Which 1976 western starring Clint Eastwood was based on a novel by Forrest Carter?

The 1976 western starring Clint Eastwood that was based on a novel by Forrest Carter is “The Outlaw Josey Wales.”

Eastwood directed the film and plays Josey Wales, a Missouri farmer whose family is murdered during the American Civil War. Wales joins Confederate guerrillas, refuses to surrender after the war, and becomes an outlaw pursued across the frontier. The cast includes Chief Dan George as Lone Watie, Sondra Locke as Laura Lee, and John Vernon as Fletcher.

The source novel was first published as “The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales” and was later retitled “Gone to Texas.” Forrest Carter was a pen name of Asa Earl Carter, a former segregationist speechwriter and Ku Klux Klan organizer. That identity became widely known around the time the film and the novel attracted attention, complicating the book’s cultural and political legacy.

The production also underwent major changes. Michael Cimino and Philip Kaufman worked on the screenplay, but Eastwood took over directing after Kaufman was dismissed. The resulting film is remembered for its Civil War setting, distinctive dialogue, and Eastwood’s transformation of a revenge story into a tale of survival and chosen family.