Way Back Wednesday - The Outlaw Josey Wales

The Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 Western film set at the end of the American Civil War directed by and starring Clint Eastwood (as Josey Wales).

This film is the first ever to confront the history of those Missourians who fell prey to the murder and rapine of the Kansas-based Unionists who called themselves "Red-Leggers" (after their red-striped stockings and gaiters) and Jayhawkers during the Civil War.



Although this story is based on the overwhelming grief and revenge of one man, it is also a story of true friendship and loyalty. Josey Wales , a peaceful Missouri farmer, is driven to revenge by the brutal rape and murder of his wife and family by a band of pro-Union Redlegs from Kansas.

Josey joins a group of pro-Confederate Missouri guerrillas led by "Bloody Bill" Anderson. At the end of the war, his fellow guerrillas attempt to surrender but are instead gunned down in a botched execution by the same Redlegs who burned Josey's farm and murdered his family, led by the vicious Captain Terrill. Josey refused to surrender, so he begins a life on the run.

Along the way, Josey befriends an elderly Yankee woman from Kansas (Paula Trueman) and her granddaughter (Sondra Locke), a wily old Cherokee named Lone Watie (Chief Dan George), and a young Navajo woman (Geraldine Keams).