Do you think the ending, in which Sydney Penny's cries after The Preacher has gone, is meant to deliberately echo the ending of Shane? There certainly seem to be nods to Leone throughout.
Clint's Preacher is standing up for the little guys mining for gold, as evil Richard Dysart and his son Chris Penn attempt to oust them. They're also ruining the landscape with their high pressure drilling, something we know is going to be outlawed. Michael Moriarty is the brave man standing up to them, hoping to marry Carrie Snodgrass and thus inherit her daughter Penny (who actually was around 14). Richard Kiel is a nice bad guy, Doug McGrath (Black Christmas) is the idiot who gets himself shot, John Russell (Rio Bravo. The Outlaw Josey Wales) is the Marshal from the Past.
With Clint's usual team behind him. Bruce Surtees's interiors are incredibly, riskily and realistically dark. And his love of hard and bright blue skies puts him totally at odds with Conrad Hall, who was for some reason 'uncomfortable' with the colour blue!
It was filmed in Idaho and opened at the Cannes Film Festival (in competition).
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