…much like the Western genre, TOJW seems to have fallen out of fashion these days, but still packs a punch as a updates slice of the mythic American West, shot through with 70’s counter-culture nihilism...when times are tough, it’s good to be an outlaw...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 12, 2025

[The Outlaw Josey Wales] takes the typical Eastwood scenario -- a man seeking revenge for the death of his family and shooting every man who gets in the way -- and embellishes it with drama and comedy.

| Apr 5, 2024

Although it runs a little long, a good script keeps The Outlaw Josey Wales entertaining, especially for Eastwood fans.

| May 9, 2023

Those who brand Eastwood as a reactionary, conservative filmmaker must’ve forgotten this film; there’s a fair amount of bitterness about the white man.

| Original Score: B+ | Nov 29, 2022

Eastwood, his fifth time around as director, shows he can handle actors, especially John Vernon (as the tracker) and Chief Dan George. And he surely knows how to direct himself, playing his galvanizing sexiness against his grizzled sense of humor.

| Jun 22, 2022

It's got all the plot mechanics of a glowering Eastwood revenge Western but -like its hero- the movie keeps getting dragged off somewhere gentler and more compassionate.

| Jan 14, 2022

A touch overlong, with coverage of events clearly borrowed from the techniques of Sergio Leone, but nevertheless a thrilling Western epic.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 30, 2020

Eastwood is hamstrung by the script, which purports to be about revenge... but so quickly veers off into other directions it's virtually impossible to keep the original impetus in mind.

| Oct 30, 2019

The Outlaw Josey Wales could be said to be the work of an artist without any other goal than the mechanical repetition of formulas and already known situations. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Jul 22, 2019

Eastwood's laconic gunslinger leaves a trail of bodies and tobacco spit throughout the film, but the trajectory lies in his questioning of the Man-of-No-Name mold though interaction with the more earthbound humans.

| Jul 27, 2016

Clint Eastwood seized the directorial reins from Phil Kaufman and fashioned this tough, sprawling post-Civil War western epic into something approaching a personal testament.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 27, 2016

It's true enough that The Outlaw Josey Wales makes no attempt to hide its true nature, but that isn't to say it doesn't reward a closer look.

| Oct 14, 2011

Wales also possesses a touching emotional vulnerability that marks another significant step away from Eastwood's often-overcriticized "macho" image.

| Aug 8, 2011

An important movie in the maturation of Clint Eastwood as both actor and director.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 25, 2011

Though the story is pat...there's pleasure to be had in the memorable one-liners, the irreverent humor...and the Western action against the backdrop of frontier scenery. [Blu-ray]

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 30, 2011

The screenplay is another one of those violence revues, with carnage production numbers slotted every so often.

| Jul 6, 2010

It's a powerful, revisionist, revenge Western with many unique touches.

| Jun 5, 2009

[Eastwood] gets to the heart of the matter briskly, orchestrates his confrontations intelligently and gets off without lingering unduly over the resultant ugliness.

| Oct 26, 2008

An underrated early directorial effort by Clint Eastwood.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 26, 2008

An epic journey to redemption, set against a riveting portrait of a battered country.

| Oct 26, 2008