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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 16, 1985)
At the movies Clint Eastwood gives 'Pale Rider’ its magic “And I looked and beheld a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was death, and Hell followed with him.“ Fifteen-year-old Megan Wheeler's mining camp home had just been attacked (again) by a small force of grizzled horsemen. She had prayed fora miracle to save her town and her family from the random violence perpetrated by mining baron Coy Laltood. As she reads these lines from the Bible, her prayers are answered, for a mysterious QUALITY RESALE FOR MEN. WOMEN. AND CHILDREN 2650 Willamette M F 10-5:30 343 0095 S 10 5:00 WE PAY CASH FOR CLOTHES GREAT WALL Restaurant Chef's Specials This Week Ginger Pork t fiff J Kung Pao Chicken I GREAT I 1 WALL 1 Is! Restaurant Is Coupon good lor 10%OFF All Entrees for U of O Students thru 7-22-8S 862 Main in Springfield • 726-9133 r 1 i coupon! 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Fri. 3:3CMidnight, Weekends 1211 Alder on Campus 6869598 KRAZY KATS copies ♦New location!! • featuring • • beautiful Kodak copies • self-service copies • thesis • dissertation • resume • binding • enlargement • reduction how at *844 E. 13th Avt. across from UO Bookstore 344-KATS legend. producer-director-star Eastwood takes this story of in dependent minors scrambling to survive the machinations of corporate villians and their technological toys to Us baroque limits. This is a western firmly entrenched in the larger-than life traditions of the classics. This time his name is Preacher, a monicker derived from the clerical collar he ex poses to independent miner Hull Barret (Michael Morlartv) after saving him from a beating from LaHood's henchmen. Deciding to stay in the com munity. the steely eyed Preacher becomes a uniting ele ment to the frustrated miners and a problem to the scheming l.aHood (Richard Dysart). He'd almost driven the inde|M!ndents out and now their hopes have been rekindled. For a man without a gunbelt, the Preacher is a tough character. Lallood sends out the monsterous heavy Club (Richard Kiel) to throw a scare into Preacher, who takes out the tough without a drop of sweat. Laiiood tries to bribe him — he invites him into his darkened lair to offer him a pulpit in the town (called, naturally. Laiiood) - but Preacher turns him down. Stymied, Latlood finally hires the renegade "Marshal'' Stockbum (John Russell), a gun man with a complement of six deputies Clint is at his besl when play ing with his own myth, and this instance is no exception. His persona is so well known that no exposition seems necessary. As the only real icon left in Hollywood. Clint proves that half the meaning of the classic westerns was embodied in the recognizable hero, be it |ohn Wayne. Jimmy Stewart, Henry r Fonda or Randolph Scott hike so many variations on a theme, "Palo Rider" begins with the familiar and then plays with it. In this case, the familiar is not only Clint himself, but the hero who comes from nowhere to right the wrongs of a town, the robber boron versus the small community, the very idea of community and family, and the classic test of skill and en durance., Clint’s firm direction keeps the film moving steadily towards its inevitable destina tion and his visual flourishes add the color. One of his best touches is ha I loud's office, a darkened room that looks out into the light but remains shrouded in blackness, tat Hood and his men are but silhouettes in this man-made underworld, a fitting home for his evil plot ting. The Preacher’s Journey to laiHood Is. like a descent into hell, from which he returns unscathed as the angel of death certainly would. The film isn’t without its flaws, but they are minor. Megan (Sydney Penny) is given lines she is not talented enough to pull off. and the verbosity of a few scenes runs contrary to the largely compositional construc tion of the picture. The quiet performances of the cast, though, particularly Moriarty and Doug McGrath, give the film the understated elegance; which Fast wood’s grand visual approach makes mythic and beautiful. And then there is Eostwood who is simply himself, the tight-lipped hero who defeats the viliiao and leaves the community he can never be a part of. He’s our only modern hero of mythic stature and perhaps that’s why his films are so magical. By Sean Axmaker ijiurlmiy I’hnln Clint Eastwood stars as the hero who comas from nowhere to right the wrongs in "Pale Rider. ” Tuomdav lulv IK mRS
