History Film / TheOutlawJoseyWales

* RatedMForManly
[[CaptainObvious It's a Western starring and directed by Clint Eastwood.]] Most specifically, the whole scene with Ten Bears is one of the manliest exchanges of words in film history.

Set during the aftermath of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, the film follows its title character, a man whose whole family was killed, leading him to join a group of Confederate guerrillas to track down the killers. After eventually being sold out, however, he is on the run from bounty hunters and Yankee soldiers (including the group who killed his family). Along the way, while racking up a prodigious body count, Wales meets a group of people whom he [[IneffectualLoner reluctantly]] allows to join him. HilarityEnsues. And by "hilarity," we mean "murder." This is a Creator/ClintEastwood movie, after all.

[[TheFilmOfTheBook Based on the novel]] ''Gone to Texas: The Rebel Outlaw Josey Wales'', by Forrest Carter. The original printing of the book was less than one hundred copies, but one of those copies was sent to Eastwood...

* {{Adorkable}}: Laura Lee's wide-eyed look and inability to tell a joke help endear her to both Josey and the audience.

* PreAssKickingOneLiner: "You gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?"

-->"I had to come back."
-->"I know."
** The whole scene with Ten Bears manages to be one of the manliest exchanges of words in film history.

* WarIsHell

* BadassBeard[=/=]BeardOfSorrow: Josey grows one during the war.
* BadassGrandpa[=/=]CoolOldGuy: Lone Watie.

* {{Antihero}}: Wales himself is a Type 3.

* BadassBeard / BeardOfSorrow: Josey grows one during the war.
* BadassGrandpa / CoolOldGuy: Lone Watie.

* DueToTheDead: Defied by Josey when two bounty hunters nearly capture him. Josey says "to Hell with them," spits tobacco juice on one and leaves their corpses to be eaten by buzzards.

* GunsAkimbo: Josey

* KarmaHoudini: The outpost owner who scams Natives and beats Little Moonlight.

* PresentCompanyExcluded: The old woman and Lone Watie do this back and forth at one another when preparing to be attacked by either indians or soldiers, edging into VitriolicBestBuds.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil

* {{Reconstruction}}: The film is essentially an old-style "sagebrush" western incorporating the violence and moral ambiguity of "spaghetti westerns."

* PreAssKickingOneLiner: [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome "You gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?"]]

->''"Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining."''
-->-- '''Fletcher'''

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: why Josey signs up with Bloody Bill's troops at the start of the war when the Redlegs killed his wife and son. Subverted by Terill and a reluctant Fletcher who pursue the fleeing Josey Wales fearing the outlaw would continue his rampage after the war's end (when Wales seems more interested in just fleeing to Texas, and is more annoyed by the bounty hunters and soldiers he has to keep killing to survive).

* KarmaHoudini: The outpost owner who scams Natives and beats Little Moonlight

** Which was the pen-name for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asa_Carter Asa Carter]], infamous segregationist who wrote stuff like the "Segregation Now" speech during TheSixties...

* AdaptationalVillainy: The Redlegs are a ''hell'' of a lot more blood-thirsty on the film than on the original novel.

* {{Antihero}}: Wales himself is a Type 3

* BadassGrandpa / CoolOldGuy: Lone Watie

* BadassGrandpa: Lone Watie

* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: The film glosses over the fact that the Confederates (including Josey) were fighting for the right to own slaves.

** Watch for [[Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest Chief Bromden]] near the end as Chief Ten Bears.

** Watch for [[OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest Chief Bromden]] near the end as Chief Ten Bears.

* TheWestern: While it's mostly an anti-war movie, it's based in the Western theater of the Civil War and contains many of the tropes - Indians, gunmen, settlers, cavalry - found in standard Wild West films. It might rightly be called a "Pre-Western".
** And still something of a {{Deconstruction}}/{{Reconstruction}} of Westerns at that.

* PetTheDog: Josey is by no means a dog, but this trope appears in the final scene, when Josey's friends tell the two Texas Rangers he's dead. Wales shows up, his friends are clearly uncertain of what to do before one of them greets him as "Mr. Wilson" and swiftly explains what's going on in a manner that seems perfectly natural. It's implied by the demeanor of the two Rangers that they're not buying it, but they were sent to find Wales and they've got a signed statement by a witness swearing Wales is dead, so they see no reason to pursue the matter further. Upon leaving, one of them tells "Mr. Wilson" that it was "nice seein' you." and the other pointedly says there's won't be coming back. They leave, Fletcher stays, and both Wales and Fletcher make peace with one another.

* BadAss: Well, the lead is played by Creator/ClintEastwood.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Outlaw_Josey_Wales_171.jpg]]

-->-- '''Fletcher''', ''The Outlaw Josey Wales''

Set during the aftermath of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, '''''The Outlaw Josey Wales''''' follows a man whose whole family was killed, leading him to join a group of Confederate guerrillas to track down the killers. After eventually being sold out, however, he is on the run from bounty hunters and Yankee soldiers (including the group who killed his family). Along the way, while racking up a prodigious body count, Wales meets a group of people whom he [[IneffectualLoner reluctantly]] allows to join him. HilarityEnsues. And by "hilarity," we mean "murder." This is a Creator/ClintEastwood movie, after all.