The Outlaw Josey Wales 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

The Outlaw Josey Wales 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

"Are you gonna buy this 4K or whistle Dixie?"

Reviewed by Randy Miller III April 24, 2025

It's never too late to celebrate the work of Clint Eastwood, the steely-eyed actor/director who seemingly can't quit, so Warner Bros. has honored his ongoing legacy with 4K upgrades for catalog titles Dirty Harry, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and Pale Rider. Available separately and also in Steelbook form, all three feature new UHD remasters, two primary audio options (including the original theatrical mixes!), and a collection of new and returning extras.

The Outlaw Josey Wales was Clint Eastwood's fifth film as a director and, alongside High Plains Drifer, his first truly great one. A revisionist Western whose only narrative flaw is making Union soldiers the bad guys, it's a sprawling and borderline epic drama that feels truly ahead of its time by at least a few years. Based on a 1973 novel by racist jackass Forrest Carter, it offers a deceptively simple tale of revenge that's successfully improved upon with solid supporting characters, sturdy pacing, and truly great cinematography by frequent Eastwood collaborator Bruce Surtees.

For a synopsis and appreciation of The Outlaw Josey Wales (which I completely agree with, as implied by our identical ratings), please see Kenneth Brown's review of Warner Bros.' 2011 Blu-ray. It hasn't been reissued on home video since then (aside from a repackaged Blu-ray edition in 2012), which means this brand-new UHD release should represent a strong leap forward despite that previous release's inarguable strengths. That's exactly what it provides, meeting or beating that older edition in every department except for, you know, including a Blu-ray copy of the film.

The Outlaw Josey Wales 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced directly from the 4K disc but have been downsampled to 1080p/SDR and thus should not be considered an accurate representation of quality in terms of brightness level, color, and detail.

Once again, WB's recent press release offers no real information regarding The Outlaw Josie's new restoration for this 4K edition and, while I can't be sure that it got the same 8K scan granted to Dirty Harry, the resulting picture shows many similarities. To be fair, Warner Bros.' 2011 Blu-ray was a very capable effort for its time and rightfully awarded 4.5/5 stars by Kenneth Brown, but in direct comparison this 2160p/HDR10 transfer easily rides right past it. The Outlaw Josey Wales has no shortage of jaw-dropping outdoor vistas courtesy of cinematographer Bruce Surtees, who provided similarly impactful panoramas of San Francisco in Dirty Harry and would collaborate with Clint Eastwood on many other productions including Pale Rider. Simply put, these natural Earth-toned landscapes are alive with detail and color, often showcasing plenty of depth that stands in contrast to other locations (many of them indoor) where Surtees' trademark use of strong silhouettes and minimal artificial light creates a flat but striking atmosphere.

As a whole, you could obviously apply many of Dirty Harry's visual praises on this disc and then some, as its similarly buttery-smooth but film-like appearance is aglow with fine detail and a faint but purely perceptible amount of organic grain. Again the HDR benefits are many and, even more so than Dirty Harry, mostly run subtle but add bracing support for Josey Wales' considerable level of visual impact. It's another winner, and a five-star effort for sure.

The Outlaw Josey Wales 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similar to Dirty Harry and Pale Rider, the default audio here is a brand-new Dolby Atmos mix that seems to be built from the 5.1 remix which was the only English option on all previous digital home video releases. It's an unsurprisingly modern take on material that's almost 50 years old but, in my opinion, does an admittedly better job of feeling less artificial than that older remix with mostly smooth uses of channel panning, surround support, and of course new use of the height channels, which is thankfully sparing. As with the other new Atmos mixes, the original score -- here credited to Jerry Fielding -- is represented well with a full and rich dynamic range that plays to its strengths.

Yet like those other two new Eastwood 4K releases (and a growing number of recent WB catalog titles), The Outlaw Josey Wales also finally gets the original theatrical mix -- presented here in DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio split mono -- as a secondary option, which again should please purists greatly, as it's an extremely capable effort and gets the job done just fine, in my opinion. Sure, it's not as wide or immersive and thus doesn't have that immediate "wow" factor, but there's something extremely pleasing about its sonic simplicity so having this 2.0 option is a huge step in the right direction. Needless to say, both camps might make compelling arguments but the choice is yours.

English (SDH) subtitles are offered during the main feature and all extras listed below.

The Outlaw Josey Wales 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with so-so cover artwork, a matching matte-finish slipcover, and a Digital Copy redemption code. The extras are solid; three are new (or at least new-to-disc) and the rest are carryovers from the 2011 Blu-ray, with the only missing item being Josey Wales' original theatrical trailer.

• Audio Commentary - A legacy track featuring film critic Richard Schickel.

• NEW! An Outlaw and An Antihero (7:22) - Similar to the first new retrospective featurette on Dirty Harry, this is another short collection of personal appreciations for The Outlaw Josey Wales; specifically, about Josey himself and his then-uncommon role as an outlaw and antihero with comparisons to other like-minded cinematic characters. Participants are likewise very similar and include the likes of media theory professor Dr. Debarati Byabartta, film and media professor John Trafton, senior film studies lecturer Sue Richardson, assistant film studies and screenwriting professor Dr. Leah Aldridge, and IndieWire feature writer Jim Hemphill.

• NEW! The Cinematography of an Outlaw: Crafting Josey Wales (7:55) - A more focused but still slim collection of retrospective interviews featuring many of the same participants (and a few new ones), this short but sweet piece pays tribute to the visual contributions of legendary cinematographer Bruce Surtees and includes a few interesting vintage behind-the-scenes clips. Oddly enough like the last featurette, the supportive film clips appear to be sourced from a partially finished remaster and some of the colors look noticeably different.

• Clint Eastwood's West (29:03)

• Eastwood in Action (7:54)

• Hell Hath No Fury: The Making of The Outlaw Josey Wales (29:14)

• KINDA NEW! Reinventing Westerns (17:36) - This 2021 episode of the docuseries Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy includes a light collection of interviews from Eastwood collaborators, contemporaries, and fans including Mel Gibson, producer Peter Morgan, producer Albert S. Ruddy, producer David Valdes, screenwriter George Gallo, editor Joel Cox, and others, who speak about the actor/director's legacy in the genre.

The Outlaw Josey Wales 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Clint Eastwood's early directorial standout The Outlaw Josey Wales still stands strong almost 50 years after its debut, as it felt slightly ahead of its time back in 1976 and has aged surprisingly well since then. It's enjoyed a decent legacy on home video including WB's excellent 2011 Blu-ray, but the studio has clearly bested that release with this wonderful new UHD edition. Featuring top-tier A/V merits and a few new extras that complement the old ones, its only flaw is the lack of a remastered Blu-ray copy. It's nonetheless very Highly Recommended to fans and first-timers alike.