The Outlaw Josey Wales

The Civil War nearly over, Pro-Union Kansas “Redlegs,” led by Terrill (Bill McKinney), savagely kill the family of Josie Wales (Clint Eastwood) and burn his Missouri farm. Seeking revenge, Josey joins up with “Bloody Bill” Anderson (John Russell) and Captain Fletcher (John Vernon), pro-Confederate bushwhackers. When their men try to surrender at war’s end, they are executed by the same Redlegs that destroyed the Wales family. Josie, refusing to surrender, fights his way free, and becomes like many others of the time, “Gone to Texas” for a second chance. Along the way, he dodges bounty hunters and Terrill’s troops, who hunt him as an outlaw. No matter how hard he tries, he collects a ragtag band of travelers along the way, including wily Cherokee Lone Watie (Chief Dan George), pretty Little Moonlight (Geraldine Keams), love-interest Laura Lee (Sondra Locke), and feisty Grandma Sarah (Paula Trueman). Eventually the group settles in a ranch house near the town of Santa Rio. There, Terrill and the Redlegs, now officially Union troops, catch up to them and attack but are defeated by the stalwart but diverse mix of settlers and Indians as Josie heads out alone to kill the evil Terrill.