Claim: Clint Eastwood performs.

The Outlaw Josey Wales ' is a 1976 American revisionist Western DeLuxe Color and Panavision film set during and after the American Civil War . It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood -LRB- as the eponymous Josey Wales -RRB- , with Chief Dan George , Sondra Locke , Sam Bottoms , and Geraldine Keams . The film tells the story of Josey Wales , a Missouri farmer whose family is murdered by Union militants during the Civil War . Driven to revenge , Wales joins a Confederate guerrilla band and fights in the Civil War . After the war , all the fighters in Wales ' group except for Wales surrender to Union officers , but they end up being massacred . Wales becomes an outlaw and is pursued by bounty hunters and Union soldiers .   The film was adapted by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman from author Forrest Carter 's 1973 novel The Rebel Outlaw : Josey Wales -LRB- republished , as shown in the movie 's opening credits , as Gone to Texas -RRB- . The film was a commercial success , earning $ 31.8 million against a $ 3.7 million budget . In 1996 , the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for being deemed `` culturally , historically , or aesthetically significant '' .   Josey Wales was portrayed by Michael Parks in the film 's 1986 sequel , The Return of Josey Wales '' .