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Clint Eastwood has it covered as he has already become an actor whose moods and silences are so well known that the faintest tip will do to express an emotion. No actor exists who is as much in control of himself as Eastwood is, and he proves that in “Pale Rider”, a film that he dominates so completely that only much later do we understand how little we actually saw of him.
Instead of diapering each setting with his own image and text, Eastwood incorporates magic: He shows us eyes, or a corner of his mouth, or his face in shadow, or his body with solid light behind him. He speaks very little. The other characters in the movie attempt to project their feelings onto him. He could, indeed, be the pale rider suggested in the title whose name was death. However, he may also be an avenging spirit who rises from the grave to face the man who killed him. One of the most subtle details in the movie is the fact that it plays with the idea that Eastwood’s character may well be a ghost, or at least something other than an ordinary mortal.
Other aspects of the film can be made out in the details. “Pale Rider” is a classic Western in its overarching details, and it contains a plot that has been told, more or less, a thousand times before. A small mining town in California has a couple of independent miners trying to exploit a promising lode. A group of nefarious gentlemen, led by the local banker and his gun for hire, the marshal, control the town. The banker has a strong desire to purchase the small miners, but in the absence of this option, he will resort to violence in order to take over the land and subsequently, claim it for his corporation.
Riding into this hotbed is a sole character by the name of Eastwood who goes by the name “Preacher”. He can also be seen wearing a clerical collar. The Marshal, for example, appears to be making an effort to recall where he might have previously known this man from. With the small miners, Eastwood places himself in an alliance and establishes close relations with one faction. He is a miner, who stays with a woman and her daughter, both of which are Carrie Snodgress and Sydney Penny. He motivates them to move forward and attempt to protect their region. He offers to assist them as well, which is what leads to a string of brutal confrontations.
One thing that has captured my attention, in particular, is the way Eastwood chose to portray his vision of the west. Instead of turning the light sources of the interiors into dark gloomy antique exhibits, he’s done the opposite. He tries to show them as small attractive vintage pieces. The light sources are Probably all from the outside. It is blinding outside and the interiors remain gloomy. Most of the time, the sun is blinding in its intensity. Most importantly, the character Eastwood plays is always backlit. as a result, we are forced to put more effort into seeing him which makes him more fascinating than any dialogue could have.
Some of the film’s mythmaking gets beyond self-reference and becomes self-reflexive. In one scene, the marshal’s gunmen enter a restaurant and they start shooting into the chair where Eastwood is sitting, but Eastwood is gone. Doesn’t it occur to them that he’s not there anymore? The preacher towards the end has the ability to magically disappear during the last showdown, which gives him an edge against the bad guys and one shot (a hand with a gun rising from the water trough) should not have been included it destroys the sense of the sign.
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