Why So Blu?

Pale Rider (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

The 80’s signified a death nell for the Western genre.  People didn’t want to go and see action scenes of gunslingers and horseback chases.  Nobody cared about the hard times of post-Civil War America and that historical time.  As much a shame as it was, it happened.  Now, in 2025, we have a luxury of revisiting some of those films we may have forgotten about.  Pale Rider is one of a few Clint Eastwood films that flew under my radar but may be a fan favorite for some.  This year, celebrating its 40^th anniversary, Pale Rider is the 3^rdrelease in Warner Bros.’ trio of Eastwood classics arriving on 4K UHD Blu-ray this spring.  The film comes off the screen like a myth, and it’s a simple story that turns out to be quite excellent because of its simplicity.

Film

Carbon Canyon, California is a mining community struggling to get their gold.  Lorded over by a greedy banker, Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart) who has a town named after himself, Carbon Canyon is run down. The miners and their families are bullied by LaHood’s goons led by his son Josh (Chris Penn). One such family, led by Hull Barrett (Michael Moriarty) who is seeing Sarah Wheeler (Carrie Snodgrass) is especially pressed.  Sarah’s daughter Megan (Sydney Penny) has had her dog killed by the thugs and the family has been attacked.  This leads Megan to pray for a miracle.

The next day, in LaHood for supplies, Hull is approached by even more of LaHood’s thugs and in steps a stranger (Eastwood) to fight them off.  After the fight (which is inventive and exciting for such a thoughtful Western), Hull invites the stranger to stay a while.  When the stranger reveals himself to be a preacher, his nameless status turns into The Preacher.

As The Preacher begins to make himself known in Carbon Canyon, he also begins to help the miners.  The group of miners begin to feel hopeful and start finding nuggets of gold.  Feeling good luck, the miners begin to find more confidence which makes LaHood start to sabotage the miners.  Seeing the sabotages underway, The Preacher sees the need for protection in the small town.  At the same time, LaHood attempts to bribe The Preacher.

Megan and her mother begin to fall for the kindness and charm of The Preacher as he helps the miners take charge of Carbon Canyon.  Megan professes her love for The Preacher in a poignant and sensitive scene. Credit is due to Clint Eastwood who handles the scene with care and in ways that make the scene sweet and not creepy.  Romance blooms for Sarah and The Preacher, even if it’s forbidden.

At the precipice of the film, The Preacher must retreat to his past behaviors to ultimately save the mining town.  He goes to his safe deposit box, grabs his pistols and readies himself for one hell of a gun fight.  Banded together with the miners after a shocking murder, The Preacher goes to work to save Carbon Canyon and rid mining country of LaHood and his goons once and for all for those he’s grown to care about.

Pale Rider tells an incredibly simple story. Clint Eastwood hadn’t made a Western in a while and this film is one that is short on story and yet it’s such a wonderfully made and engrossing film. I thoroughly enjoyed this sensitive version of Eastwood’s signature “Man with No Name”, this time, The Preacher. I liked seeing his kindness and sensitivity that turned into vengeance and justice by the end.

Simplicity is the key of Pale Rider.  Made on a tiny budget, the film utilizes the collaborations between Eastwood and cinematographer Bruce Surtees and composer Lennie Niehaus. Those two central collaborations make the film’s value raise a ton with gorgeous looking authenticity on screen and beautiful music throughout. Acting from not just Eastwood but from Sydney Penny (especially), Chris Penn and Michael Moriarty bring some soul to the characters also.

Brisk pacing and some brilliantly staged actions sequences round out a very well made Western in a time where Westerns were supposedly dead.  1985 had two westerns released theatrically.  Silverado was the film that got the Oscar nods and more publicity. Pale Rider was the film that got screened at Cannes and got the critical praise.  Either way you slice it; Pale Rider deserves to sit up with the many fantastic Eastwood westerns. It’s a quieter film, closer in relation to Unforgiven, and one that has some surprising sweetness and humanity that makes it more soulful too.  Pale Rider is a unique and underseen film that now has an exceptional new edition to savor!

Video

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 2160p

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

HDR: HDR10

Layers: BD-100

Clarity/Detail: Pale Rider receives a similar treatment to the other Clint Eastwood 4K discs in this trio of releases.  Looking filmic and flawless in the new format, the starkness of Carbon Canyon looks dreary and gray, with the snowcapped California mountains and a picturesque Western Sacramento looking downright stunning.  Facial and clothing textures pop as do interiors of the shanties the miners live in.  Rock formations and gold nuggets also have much detail to take in.

Depth: Depth is handled with a deft hand.  No softness is in evidence despite the 40-year age of the film.  Foregrounds and backgrounds fade in and out as they should, and movements of the camera are fluid and clean.

Black Levels: Blacks are without crush and always look pitch perfect.

Color Reproduction: Colors are muted mostly, with colors being drab as they might have been at the time the movie takes place in. The greens of the forest are lovely, with some bright whites looking brilliant. Browns, greys and some sky blues are beautifully rendered too.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are perfect throughout.

Noise/Artifacts: Pristine.

Audio

Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono (Original Theatrical Audio), Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0, French Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish

Dynamics: Pale Rider has been given a new Dolby Atmos mix. The newest of the 3 Eastwood films arriving on 4K, Pale Rider somehow sounds the oldest of all the films. Originally released in stereo, the film’s sound effects at times can sound tinny and old-school but this is not a complaint.  Thankfully none of those original effects have been tinkered with.  Gunshots and explosions can ping and pan from left to right on occasion, but nothing here screams modern mix. Rainfall and water movement is apparent almost constantly and moves through all the channels. Dynamite provides some bass effect too. This new mix is exceptional in its respectful reproduction of the older elements, making the sound effects sound bigger and surrounding without sounding like overkill or bringing in new sound effects to make the experience feel forced.

Height: Height speakers hold up the score to the heavens, as well as the sound of water either from the LaHood’s scheming the water away from the miners or rainfall or some gun echoes come from above.  Ambience is nicely rendered to make the outdoors setting feel well rounded for the audience.

Low Frequency Extension: Bass is subtle a lot of the time. Dynamite plays a part in the near climax of the film, and then, bass begins to boom deeply.  This is a nice surprise.

Surround Sound Presentation: Surrounds are used as subtlety as the heights, spreading sound effects in the rear channels without compromising the original mix’s integrity.

Dialogue: Dialogue sounds excellent and prioritized in the center channel.

Extras

Extras for Pale Rider are more than we’ve ever seen for a home release of the film.  There are 2 new features, and a few from previous Clint Eastwood box sets. We do get a repeat extra from The Outlaw Josey Wales that a little bit of a disappointment if you get both titles.  A Steelbook edition is also available, and it is a little more reminiscent to poster artwork.  No Blu-ray comes with this 4K edition, but a digital code does.

Bonus Features:

• The Diary of Sydney Penny: Lessons From the Set (7:26) – NEW – Sydney Penny recalls her time on set and working with Clint Eastwood.

• Painting the Preacher: The Cinematography of Pale Rider (8:36) NEW – The participants from the other new bonuses we’ve been seeing on the new Eastwood discs come together with Sydney Penny to discuss Bruce Surtees excellent work on Pale Rider.

• Reinventing Westerns (17:36) – The repeat extra we also get on The Outlaw Josey Wales disc.
• Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story (61:41)

• The Eastwood Factor (98:27)

Summary

Pale Rider is what a lot of people would call Mid-Tier Eastwood.  It’s one I had never heard of before hearing of its 4K release.  This is unfortunate as it reinvigorated the genre in the 80’s and brought forth a few good films at the end of the decade – Young Guns and Extreme Prejudice and ushered in a Western resurgence in the 90’s too. This is a quieter, calmer Eastwood Western and The Preacher is a kinder, gentler Man with No Name before he must go get his guns.  The new 4K edition is a stunner and even with budgetary and story limitations, the film is wonderful overall and well worth adding to your collection!

Get a copy of Pale Rider HERE

Get the Pale Rider Steelbook HERE