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A legendary Western movie is airing on TV tonight

Published 09:32 28 Aug 2025 BST

Updated 09:54 27 Mar 2026 GMT

Stephen Porzio
A legendary Western movie is airing on TV tonight

Homemovies & tv

The classic film has a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Our TV movie pick for tonight (Thursday, 28 August) is Pale Rider, the legendary Western directed by and starring Clint Eastwood (A Fistful of Dollars, Dirty Harry).

Released in 1985, the film sees Eastwood play an enigmatic man named Preacher. He arrives in a town where a property owner named Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart) has started using a band of hooligans to terrorise a group of gold miners into giving up their territory.

"Preacher fends off the attacks and then goes directly to LaHood to negotiate," the plot synopsis adds.

"When the miners, led by Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty), refuse the terms, LaHood sends in Marshall Stockburn (John Russell) to take down Preacher and the others."

Also featuring within its cast Billy Drago and Chris Penn, Pale Rider holds an impressive 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes. In particular, critics singled out Eastwood's stylish direction and his mysterious, almost mythic lead character for praise.

The movie was also a box office smash and went on to become the highest-grossing Western of the 1980s.

Pale Rider is airing on TV tonight on ITV4 at 9pm.

The film is also available to rent on Apple TV, Google Play, Rakuten TV and the Sky Store.

Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight:

The Godfather / The Godfather Part II - BBC Four - 9pm / 11.45pm

Quite simply, two of the best movies ever.

Beast - Film4 - 9pm

Idris Elba takes on a lion in this 2022 survival thriller.

Air America - Legend Xtra - 9pm

Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. star in this 1990 action comedy as pilots flying missions in Laos during the Vietnam War.

Seriously Red - Film4 - 10.50pm

An Australian comedy about a former real estate agent (writer Krew Boylan) who dreams of becoming the world's greatest Dolly Parton impersonator.

The Italian Job - ITV4 - 11.25pm

Charlize Theron, Jason Statham and Mark Wahlberg lead the cast of this slick American remake of the Michael Caine-starring classic.

Wild Card - Film4 - 12.45am

Another solid Jason Statham-led action thriller.

Another Round - Channel 4 - 1am

The Danish comedy drama that we recently called "one of the best movies of the decade".

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A legendary Western movie is airing on TV tonight