audio interview, Clint Eastwood said that his character Preacher "is an out-and-out ghost." However, whereas Eastwood's 1973 western, High Plains Drifter, resolves its storyline by means of a series of unfolding flashback narratives (although ambiguity still remains), Pale Rider does not include any such obvious clues to the nature and past of Preacher other than six bullet wound scars on his back and his relationship with Stockburn, who claims he once knew a man like the Preacher. Viewers are left to draw their own conclusions regarding the overall story line and its meaning. The movie's title is taken from the Book of Revelation, chapter 6, verse 8: "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." The reading of the biblical passage describing this character is neatly choreographed to correspond with the sudden appearance of the Preacher, who arrived as a result of a prayer from Megan, in which she quoted Psalm 23. Preacher's comment after beating one of the villains is, "Well, the Lord certainly does work in mysterious ways." After Coy offers to let him establish a lucrative ministry in his town, the Preacher replies, "You can't serve God and Mammon both, Mammon being money." According to Robert Jewett, the film's dialogue parallels Paul the Apostle's teaching on divine retribution (Romans 12:19–21). Reception Box office Pale Rider was released in the United States in June 1985 and became one of the highest-grossing Westerns of the 1980s, grossing $41,410,568 against a $6,900,000 budget. It was the first mainstream Hollywood Western to be produced after the massive financial failure of Heaven's Gate (1980). Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 93% based on reviews from 29 critics. On Metacritic the film has a score of 61% based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The review in The New York Times praised Clint Eastwood's performance: "This veteran movie icon handles both jobs [lead actor and director] with such intelligence and facility I'm just now beginning to realize that, though Mr. Eastwood may have been improving over the years, it's also taken all these years for most of us to recognize his very consistent grace and wit as a film maker," concluding that "it's so evocative of a fabled time and place that it never allows the movie to self-destruct in