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The Outlaw Josey Wales

The Outlaw Josey Wales

Western · 1976

After avenging his family's brutal murder, Wales is pursued by a pack of soldiers. He prefers to travel alone, but ragtag outcasts are drawn to him - and Wales can't bring himself to leave them unprotected.

Movie details

The Outlaw Josey Wales

“...an army of one.”

1976 Western 2h 15m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.8 / 10

83.7K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

91 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

69 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.5 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

After avenging his family's brutal murder, Wales is pursued by a pack of soldiers. He prefers to travel alone, but ragtag outcasts are drawn to him - and Wales can't bring himself to leave them unprotected.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Outlaw Josey Wales?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Clint Eastwood

Written by

Philip Kaufman · Sonia Chernus

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood

Josey Wales

Chief Dan George

Chief Dan George

Lone Watie

Sondra Locke

Sondra Locke

Laura Lee

Bill McKinney

Bill McKinney

Terrill

John Vernon

John Vernon

Fletcher

Paula Trueman

Paula Trueman

Grandma Sarah

Sam Bottoms

Sam Bottoms

Jamie

Court is in session

Put The Outlaw Josey Wales on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.