The Best Cowboy Zen Ever...

Ten Bears and The Outlaw Josey Wales


Sitting down with a cool one and dinner last night, I found "The Outlaw Josey Wales" was on again.
Hands down, this is in my opinion the best Western ever. The gunfights are fantastic, but it's the dialogue and history that shine.

In the scene above, Wales goes to meet with Ten Bears, who has captured two of Wales' fellow homesteaders. Much like the ancient Samurai, Wales enters Ten Bears' camp as if he was already dead, and had nothing to loose.

Though I've seen the movie before, this time I had something to gauge the historical issues they portray in the show. I've been reading Howard Zinn's epic work "A People's History of the United States". I'll have much more to say in a future review, but I just finished reading the chapter on all the treaties with the Indian Tribes that were broken, ignored, and withdrawn. Zinn reports the words of authorities and Newspaper editorials that scream racism and "manifest destiny" of the white man.
Below, "Lone Wati" relates to Wales the story of his people, and the tragedy of "The Trail of Tears":


Here's a little history about the movie from Wikipedia:

"Historical basis Josey Wales' circumstances somewhat mirror those of a notorious bushwhacker named Bill Wilson, a folk hero in Phelps and Maries counties in Missouri. During the war, loyalties in Missouri were divided. Bill Wilson maintained a neutral stance until a confrontation with Union soldiers on his farm on Corn Creek near Edgar Springs, Missouri. Wilson became a wanted outlaw before leaving for Texas.[13]
The character Fletcher is loosely based on Capt. Dave Poole, one of Quantrill's Raiders. After the war, Poole assisted Federal authorities in convincing guerrillas to give up the fight and surrender.
This film is the first to confront the history of the Missourians who fell prey to Kansas-based Unionists who called themselves Redlegs (after their red-striped stockings and gaiters) and Jayhawkers.[14] It is a revisionist film in that it abandons the standard presentations of the Unionists that characterized Hollywood productions up to that time, along with the dark depictions of the Missouri riders.[15] The Outlaw Josey Wales reverses these stereotypes."

From "The Wall Street Journal":

"Mr. Eastwood has called his 1976 Civil-War era Western "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (which tells the story of a Missouri farmer avenging the murder of his family by Union soldiers) an "antiwar" film."

I'll have more on Howard Zinn's "A Peoples History of the United States" later-

Best Frontier Fights

Best Streetfight
From HBO's excellent series "Deadwood", the bloody fight between Dan and "The Captain". This just may be the best made-for-tv fight scene ever. If you haven't seen Deadwood, and you can handle the whores, throat-slitting and feeding bodies to the pigs, it will change the way you view westerns forever.

Best Gunfight
From the first movie that Clint Eastwood directed himself, "The Outlaw Josey Wales". The gunfight is one of many, this one is short but sweet. Here, Josey Wales faces four Union soldiers who have been hunting him across the West. In my opinion, the absolute best Eastwood western.

Best Ambush
From the movie "The Last Of The Mohicans", this is the Huron ambush of the British troops who have just lost their fort to the French.
-I think this is one of the most terrifying ambush scenes that was ever filmed, with the bloody spectre of hand-to-hand fighting with tomahawks and knives. This movie really brought the great book by James Fennimore Cooper to life, complete with frontieer politics between the British, French, American settlers and the Hurons. Huron warrior Magua plays one of the most vengeful double-crossing bad guys I've ever seen on screen. Great show.