The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood carries his stardom easily and confidently. Throughout this film he wears a scruffy beard, bisected by a long scar from a sabre slash, and spits streams of tobacco juice at anything that moves. But none of this can prevent his genuine charisma shining through.

He's not afraid of competition either, happy in the past to cede the screen to a scenery-chewing Eli Wallach, an orang-utan or, here, a loquacious old Indian offering periodic morsels of off-the-wall wisdom.

An exchange, one of the best jokes, shared between Josey and Lone Watie, played by Chief Dan George, encapsulates the film's theme. Josey bemoans the fact that, ' When I get to likin' someone, they ain't around long.'

'I notice,' replies Lone, 'when you get to dislikin' someone they ain't around long neither.'

Josey Wales is a variation on The Man with No Name Character and we get more than our fair share of superhuman gunplay. In fact, for students of Western gunfights, this film provides some of the best. Look out for 'The Missouri Roll', 'the Missouri Boatride' and the strangely thoughtful scene where a young bounty-hunter is forced to back down by Josey. Rather than breathe a sigh of relief, Josey waits, knowing that pride will bring the man back. He does indeed return, to certain death.

Unlike Clint's heroes for Leone, we are given some motivation for Josey's character. Forced to watch the murder by pro-Union guerrillas of his wife and son, he arms himself with a burning hatred and a deadly skill with firearms, and sets off on a quest for vengeance.

And we see his gradual and reluctant re-integration into society. A motley band of outsiders coalesce around Josey, drawn to his strength and diverting him from his vengeance. The little community, populated by familiar Western types is both a re-creation of his own lost innocence and a restoration of a society fractured by war.

Perhaps the film is too optimistic - Josey's love for the sister of a 'Redleg', conceivably one of those who murdered his family, the pact with the Comanche chief - but interestingly this all happens outside of established society, where government is seen as a malevolent force. And amongst the spirit of reconciliation, Josey's revenge must proceed.

An episodic film, a succession of quirky characters, miniature dramas, and punctuated by well-staged gunfights. Clint's best Western, in my opinion, a fine film in the twilight of the genre's life.