Pale Rider

"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth" (Revelation 6:8). We hear the first sentence of this verse with the appearance of the Pale Rider in the camp of miners; the second sentence is not read but is present throughout the film, and its silence is why many misunderstand and fail to comprehend the significance of the appearance of the angel of death and its meaning for the film. "Around the hero everything becomes a tragedy; around the demigod, a satyr-play; and around God everything becomes--what? perhaps a `world'?--" (Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil §150). Pale Rider is a concealed satyr-play posing as a tragedy that takes place in the world of God. It is not surprising that this ironic or dissimulating aspect of the film often escapes attention, for that is the nature of irony.As a film self-consciously participating in the western genre, Pale Rider is an obvious simulacrum of Shane. In terms of plot, the big difference is that miners do not generate as much sympathy as homesteading farmers. What is missed by those taken in by the film's ironic dissimulation, however, is that Pale Rider is pointing deliberately, although indirectly, to the violence necessarily consequent when a political community imposes by law and, if necessary, by force, the American faith in anthropological equality that is embodied in the squatter's ethos, miner or homesteader. Obviously these people are not equal in their capacities or virtues, just as they were not in Shane. The dramatic religious setting and background images the order of rank--the hierarchy--of souls of human beings in various states and degrees of need or lack. The film also uses irony to point to the connection between the modern exaltation of courage and an over-indulgence in the self-expression manifested in violence and vulgarity.It is striking that there is a complete lack of moderation in the souls represented herein; there is no moderation of the satisfaction of personal desire. The miners tell themselves that they are more righteous than LaHood because they are trying to better their families. Of course this is merely cover for the personal greed of the miners, made evident by their crude and braggadocios behavior after finding some gold. It still breaks down to love of one's own without moderation--a refusal to recognize natural limits. This is the meaning of the unspoken second sentence of Revelation 6:8 which is ever present in the film: all seem to believe it is given to them, as sovereign individuals, to rule as they wish with sword, beasts, machines, etc., and this appears to be a necessary result of the modern desire to turn the juridical notion of equality before the law into a metaphysical doctrine of justice (the Rawlsian spirit writ large). American liberty and equality have turned into freedom from self-restraint and a rejection of order and rank, which has resulted in moral bankruptcy.The American way of life is supposed to be based on the Enlightenment principle of reason; instead a crass individualism has devolved out of the theory of the social contract and its emphasis on self-interest with the practical effect of leveling all hierarchies and unleashing the destructive forces of unmitigated passion, always in the name of equal rights. Thus the film evinces a Nietzschean interpretation of this phenomenon as the spirit of revenge and the dawn of the era of the Last Man. In sum, we are made to see that a political community ruled by the passions of the demos is by nature vulgar. All grand purposes and virtues have been muted in favor of the self-expression of even the lowest capacities. The modern project of mastery that began with the exhortations of Bacon and Descartes to conquer nature for "the relief of man's estate"--which has its political corollary in "rights" politics, derived principally from the right to self-preservation--has resulted in nihilism.How are we to view to the fact that the Pale Rider guns down seven (and here we are being asked to associate the number seven with the seven seals in Revelation) men so that miners can make money and fulfill their hearts' desires? How are we to view the people who admire the man who actualized the spirit of revenge they themselves wanted to enact but lacked the courage to carry out? Given the dramatic context of the film, I suggest we are to view these as examples of the nature of man as a Fallen creature. Whence Eastwood's emphasis on the Biblical themes of the evil of man and the avenging angel of death, not only in this film, but really in most of his films, and especially his Westerns. I say this not to join the contemporary view that the mythology of the Western is ideologically unsalutary, for contemporary America is based on the same principle inasmuch as those who say the mythology of the Western is harmful do so from the perspective that it fell short of the utopian dream of justice as equality. By this ironic and theological interpretation of Pale Rider, however, it is the attempt to inculcate and enforce the metaphysical doctrine of justice as equality that has disastrously damaging effects on the human soul, not the belief in, and desire to maintain, principles of hierarchy of the good. This is what Pale Rider the film can teach us, and what those who view it too narrowly--as a simple Western tale of the Stranger saving the little guys from the big guys--miss."Has it escaped your notice, that--by Homer's account--you are bringing not a Stranger but some god? He says that besides the other deities the god of strangers especially becomes a companion to those men who participate in just reverence and that "he looks down upon both outrages and lawful conduct" [cf. Odyssey 9.269-271 and Odyssey 17.485-487]. So perhaps here too the Stranger that accompanies you might be among the Mightier, come to look over us and refute us, since we are feeble at giving accounts--a sort of refuting god." (Plato, Sophist 216a-b)

One of Clint Eastwood's best.

Clint Eastwoods movies will stand the test of time, long after our present deranged cultural shift ends up in the dust bin of history where it belongs.

I really do enjoy the blank out of all the clint westerns. however, I will say this: a guy who sits around writing, directing, producing, and starring in movies where he repeatedly pays other actors and set designers to help him portray himself as the most absurdly superior version of the alpha in a male hierarchy -- he does all the chicks, kills all the bad guys, is lionized by all the beta males, and does it all with insuperable cool and unshakable style -- is clearly filling some kind of perverse need.Don't get me wrong: he's a great actor and a great director, and the films are pretty much all really entertaining and contain a lot of insight and value. But it's "legend" plotting. It's not meant to be realism. none of it. it's all meant to be basically parables about platonic ideals of the ultimate man crushing everything to the music of every chick's moan and every dude's submissive sigh. It's ego-tripping with talent and substance. and it's what he decided he wanted to do every time he had a choice. And, again, this isn't real life. He's not "being that guy". He's playing that guy in a theatric presentation. He's good at it. But you still have to remind yourself of the weirdly insecure dynamic there.However, in this one (spoilers coming over the rest of this sentence, so stop reading if you are about to watch the movie and don't want to know anything about what happens), the main antagonists are clearly LaHood and son, and the main thing they do that is bad is terrorize the miners and dam the river. And the preacher rides off at the end, but the LaHoods are still there in town, the river is still dammed, and they are still in a position to terrorize the miners. So that's a bit strange/unresolved. But it's a GREAT flick nonetheless.

Picture quality is excellent. Sound is excellent the whole movie is an absolute classic from Clint Eastwood. An all time movie classic.

...looks as it should, dark and brooding, sometimes annoyingly so, but this is how I remember it from the cinema, back in the day...as they say. Occasionally, the image goes soft, especially in some of the darkest scenes. On the whole a good transfer and a damned fine piece of hickory.

Superb product, brilliant picture quality, Excellent sound quality, very speedy delivery. Would highly recommend this product to anyone who likes this film.

clints next western after josey wales, film was not quite as good as josey wales but wasstill a great film to watch and the transfer to blu ray was very good

Top notch western in the mould of High Plains Drifter with a little bit of High Noon and Shane thrown in for good measure.