A Western with many things going for it - the period detail, basic story, some fine performances. I did feel it had been overpraised. Maybe I'm being nitpicky.
It starts off as one film and ends with another. The first part is more straight up Death Wish style revenge - Eastwood is a Southern farmer whose wife and kids are killed by red legs, so he joins raiders and kills people. The war ends, and his squadron are treacherously killed. He kills them back, heads out West... and the piece changes into Wales/Eastwood collecting a bunch of misfits -Sondra Locke, Chief Dan George, Paula Trueman, Geraldine Kearns. It's all about communal living... then the baddies turn up again and there's a big battle where Wales/Eastwood gets to kick some ass.
So an interesting collection of scenes. It looks fantastic. Southerners will enjoy it. Bill McKinney is a worthy villain and John Vernon an interesting antagonist (he's not a baddy, though Clint thinks he is). Actually the whole cast is fairly strong. The take on war makes you think - it's so traumatic for everyone, yet it also unites people.
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