There are so many things to love about classic Western movies. Whether it’s revenge stories, epic shootouts, larger-than-life characters, beautiful Western landscapes, or even the cowboy hats, there’s something undeniably appealing and fun about watching them. Plus, there’s certainly no shortage of them to watch, and many are widely considered some of the greatest films ever made, including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Magnificent Seven (1960), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Tombstone.
But as I’ve been watching more Westerns recently, I’ve noticed a trend among my favorites: they all star the same leading actor, Clint Eastwood. Eastwood, an icon of the Western genre, starred in 15 Western movies throughout his career, several of which he also directed. While Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy and Unforgiven are often regarded as some of Eastwood’s greatest works, I think another film doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserves: The Outlaw Josey Wales, which Eastwood not only starred in but also directed.
Released in 1976, The Outlaw Josey Wales follows Josey Wales, a Missouri farmer who joins a group of Confederate guerrillas after renegade Union soldiers led by Captain Terrill murder his wife and son during the American Civil War. After refusing to surrender when the war ends, Wales becomes a wanted outlaw and flees to Texas, where he tries to build a new life even as bounty hunters and his enemies continue to pursue him.
If you’ve never seen The Outlaw Josey Wales, or it’s time for a rewatch, there’s no time like the present, since it’s now available on this free streaming platform.
The Outlaw Josey Wales is available on YouTube
Stream one of Eastwood’s best films for free
YouTube might not be the first place you think of for watching free movies, especially with other platforms like Tubi, The Roku Channel, and Pluto TV offering huge selections of free on-demand movies. But YouTube also has a ton of free movies you can watch through its officially licensed Movies & TV channel. And one of the movies YouTube is currently offering for free is The Outlaw Josey Wales.
This means you can stream The Outlaw Josey Wales in its entirety, completely free on YouTube, with the only catch being that you’ll have to sit through a few ads during the movie.
That said, if you’d rather not deal with ads during the movie, you can pay for a YouTube Premium subscription, which removes ads from videos on YouTube. Alternatively, if you’d rather just own the movie, you can pick up The Outlaw Josey Wales on 4K Blu-ray from Amazon.
- notable shows
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Kitchen Nightmares, Merlin
- notable movies
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Clueless, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, How to Train Your Dragon, Mean Girls, Star Trek
- Premium Subscription
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Yes, $13.99 per month
- Originals
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No
More free Western movies to watch
There are plenty of Westerns available to stream for free
If you’re looking for even more free Westerns to watch, another popular Clint Eastwood movie that’s available to stream officially on YouTube right now is Hang ‘Em High from 1968. And if you’re looking for a timeless western classic, John Wayne’s Stagecoach is also available to stream for free officially on YouTube.
Beyond YouTube, Tubi just added a bunch of westerns you can stream for free, including Bone Tomahawk, Django Unchained, Heads or Tails?, No Man’s Land, Wyatt Earp.
