Two words: Pure Fantasy. As the Civil War in the far West (on the Kansas/Missouri boarder) holds special interest to me, I found this film to be so unbearably bad that I couldn't finish. Yes, I know everyone hates the people who review without finishing a movie, and know too many histroical details to suspend a little belief. In that case, let me express the praise that it is the only film to my knowledge featuring Senator Lane, correctly portrayed as a brutal murderer, and Terrill, the outlaw who in real life slayed Quantrill. The boarder wars were the most horrendous part of the CW, but here we have all the attrocities on the Union side, with the Conferderates as innocent patriots. Union militia Red legs, (the worst of whom would never knowingly harm a woman or child) murder Easton's character's family, and bushwhackers taking (Glenville Dodge) surrender offer at the end of the war are Gatling gunned down (not that they had any Gatling guns out there at that time) something which didn't happen, even to the worst of the bushwhackers. Ever wonder why "Bloody Bill" Anderson, portrayed sympathetically in this film, got his nickname? He killed a dozen plus men in the Lawrence Massacre, raped a slave girl, tied dozens of scalps to his horse bridal, tought his horse to trample people, brutally murdered unarmed soldiers at Centrilia...among other things. Yeah, I know you all will hate this comment, because I myself get irritated when people point out massive plot holes in movies I enjoyed. But I wonder why Eastwood didn't just set the movie outside CW history altogether if he wasn't going to make the slightest effort to get it right. For everyone who agrees with portraying the Confederates as all nice and perfect...Well, enjoy this movie, the events featured couldn't be further from the truth. Anyone who is actually interested in an accurate portrayal of the Western Civil War, see Ride With the Devil (1999). It is an excellent, balanced, haunting film, though nobody seems to know about it. And it's even told from the Confederate perspective.
Review of The Outlaw Josey Wales
