It seems a bit unfair to judge a46-year old movie by today's standards, but I'm a latecomer to the "Josey Wales" dance, having never seen it before. As someone has pointed out, the opening scenes are horribly acted...it was almost bad enough to cause me to stop watching, but I wanted to give it a fair shake, and it _was_ Clint Eastwood, so I had to at least try. The acting got a teeny bit better (nothing Oscar-worthy, though, so don't hold your breath) and there were some flashes of brilliance. (_"Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy."_) But overall, it was far too long and drawn out, **especially** considering there was never much of a back story. Apart from revenge, what happened to cause Josey Wales to become such a renowned and wanted outlaw? We have absolutely no idea. From all appearances, he was nothing more than just a poor "dirt farmer" (to coin Louis L'Amour's famous term) content to live out his life in the middle of nowhere. Yet by the end of the film, he's known and wanted all over the country, able to singlehandedly take out a small army by himself, and talk a tribe of Comanche indians into making peace with the white man.... I don't know. I'm a big fan of Clint Eastwood, but this one was a disappointment. Like I said, it had a few moments, but they were few and far between and not worth sitting through a 2+-hour movie for. The biggest thing is, with a movie that long, I kept expecting them to tell us how Josey Wales came to be such a bad hombre, but they never did. Not sorry I watched it, but I certainly couldn't recommend it to anyone...not even Clint Eastwood fans. There are better ones out there.