The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
On the surface a very pure revenge plot, and it sets itself up as justified revenge. There is little subtlety in how bad the bad guys are and Eastwood’s killing spree is played off as a proper response. This make for quite a bleak and nihilistic view of the post civil war America. This film is closer to the vigilantism from Death Wish or Dirty Harry than Eastwood bringing his Italian western persona to the American western. But it also takes the idea of revenge to a different conclusion, where Josey Wales in the end doesn’t feel satisfied with his revenge, but more defeated from what war and constant fighting does to a man.
Rating: 3.5