Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story
The Eastwood Factor

Video:
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (67.85 Mbps)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio:
English: Dolby Atmos
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0 (320 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 (320 kbps)

Subtitles:
English SDH, French, Spanish

Bottom Line: A decent Western but sort of generic at the same time
Running Time: 115 mins
Rating: R
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: