Smithsonian offers weekend of Eastwood westerns

Jason Fraley, WTOP Film Critic

WASHINGTON – No one is cooler than Clint Eastwood. Who else can take Gene Hackman’s charge of cowardice, “You just shot an unarmed man,” and respond coldly, “He should’ve armed himself.”

If you’re a fan of Clint Eastwood westerns, this is your weekend to head down to the Smithsonian.

The National Museum of American History is holding free screenings of Eastwood westerns Friday through Sunday at its Warner Bros. Theater.

Saturday brings a public discussion of “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (1976) at 1 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. screening of the film. Eastwood plays a Missouri farmer who joins a Confederate guerrilla unit in the Civil War. He winds up fleeing Union soldiers who murdered his family.

Saturday night offers the documentary “The Eastwood Factor” (2010).

Sunday brings “Pale Rider” (1985), where Eastwood plays a preacher protecting a village from a greedy mining company.

Admission is free on a first-come, first-seated basis. Click here for a schedule.

Read more from WTOP Film Critic Jason Fraley by clicking “Fraley on Film” under the “Living” tab above, following @JasonFraleyWTOP on Twitter, and checking out his blog, The Film Spectrum.

(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

Jason Fraley

Hailed by The Washington Post for “his savantlike ability to name every Best Picture winner in history," Jason Fraley began at WTOP as Morning Drive Writer in 2008, film critic in 2011 and Entertainment Editor in 2014, providing daily arts coverage on-air and online.

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