Ratings: IMDB ― 7.9/10, Rotten Tomatoes ― 95%, ME ― 90%
Josie Wales: You be Ten Bears?
Ten Bears: I am Ten Bears.
Josie Wales: I'm Josey Wales.
Ten Bears: I have heard. You are the grey rider. You would not make peace with the Bluecoats. You may go in peace.
Josie Wales: I reckon not. I got no place else to go.
Ten Bears: Then you will die.
Josie Wales: I came here to die with you. Or to live with you.
Clint Eastwood as Josey Wales and Wall Simpson as Ten Bears
Trivia (From IMDB):
Philip Kaufman started to direct the film but was replaced by Clint Eastwood, a controversial move which prompted the DGA to institute a ban on any current cast or crew member replacing the director on a film ― a rule which has ever since been titled the "Eastwood rule." According to biographer Marc Eliot part of the acrimony between Eastwood and Kaufman was a result of both men asking female lead Sondra Locke out to dinner on the same night. Several members of the cast and crew were unhappy with Eastwood and felt that Kaufman had done a lot of the work that Eastwood later took credit for. According to them, it was Kaufman who had chosen the locations, the costumes, and who had cast Chief Dan George, after seeing him in Little Big Man (1970).
Because of Chief Dan George's age, he would have trouble remembering his lines so during takes, Clint Eastwood would begin to mouth his lines without realizing it and had to be told to stop because it would ruin the take. In a featurette on the DVD about making the film, Eastwood says he'd have people drill Dan George on his lines, but when it came time to shoot the scene, he'd say "Chief, just forget about the lines - tell me the story about the man who rode over the hill." And Dan George, who was apparently a natural storyteller would tell the story and it would be perfect.
This movie received a lot of high praise among Native American viewers for its non-stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans in the film.
Josey's two main handguns are Colt Walker 1847 Dragoon revolvers. They each hold six .44 caliber ball shots. The weapon features larger cylinder chambers to allow more powder to be placed in the gun, making them more powerful (thus, why it was so popular 20 years later). The Walker Colt's one drawback was the weakness in the cylinder walls. If one broke, the whole weapon would blow up. This is referenced in Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992).
According to legend, this film is based on the life of Thomas Atticus Hawkins, a Missouri farmer from Maries County.
The movie received mixed reviews on its release, but it wasn't until a few years later that aficionado Orson Welles, during a guest appearance on The Merv Griffin Show (1962), declared: "When I saw that picture for the fourth time, I realized that it belongs with the great Westerns. You know, the great Westerns of Ford and Hawks and people like that."
The first of six movies made by real-life couple Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke.
According to famed music producer David Geffen, Eastwood's tough reputation is well-deserved. When Geffen was a young exec at Warner Bros., one of his assignments was to give notes on a pre-screening of this film. All the other Warner execs were unanimous in their praise for the picture. Geffen liked the film, but told star Eastwood that perhaps the film could be shortened by half an hour. Eastwood calmly told Geffen that if he wanted half an hour out of the picture, he could do it himself. Geffen asked Eastwood where he would be, to which Eastwood replied: "I'll be across the street at Paramount cutting a new deal." Geffen was never asked to sit in on any other Eastwood picture after that encounter.
Matt Clark plays the bartender Kelly in Santa Rio, serving Josey Wales. He later played the bartender Chester in Back to the Future Part III (1990) in which he served "Clint Eastwood" a.k.a. Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox).
Sondra Locke was taken aback when Clint Eastwood shaved his beard after principal photography was completed: "I had grown so accustomed to Josey, had actually fallen in love with Josey, and now Clint had stripped Josey away. For perhaps thirty seconds there was a slight awkwardness between us, as if we had not met. But then it passed and the perfect and easy fit between us was powerfully recaptured."
The character of Josey Wales is 32 years old in the novel, while Clint Eastwood was 46 at the time of the film's release.
Horse Wranglers: This movie contains some of the most wild horse scenes ever recorded and kept in a movie. Two scenes in particular: 1) At the beginning of the cabin shoot out, a horse jumps the stream, and doesn't stick his landing. As a result, you watch him skate on his front legs for at least twenty to thirty feet. 2) About three minutes later, one of the women shoots at three guys on the side of the hill, knocking people off their mounts. The people, and the horses slide downhill and don't stop until they hit the bottom.
In the novel, Lone Watie is identified as the nephew of General Stand Watie, a Cherokee from Indian Territory, who was the last Confederate general to surrender at the end of the American Civil War in April 1865.
The character of Laura Lee is 22 years old in the novel, while Sondra Locke was 32 at the time of the film's release.
In the novel, Josey and Laura marry and have a son they name Jamie. This storyline was not included because Clint Eastwood was against the idea of ending up domesticated in one of his films.
The only PG rated Western directed by Clint Eastwood, even though it has lots of violence, an attempted rape scene with brief nudity and a sex scene.
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
There were three waves of release: June 23, 1976 in Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.; June 30, 1976 in Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and Denver; July 14, 1976 in Minneapolis and Los Angeles.
This is the first Clint Eastwood movie that got nominated at the Academy Awards. It was nominated Best Original Score by Jerry Fielding.
Reportedly, country singer George Strait's favorite movie.
The opening scene where Josey's family is attacked by soldiers is similar to the later Eastwood western Pale Rider (1985) where bad guys run into an innocent town and attack.
Actors John Mitchum and Clint Eastwood were in the first three Dirty Harry movies, where Mitchum played Inspector DiGeorgio. He also cameoed, in the earlier Eastwood Western High Plains Drifter (1973), as a warden.
The opening scene where Clint Eastwood practices firing guns is repeated in Unforgiven (1992) where William Munny practices firing guns.
This is the first Clint Eastwood-directed movie distributed by Warner Bros. His prior ones were distributed by Universal Pictures.
Clint Eastwood would reteam with actors Bill McKinney and Sam Bottoms, plus actress Sondra Locke for the western-comedy Bronco Billy (1980).
Clint Eastwood would reteam with actress Sondra Locke and actor Bill McKinney for The Gauntlet (1977) a year later. The three of them would also be in the "Which Way" comedies in 1978 and 1980.
John Vernon and Clint Eastwood previously worked together in Dirty Harry (1971), where Vernon played the Mayor.
Filming began in mid-October 1975 in Lake Powell, Arizona. Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke went on their first date shortly after arriving on location. Seated at a table for two in a cozy restaurant, they both ordered steak and baked potatoes, then returned to her room at the Wahweap Lodge and consummated their relationship. "It was truly magic," wrote Locke in her autobiography. "Together, it seemed that, though we were two bodies, two hearts . . . in perfect accord we were one." They stayed together 14 years.
Sondra Locke was paid just $18,000 for her performance in this movie - less than half of what she'd earned for her previous film job.
A little known sequel titled The Return of Josey Wales (1986) directed by and starring Michael Parks was released ten years later.
The following actors William O' Connell, John Quade and John Mitchum have worked with Clint Eastwood in his previous Western High Plains Drifter (1973).
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