The Outlaw Josey Wales

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The Outlaw Josey Wales

PG

1976

2h 15m

Western

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Popcornmeter

91%

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46 Reviews

91%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Josey Wales watches helplessly as his wife and child are murdered by Union men led by Capt. Terrill. Seeking revenge, Wales joins the Confederate Army. He refuses to surrender when the war ends, but his fellow soldiers go to hand over their weapons -- and are massacred by Terrill. Wales guns down some of Terrill's men and flees to Texas, where he tries to make a new life for himself, but the bounty on his head endangers him and his new surrogate family.

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Critics Consensus

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.

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

08/08/2011

Wales also possesses a touching emotional vulnerability that marks another significant step away from Eastwood's often-overcriticized "macho" image.

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Variety Staff

Variety

07/06/2010

The screenplay is another one of those violence revues, with carnage production numbers slotted every so often.

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Richard Schickel

TIME Magazine

10/26/2008

[Eastwood] gets to the heart of the matter briskly, orchestrates his confrontations intelligently and gets off without lingering unduly over the resultant ugliness.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Nov 16

3.5/4

An important movie in the maturation of Clint Eastwood as both actor and director.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

01/12/2025

4/5

…much like the Western genre, TOJW seems to have fallen out of fashion these days, but still packs a punch as a updates slice of the mythic American West, shot through with 70’s counter-culture nihilism...when times are tough, it’s good to be an outlaw...

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Vickie Ong

Honolulu Advertiser

04/05/2024

[The Outlaw Josey Wales] takes the typical Eastwood scenario -- a man seeking revenge for the death of his family and shooting every man who gets in the way -- and embellishes it with drama and comedy.

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Carol

10/31/2021

A unique Western and an Eastwood epic!

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acsdoug D

@acsdoug Mar 26

I seem to remember liking this movie more when I saw it as a kid, but ut's still worth a watch.

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Drew M.

@Stonehands211 Mar 17

I thought the was surprisingly meandering but not without some great moments. Every time he spits his chew you know you’re in for some fun. Hated him spitting on the dog tho!

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rex w

@RT11010153 Feb 16

"...Josey Wales" is a decent Western, but it is overrated. It isn't much different from several other Westerns in which Eastwood had starred. In these types of films, there are always enough characters for Eastwood to kill to satisfy the audience.

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Keith B B

@Okbullard Feb 8

I like this almost as much as The Good The Bad and The Ugly. It had everything humor, major drama and many intense scenes. Not only was Josey Wales an expert markman with his gun/rifle he was also an expert spitting from his tobacco chaw. Lol

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Dave L

@RT29131586 Jan 31

One of the absolute best western's of all time, and for lover's of this genre an absolute must see.

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Clint Eastwood

Director

Clint Eastwood

Josey Wales

Chief Dan George

Lone Watie

Sondra Locke

Laura Lee

Bill McKinney

Terrill

John Vernon

Fletcher

Joe Kidd

80%

54%

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Synopsis

Josey Wales watches helplessly as his wife and child are murdered by Union men led by Capt. Terrill. Seeking revenge, Wales joins the Confederate Army. He refuses to surrender when the war ends, but his fellow soldiers go to hand over their weapons -- and are massacred by Terrill. Wales guns down some of Terrill's men and flees to Texas, where he tries to make a new life for himself, but the bounty on his head endangers him and his new surrogate family.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Producer: Robert Daley
Screenwriter: Forrest Carter, Philip Kaufman, Sonia Chernus
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Warner Bros., Malpaso Company
Rating: PG
Genre: Western
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 30, 1976, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 1, 2011
Runtime: 2h 15m