--- title: "Pale Rider: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/pale-rider/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/pale-rider" critics_score: 69 critics_reviews: 8 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Pale Rider (1985): what the critics said Critics' score 69 from 8 reviews: 6 positive, 1 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics like Pale Rider. The praise gathers around Eastwood himself, as director and as the mysterious Preacher: a restrained, laconic style that plays the old story straight, with a dry wit underneath. Nearly every review notes the debt to Shane and does not hold it against the film. The photography of the landscape is singled out repeatedly, as is the ecological argument that updates the familiar quarrel between poor settlers and corrupt interests. The reservations are mostly mild. Several reviews find the mythmaking a little self-conscious, and the religious symbolism is judged heavy-handed by more than one. Eye for Film calls it one of Eastwood’s weaker westerns, with jarring slapstick, though it admires Sydney Penny and the final shootout. The one dissent is The New Yorker, which sees an over-deliberate art western lacking Eastwood’s usual tension and finds the climactic gunfight a failure. Paste, writing recently, reads it as a shift in Eastwood’s thinking about violence. ## Time Out — CPea Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The critic praises the film as a classical take on the familiar western tale of an enigmatic stranger aiding poor townsfolk against corrupt forces before riding away. Eastwood's restrained style, ghostly preacher character, and attention to landscape are singled out positively. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/pale-rider-1) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1984. Eastwood serves up a familiar story with authority, fine craftsmanship and a sense of fun, graced by excellent visuals, confident storytelling and strong performances led by his own. It borrows from Shane but updates the conflict with ecological themes. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1984/film/reviews/pale-rider-1200426511/) ## Los Angeles Times — Sheila Benson Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 18 July 1985. The critic finds Pale Rider a strong return for the Western genre, driven primarily by Eastwood's commanding, laconic performance as the mysterious Preacher. She singles out the film's timely ecological theme and its update of classic Western tropes for praise. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-07-18-ca-7363-story.html) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 28 June 1985. Eastwood's direction and screen presence make Pale Rider a classic Western of style and excitement, with a mysterious, resonant performance that dominates the film. The critic praises the visual approach and mythic elements while noting some self-conscious mythmaking. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pale-rider-1985) ## The New York Times — Vincent Canby Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 28 June 1985. Pale Rider is an entertaining, mystical new Western that plays straight but with dry sophistication and wit. Canby praises Eastwood's minimalism as director and actor, the supporting cast, and photography that evokes a fabled time and place. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/28/movies/film-clint-eastwood-in-pale-rider.html) ## The New Yorker Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 12 August 1985. The film lifts outlines from Shane and specifics from Leone but feels like an overly self-conscious art Western with a spectral hero. The critic finds the attempt at folkloric hero lacking in the usual Eastwood tension and calls the climactic gunfight a bust. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1985/08/12/the-current-cinema-83) ## Paste — Garrett Martin Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 18 May 2025. The critic sees Pale Rider as Eastwood returning to mythic Western archetypes with overt Christian symbolism to examine justified violence that leaves the hero isolated. It singles out the film's nuanced evolution of Eastwood's view of violence compared to The Outlaw Josey Wales. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/physical-specimens/physical-specimens-new-clint-eastwood-4k-reviews-including-dirty-harry-josey-wales-and-pale-rider) ## Eye for Film — Donald Munro Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 8 May 2025. The critic finds Pale Rider to be one of Eastwood's weaker Westerns, lacking a cohesive center and subtlety in its religious themes, with jarring slapstick elements. However, it is enjoyable overall, with strong acting performances, particularly from Sydney Penny, and striking cinematography in the final shootout. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/pale-rider-1985-film-review-by-donald-munro) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/pale-rider.md