Pale Rider is one of my favorite Westerns of all time. The story is of a stranger arriving in a small mining town on a pale horse, thus Pale Rider. This man is tall, fearless, strong, brave, and a man of God. The story starts off when a much bigger and stronger mining company tries to force a group of people that are mining for gold off their territory. They try to do this by stampeding their camp with their horses and using guns. After the dust has settled the leader of the camp {Hull} goes into town for supplies. While there, the gang that just stampeded the camp beats up Hull with hickory sticks. This all ends when the stranger throws a bucket of water on one of the men to stop him from lighting Hull's wagon on fire. Then the beating beings. The stranger goes threw these four men with his own hickory stick like they weren't even there. All of them laid out on the dirt road in pain. Hull then invites the stranger to the camp for food and somewhere to stay. Through the whole film the Preacher, as everyone calls the stranger, stands up for the people of the mining camp. Clint Eastwood gives a strong performance with his double role as a preacher and man with no fear that is not afraid to fight and stand up to people bigger then him. The end of the film is one of the best ends for a Western or any film for that matter that I have ever witnessed. People say that Pale Rider copies off Shane, that might be true in some aspects, but Shane is slow and somewhat boring when comparing it to Pale Rider. I give Pale Rider * * * ½ {out of four stars} and an 8/10.
Review of Pale Rider
