History Film / TheOutlawJoseyWales

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Most of the enemies that Josey kills get at least one kick in immediately before he shoots them.

* GatlingGood: The US troops used a Gatling mounted on the back of a wagon [[spoiler:to kill all the bushwhackers that had just surrendered to them and turned their own guns in]]
** Then Josey, who has arrived late to the party, gets his hands on it. UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar MoreDakka ensues.

* HandCannon: Josey's pair of Walker Colts.

-->"I had to come back."
-->"I know.

* RatedMForManly: It's [[CaptainObvious 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.
** Summed up in this short exchange:

* BloodOath: Josey and Ten Bears take a blood oath to seal the "words of iron" peace treaty between the Comanches and Josey's friends at the Turner Ranch and Santo Rio. It is strongly implied, though unstated, that this also makes Josey and Ten Bears BloodBrothers.

** The Senator faces no repercussions for having the bushwhackers slaughtered after promising amnesty.

* SpitefulSpit: Clint Eastwood does this on anything that moves.
** It doesn't always [[IneffectualLoner scare away]] the ones he's spitting on.

--> Josey: You be Ten Bears?
--> Ten Bears: I ''am'' Ten Bears.

* ShootTheRope: This is how Wales sends some of his pursuers downriver.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Laura Lee is described as "a little strange", doesn't talk much, and stumbles over an attempt to repeat a joke she'd once heard. Whether she's just socially awkward or neurodivergent isn't made clear ([[JustifiedTrope and naturally wouldn't be]], given the time the movie takes place).
* UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar: Specifically the carnage in Missouri, where the guerrilla fighting [[WarIsHell was so vicious]] by both sides that it was practically a civil war within the Civil War itself.

* MultiGunMaster: Josey packs two [[HandCannon Walker Colts]], two smaller revolvers and a scoped Sharp's rifle.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Lone Watie (implied to be a relative to Confederate general Stand Watie), tells the title character that, when the The American Civil War broke out, the Cherokee chiefs declared war on the Union due to their mistreatment on the Trail of Tears and on the reservation. The real Watie family (and the "New Echota" faction they were among the leaders of) was in favor of removal to Oklahoma, and settled there voluntarily before troops were sent in to force the matter. In addition, the Cherokee tribe was split on the matter; despite being slaveholders, many of them remembered that they were forced out from a Southern state by a Southern president. Principal Chief John Ross (who had always been opposed to removal, and led the "National" faction that opposed the New Echota faction and murdered some of its leaders) paid lip service to the Confederates at first, then emphatically threw his weight behind the Union as soon as he could without fear of reprisal.

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

* ShootTheRope: This is how Clint Eastwood sends his pursuers downriver.

* PermaStubble: Josey Wales himself. Eastwood always has some of this in his Westerns but this movie has it at its thickest, straddling the line between PermaStubble and a BadassBeard. [[JustifiedTrope Its probably there to make his scar stand out more.]]
** Also doubles as a BeardOfSorrow.

* BadassBeard: Josey grows one during the war.

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

* TheFilmOfTheBook: Based on a little-known book by Forrest Carter...
** Which was the pen-name for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asa_Carter Asa Carter]], infamous segregationist who wrote stuff like the "Segregation Forever" speech during TheSixties...
*** And this film (and the novel its based on) still surprises people for its remarkably sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans.
*** Given the author's political sympathies, it is interesting to note that the book is far kinder to the Union than the film. For example, the bushwhacker massacre is an invention of the film, and in the book the Redlegs were pro-Union bushwhackers rather than Union regulars.

* TheSociopath: "Redlegs" Terrill, a guerrilla who spends his days butchering people for fun. Despite working for the Union, anything he says endorsing their cause is obviously lip-service so they'll sign his paychecks.

!!''The Outlaw Josey Wales'' provides examples of:

* AlasPoorVillain: The bounty hunter that Josey kills at Santo Rio. Even Josey regrets having to kill him, with an almost tender look when he says "I know".