For Clint Eastwood, 1976’s The Outlaw Josey Wales acted as a swan song of sorts. Starting with his role on the Rawhide TV series in 1959 and progressing through the mid-1960s “Man With No Name” films, Eastwood became best known for his Westerns.

Wales marked the end of this run, though, as he’d make more Westerns, but they’d become much fewer and far between. And they’d cease entirely with 1992’s Unforgiven, which capped Eastwood’s western career in a big way.

Set toward the end of the Civil War, Josey Wales (Eastwood) lives as a Missouri farmer with his wife (Cissy Wellman) and son (Kyle Eastwood). One day Union “Red Leg” soldiers kill his wife and kid and torch his house.

Needless to say, this doesn’t sit well with Wales. When a band of Confederates led by Fletcher (John Vernon) tells him that plan to “set things right”, Wales decides to go with them.

After a mix of violent excursions – and the end of the war - most of the renegade Confederates turn themselves in to obtain amnesty from the victorious side. Wales declines, which turns out to be a good decision.

Led by Senator Lane (Frank Schofield) and Redleg leader Captain Terrill (Bill McKinney), the “amnesty” is just a ploy to bring in the Rebels and kill them. Wales attempts to come to the rescue, but he can't do much to stop the massacre.

Along with young Jamie (Sam Bottoms), Wales escapes and goes on the lam. Unfairly implicated in the mayhem, Fletcher is forced to go after Wales and attempt to kill him. This sets off a pursuit and a series of adventures.

For all intents and purposes, Eastwood plays the Man With No Name here. Wales works from a more personal place due to his desire for revenge, but that doesn’t become a dominant theme in the character.

Instead, Wales remains as laconic and biting as the earlier role. This is cool, hard tough guy territory.

While I might fear Eastwood would veer into self-parody, Wales actually works just fine. One could see him as the bridge between the Man With No Name and Unforgiven’s William Munny, for though he lacks the latter’s strong sense of regret, he shows more of a moral compass than the former and demonstrates a move toward the man who’s forced into violence by circumstances.

Unforgiven offers the more “serious” western, though. Wales enjoys some decent thematic depth at times, but it mostly exists as an adventure.

And a pretty good one, I must say. Does the film boast a particularly strong narrative?

Nope – the movie mainly follows an episodic structure in which Wales travels about, meets new people, and encounters danger. This all connects to the main plot, of course – he is a man on the run – but it doesn’t exactly deliver a memorable story.

I don’t mind, however, because Eastwood – who also directed the flick – keeps the tale going well. Wales moves at a nice pace and balances character moments/development with action in a satisfying way.

Eastwood never leans too far in one direction, so we don’t become frustrated. We know enough about the various roles to care, but Eastwood realizes that we want some fighting and makes sure we get plenty of that as well.

One shouldn’t expect rootin’-tootin’ shootin’, though. While not as downbeat as Unforgiven, Wales definitely foreshadows that movie’s view of violence.

In Wales, we rarely see anyone as especially heroic when they kill or wound. Some moments lean toward laughs, but usually the film depicts violence with a tinge of regret.

Even when Wales tracks down the worst offenders, he shows no joy in his revenge. That lends the film a layer of depth unusual for the time, and it gives the movie a darkness that benefits it.

Not that one can’t find fun in Wales, as Eastwood doesn’t make it some kind of Greek tragedy. Even with all the drama and angst, he peppers in quite a lot of subtle humor, and warmth pervades the movie as well, especially via Wales’ relationship with Native American Lone Watie (Chief Dan George).

I really like the chemistry between Eastwood and George. I also appreciate that he never treats the character in a patronizing way.

Heck, Eastwood even has fun with the usually somber portrayal of the natives. In one scene, Watie starts to lecture Wales about the plight of his people.

Rather than give this scene ponderous reverence, Eastwood goes the other way: Josey falls asleep in the middle of Watie’s speech. It’s a nice poke at expectations, and the movie gets away with it because it shows such a warm relationship between the two characters.

Really, it’d be hard to pinpoint any active negatives in Wales. The movie delivers a western with both heart and spirit that consistently satisfies.

The Outlaw Josey Wales appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Across the board, the image excelled.

Sharpness appeared solid, as the movie was consistently distinct and accurate. The slightest hint of softness affected some wider shots, but those instances seemed very minor. Mostly the movie came across as tight and well defined.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering appeared, and I also witnessed no signs of edge haloes. Print flaws stayed absent, and grain felt appropriate.

Wales provided a largely natural palette – with a mild amber feel that matched the usual Western design - and the 4K UHD replicated these tones nicely. The colors looked accurate and rich, with added range from the disc’s HDR.

Black levels also appeared deep and dense, and shadow detail came across as appropriately heavy but not excessively thick – well, outside of the inevitably murky day-for-night shots. HDR gave extra punch to contrast and whites. Across the board, I felt pleased with this presentation.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, I felt the film’s Dolby Atmos also seemed terrific – surprisingly so, since the audio came from monaural sources. This remix seemed so organic enough that it could become hard to believe the movie didn’t always boast multi-channel audio, as the sound appeared so smooth and well-integrated.

The soundfield showed a forward emphasis but it offered a pretty well rounded affair in any case. The front spectrum provided a nicely broad and engaging display.

Sounds were placed accurately in the environment, and they moved cleanly and smoothly across channels. The score also featured very good stereo separation.

The surrounds mainly reinforced the forward spectrum. Some more distinctive effects also came from the back channels, though these instances were more limited.

Nonetheless, the movie’s louder sequences demonstrated an involving and active presence from all the channels, and they helped bring those scenes to life. Because the Atmos remix for Dirty Harry went a little “surround crazy”, I worried the reworking of Wales would follow suit, but happily, it kept matters more restrained.

Audio quality also appeared to be positive. Dialogue consistently sounded warm and natural, and I discerned no concerns related to intelligibility or edginess.

The music showed solid fidelity. Highs seemed to be clear and bright, while the bass response appeared deep and rich.

Effects also benefited from better than expected dynamics. They came across as clean and realistic, and very little distortion occurred.

Overall, I found the soundtrack of Wales to provide a satisfying and exciting affair. It’s hard to believe this immersive, high-quality track came from a nearly 50-year-old monaural source.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray from 2011? The UHD’s Atmos remix tracked pretty closely with its 5.1 predecessor, though it appeared a bit more expansive.

Absent from the BD, the UHD included the movie’s theatrical DTS-HD MA monaural audio as well.

As for visuals, the UHD appeared better defined, cleaner and richer than the BD. While the latter offered fine picture quality, the UHD improved it, and the inclusion of the theatrical audio made it an even bigger winner.

The 4K UHD mixes old and new extras, and first comes an audio commentary with film critic/historian Richard Schickel. He delivers a running, screen-specific look at the source novel’s adaptation and the film’s development, cast and performances, story and characters, themes and interpretation, and reflections on Clint Eastwood and his career.

Like virtually all Schickel commentaries, this one mixes insights with frustration. At his best, Schickel gives us a good take on the movie and Eastwood, and he throws in a few production notes along the way. But only a few; Schickel’s commentaries don’t tend to be heavy on facts and figures.

I would be fine with that if Schickel didn’t let the discussion sag so much. He lapses into quite a few silences and also simply narrates the movie at times. You will learn something from this track, but you’ll not get a consistent discussion, so you may find its ups and downs bothersome.

Clint Eastwood’s West lasts 29 minutes, three seconds and provides remarks from Eastwood, filmmakers John Lee Hancock, Kevin Costner, Frank Darabont and James Mangold, film historian Sir Christopher Frayling, actor Morgan Freeman, producer David Valdes, author Neal King, editor Joel Cox, and writers George Gallo and David Webb Peoples.

The show looks at Eastwood’s career in westerns, with a particular emphasis on his directorial efforts. “West” delivers an engaging examination of Eastwood and his work.

From 1999, Hell Hath No Fury: The Making of The Outlaw Josey Wales goes for 29 minutes, 14 seconds and features Eastwood, Cox.and actors Bill McKinney, Sam Bottoms, John Vernon, and Geraldine Keams.

“Fury” examines the source novel and its adaptation for the screen, cast, characters and performances, visual design and locations, Eastwood’s work as director, music, and the film’s reception/legacy. Expect a nice overview here, as “Fury” provides a good recap of the production.

A vintage 1976 featurette called Eastwood in Action goes for seven minutes, 54 seconds. It offers notes from Eastwood about the shoot.

This is generally promotional material, but it includes some nice shots from the set and enough decent info to keep us with it for its short running time.

The remaining extras didn’t appear on the Blu-ray. An Outlaw and an Anti-Hero spans seven minutes, 22 seconds and features media theory and criticism professor Dr. Debarati Byabartta, film and media professor John Trafton, senior film studies lecturer Sue Richardson, film studies and screenwriting assistant professor Leah Aldridge, and journalist Jim Hemphill.

The participants look at the title character in Wales as well as characteristics of anti-heroes versus outlaws. This turns into a reasonably informative summary.

Crafting Josey Wales lasts seven minutes, 55 seconds. It brings info from Trafton, Hemphill, Aldridge, Byabartta, Richardson, and cinematography professor William McDonald.

We get thoughts about the photography of Wales. The featurette brings good insights.

Finally, A Cinematic Legacy: Reinventing Westerns occupies 17 minutes, 36 seconds. We get notes from Clint Eastwood, filmmakers Mel Gibson, Frank Darabont, James Mangold, John Lee Hancock, Martin Scorsese and Kevin Costner, screenwriter George Gallo, film editor Joel Cox, film historian Sir Christopher Frayling, producers Albert S. Ruddy, David Valdes and Peter Morgan, and actors Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris.

"Legacy" looks at Eastwood's career in Westerns. Expect a mix of decent overview and praise for Eastwood.

The Blu-ray loses the movie’s trailer but retains all its other disc-based extras. The 2011 did come in a case that included a short but valuable book, however.

No one will ever accuse me of being a big Westerns guy, but if I saw more movies as good as The Outlaw Josey Wales, I could become converted. The film offers a neat combination of drama, action, comedy and heart to give us a solid package. The 4K UHD boasts simply terrific picture and audio along with a mix of supplements. This is a gorgeous release for a fine movie.