Juror #2 may be Clint Eastwood's last film. If that courtroom drama whetted your appetite for another entry in the Eastwood canon, Tubi has good news for you. Pale Rider, the 1985 Western hit, will stream next month for free on the ad-supported Tubi starting January 1, 2025. Inspired by the Western classic Shane and similar to High Plains Drifter, a Western Eastwood made a decade earlier, Pale Rider is a tale of a mysterious man who may or may not be a ghost, and his defense of an independent community from a greedy mining baron. The title is derived from a Bible verse in Revelation describing one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." Eastwood both directed and starred in the film, which was the first mainstream Western a major American studio had made in five years.
What Is 'Pale Rider' About?
Set in the late 19th century in a remote mining community of Carbon Canyon, California, Pale Rider depicts a town under siege from the depredations of mining baron Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart, The Thing). When a young girl prays for aid, a stranger (Eastwood) known only as Preacher (due to the clerical collar he wears) rides into town. He befriends local residents Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty, Law & Order) and Sarah Wheeler (Carrie Snodgrass, Diary of a Mad Housewife) and fights off LaHood's marauding men.
However, Preacher's past is even more mysterious than many of Eastwood's other loners and drifters. Preacher has six bullet wounds in his back, and Stockburn (John Russell, The Outlaw Josey Wales), the corrupt marshal LaHood hires to intimidate the miners, recognizes him as a man he once killed. In the end, the Preacher is victorious; as the town celebrates, he disappears back from whence he came. Whether that is the West or some more distant realm is up to the viewer to decide.
'Pale Rider' Stood Out in a Barren Time for Westerns
The 1980s were a barren time for Westerns, after the traditional genre was largely supplanted by Italian "spaghetti Westerns" and revisionist "acid Westerns" in the late 1960s and into the 1970s. The genre seemingly ran its course in the decade that followed, exemplified by the infamous financial failure of 1980's Heaven's Gate. Pale Rider, which grossed $41.4 million USD on a $6.9 million budget, was the most successful Western of the decade, and was also acclaimed by critics, with a 93% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Pale Rider will stream for free on Tubi starting January 1, 2025. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
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Pale Rider
Release Date June 28, 1985
Runtime 115 minutes
Main Genre Western
Writers Michael Butler , Dennis Shryack
Budget $6.9 million
Studio(s) Malpaso Productions , Warner Bros.
Distributor(s) Warner Bros.
English (US) ·