A pale, shameless and unnecessary remake of George Stevens's classic 1953 Western "Shane," down to its homesteaders-versus-cattlemen story (here gold-panners-versus-sluice-miners) being told through the eyes of an adolescent so taken with a mysterious gunfighter-come-from-nowhere to help the humble underdogs that he/she idolizes the gunfighter more than his/her parents.
"Pale Rider" is a handsome film, shot in the Rocky Mountain high country, with a more than competent cast, but it's also thin and bloodless, and utterly lacking in any real feeling, tension or reason for being.
"Pale Rider" is a handsome film, shot in the Rocky Mountain high country, with a more than competent cast, but it's also thin and bloodless, and utterly lacking in any real feeling, tension or reason for being.