Pale Rider

1985
R
1h 55m

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

67K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer1:10

A mysterious preacher protects a humble prospector village from a greedy mining company trying to encroach on their land.A mysterious preacher protects a humble prospector village from a greedy mining company trying to encroach on their land.A mysterious preacher protects a humble prospector village from a greedy mining company trying to encroach on their land.

Director
- Clint Eastwood
Writers
- Michael Butler
- Dennis Shryack
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

67K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

2,268

631

Director
- Clint Eastwood
Writers
- Michael Butler
- Dennis Shryack
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 2 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 1:10

Pale Rider

Photos127

+ 121

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
During shooting, Clint Eastwood sustained what he describes as the worst injury he has ever had on-set when a horse he was riding fell through thin ice and launched him forward. Clint suffered a dislocated shoulder.

Goofs
When the Preacher throws a bucket of water over McGill to stop him lighting the wagon on fire, the amount of steam coming from McGill's clothes indicates it is obviously warm water, but the only water the Preacher could've gotten from outside was the cold water from the horse trough. The water also entirely misses the flaming match, which remains lit.

Unless the trough was topped up with hot water to prevent freezing.

Quotes
Megan Wheeler: [Reading from the Book of Revelation] And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth beast said: "Come and see." And I looked, and behold a pale horse. And his name that sat on him was Death.
[the Preacher rides up on his pale horse]
Megan Wheeler: And Hell followed with him.

Crazy credits
The credit for catering just says "The Caterers" (including the quotation marks in the credit).

Alternate versions
Another version of the 1984 Warner Bros. logo that appeared in the 1990's VHS prints does not have the word "presents" appearing underneath the Warner Communications byline.

Connections
Featured in At the Movies: Back in the Saddle Again: The Rebirth of the Western (1985)

User reviews211

Review

Featured review

8/10

'Pale Rider'

In the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns of the 60s, Clint Eastwood rose to fame playing the man with no name. In 'Pale Rider', Eastwood creates his own variation of this character. Eastwood plays a mysterious gunfighter who is given the name 'preacher' because of the preacher's collar he wears. When the 'preacher' arrives at a gold mining community, he helps them stand up against a callous landowner.

Eastwood cuts deep into the film's characters in what is a rather standard script. Particularly, in the scenes involving the preacher and a gold-mining family. Eastwood also succeeds in giving his film a dark atmosphere which only adds to its intensity.

'Pale Rider' may not be as good as the director's best westerns, 'Unforgiven' and 'The Outlaw Josey Wales', but it can be regarded as a strong effort in what has been an illustrious career for Eastwood.

Rating: (8/10)