Pale knight : a triumphal return to the western
When he started filming Pale Rider, the lone rider in the autumn of 1984, in the mountains of Idaho, Clint Eastwood returns to the genre that revealed him and from which he had distanced himself for eight years. Since 1976 ed Outlaw Josey Walesthe director and actor has never ventured into the Western side again, except in the contemporary Bronco Billy.
For this new foray, the director signs a film at the crossroads of two references. By adopting the point of view of a teenager instead of a young boy, and pitting miners against gold miners instead of farmers against ranchers, the film is openly inspired by The man of the lost valleys.
Like Alan Ladd’s character Shane in George Stevens’ classic, an enigmatic preacher suddenly appears in California to help an oppressed community. And the entrance on the scene, the troubled past and the lack of identity of the this vigilante returns from the dead – as his scars suggest – evoke the main character of The man of the high plainsfirst western directed and also worn by Clint Eastwood in 1973.
Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, Sydney Penny, Chris Penn, Richard Kiel, Richard Dysart and John Russell complete the cast of Pale knight. After the cold reception of the comedy Arms up!, the film allows its protagonist to reconnect with critics. THE Time magazine he even goes so far as to qualify the star as“American icon” during the exit.
Exploring a myth
It must be said that the Preacher, whom Clint Eastwood defines as a “ghost”, ends up establishing his interpreter as essential and legendary figure of the western after his collaborations with Sergio Leone in the Dollar Trilogy. A myth that the filmmaker dismantled piece by piece in 1992 Ruthlessfocusing in particular on the signs left by violence and questioning the notion of legend.
Landing in the midst of the recitation of the arrival of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Preacher symbolizes death. He inflicts it on his enemies without batting an eyelid and without the slightest difficulty. Unlike the cynical and ultraviolent Stranger of The man of the high plains or the northern corporal in The prey, the character shows kindness towards gold miners. While he has no shortage of ambiguity and mystery, he emerges as a solitary, invisible and almost supernatural hero, working both out of the goodness of his heart but also to carry out a secret revenge.
Clint Eastwood’s “worst injury of his career”.
On screen, the Lone Ranger doesn’t seem to do that no moment in danger In Pale knight. But behind the scenes things aren’t so simple for Clint Eastwood. During an interview given to National Public Radio in 2008 for the promotion of Gran Torino, the director and actor is asked about the “worst injury of his career”, linked to “a fight or a stunt”. He then declares about an incident that occurred on the set of the western:
I think the worst part was a dislocated shoulder, but it wasn’t the fault of a stunt. I was riding on an ice field and the horse’s hooves went through the ice and he rolled and I was thrown. I landed on some rocks and dislocated my shoulder. It was the last shot of the day and it was the right time to do it. The worst part was that I had to sit in a van and drive for about an hour, an hour and a half, to get to the hospital to fix it. So it’s been a long journey.
Which doesn’t stop Clint Eastwood from continuing to work, continuing to film using mainly the left hand.
Source: Cine Serie
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