User Reviews

A heat haze reigns over the high plains, making them look like the valleys of the shadow of death. Emerging from the mistiness a lone rider seems to make one with the shadow, coming to our direction. It's not an entrance as much as an appearance, and in the small town of Lago, not the most welcomed one. From the simple by-standers to the business owners, gazes of bewilderment and barely concealed fears converge to his direction, stares that say "who is he?" "where does he come from?" "what is he doing here?". As usual, Clint Eastwood looks like he doesn't give a d***, and we -viewers- know we'll be lucky if one of the three questions gets an answer.

That's the attitude Eastwood built his legend on, as the emerging Western icon after John Wayne but closer to a Bogart-like figure, Eastwood had that edge over Wayne, he didn't need a story, his 'presence' could make a film. Eastwood emerged with the late 60s and his "Man-With-No-Name" character immediately appealed to a young generation of movie goers longing for outcasts who could reflect their own defiance toward the petty preoccupations of a conservative society, minus the insecurity. Eastwood played rebellious characters but with coolness oozing from his apparent detachment, he made his charisma so effortless that he stole Wayne's thunder.

Speaking of Wayne, that he criticized "High Plain Drifters" in an open letter to Eastwood proves the latter's point, he might have played a "right-wing fantasy" in "Dirty Harry" but when you're criticized by Wayne in 1973, you're not in conflict with the Western icon but with the out-of-touch director of "Green Berets". Eastwood was old-fashioned but in a revolutionary way. And this is why his figure as the lonesome stranger coming from nowhere but not for nothing became an enduring trademark of his own, one that stuck to him until his Oscar-winning "Unforgiven". And twenty years later, Eastwood knew the secret ingredient he had to instill in his movies: making his Stranger's character as quiet and stingy in words as his Leone's counterpart and as effective in words and action as his Don Siegel's Harry.

Some critics saw in the film an attempt to imitate the masters but that's an unfair trial because what Eastwood imitates (not without a few ounces of self-awareness) is the character he created and whom he plagiarizes with insistence, because that's the way you build your own style. As a director, he's rather minimalist and linear, with a few flashbacks cleverly inserted to give a needed boost to the plot, until a climax that looks like nothing seen before, not in old Westerns, not in Leone's: surrealism with a meaning. In "Pale Rider", a similar confrontation would be handled in a less showy manner but "High Plain Drifters" redeems its lack of subtlety by the boldness of his protagonist and his personal motives that give a weird of plausibility in his actions, it might even be Eastwood's way to renovate the Western genre, whipping the dust off with a mystical savagery.

That's Eastwood's touch, to infuse spirituality in seemingly ordinary stories, with mysterious but not unreal protagonists, men with a way with the gun and the ladies and yet accessible to the common folks, never too detached, never too straightforward... there's an element of humor and balance that keep his heroes rooted in reality while their aura evokes supernatural elements. Now, it would ruin the experience to reveal what "High Plain Drifters" is about but let's say it involves a town that is so full of coward people that it makes Hadleyville people look like the Magnificent Seven The film opens with the Stranger killing three thugs who were literally begging for it, as a result, the town asks him for protection against three outlaws who are coming to attack them. He accepts, but not without a price.

As the plot moves on, a few hints are given, the sound of a whip alerts the Stranger, a woman bumps into him in a way to 'make acquaintance' What he does after is condemnable and ugly but what the scene denounces is the apathy and lack of reaction of the men not without reminding of "Dirty Harry" and whose correlation with the Stranger's mission is revealed later. Meanwhile, the film oscillates between moments of ominous quietness, brutality and humor, especially when the town is ready to accept any of the Stranger's wishes including the nomination of the town's midget (Billy Curtis) mayor as sheriff and mayor. The Strangers throws customers out of the hotel, making an enemy out of the owner, and a friend out of his wife (Verna Bloom). Later, some treacheries are revealed among the "good" people of Lago, which broadens even more the notions of good and evil, an issue that became persistent in Eastwood's body of work as soon he started making movies.

"High Plain Drifters" denounces the evilness lying in every human being who acts wrongly but also the lack of reaction of the seemingly good citizen, the more violent scenes involves a nasty public lynching by whipping where we see people staring at a good man being tortured, with a silence that truly gives consent. We never really get to know what ties the flashback with the Stranger, however we know there's a record to settle and that some incidents are so dramatic that it takes a certain dose of poetic justice to fix it, a vision of what is right that doesn't necessarily indulge in being good, that might not be the vision of everyone of the West, but it was Eastwood's and it fit the mood of the 70s and we're disillusioned enough to embrace his poetry almost five decades later.

John Wayne was in position to criticize him but time certainly did justice to the director who did justice in his own movies... when he gets back to the heat haze, we know justice was done and it's satisfying enough.

By the early 70s, actor Clint Eastwood's career had gone from being a mere extra to a well-known Hollywood star. Thanks to the success of Sergio Leone's immortal Westerns, Eastwood was noticed and soon he began to work in very good projects, with great results. Despite being a respected actor, nobody could have imagined that his talent as director was even superior to his acting skills, and after a fairly good debut in 1971 (the thriller "Play Misty for Me"), he crafted his first masterpiece in 1973 as a tribute to his own artistic mentors: the haunting western "High Plains Drifter".

"High Plains Drifter" is the story of a small mining town named "Lago" which is constantly troubled by outlaws and gunfighters. One day a stranger (Clint Eastwood) comes to town, and manages to kill three of those outlaws, gaining instant recognition and the offer of having whatever he wants from the town if he gets rid of the rest of the gang. He accepts but the town doesn't know that the mysterious stranger has a secret that will change their lives for ever.

The figure of the stranger comes to town to alter the fragile equilibrium of their existence, and soon the town's own demons return to haunt them. Eastwood's character is not exactly the hero we know, but a morally ambiguous cruel man that doesn't hesitate to use and abuse the townspeople and that clearly has an agenda of his own. Written by Ernest Tidyman, this is a dark tale that explores the ambiguous morality of people and the concepts of justice and revenge.

Eastwood's second directorial effort is a powerful movie that brilliantly combines the elements of Western with those of suspense and thriller. Due to his solid career in Westerns, Eastwood knows the genre's characteristics and pushes them forward to create something more, a movie beyond its genre. With brilliant camera-work, he goes from dream sequences out of a nightmare to day sequences in Leone's Spaghetti Western style. This is definitely a tribute to his mentors (In fact, he included a small reference to his directors in a cemetery scene).

The acting is remarkably good, with Eastwood himself leading the cast with great skill and his powerful presence. His character is a lot more complex than his "Man With No Name" and it could be said that he mixes in one character the characteristics of the three outlaws of "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly". The underrated Billy Curtis is great as Mordecai, probably the only one in town who knows (and understands) the stranger's secret. The rest of the cast is very good and even those in small roles (such as William O'Connell as the barber) give performances of high quality. Apparently Eastwood's talent with people was there from the beginning.

Tidyman's story is very well-constructed, and can be seen from diverse points of view. Every character in town is well-defined no matter how long their screen-time is, and Eastwood makes the most of it. It's hard to find a flaw in this movie and I really can't praise it enough. It is a story that once that grabs you never lets you go.

"High Plains Drifter" is a must-see, not only for Western fans, it is a powerful story that is more than what it seems. Great camera-work, haunting images, terrific script, superb acting, all pieces fit to create Clint Eastwood's first masterpiece. This dark western sets the path of Eastwood's career as a director and one can see why is he one of the best directors alive. 10/10

A lone gunman with no name and seemingly with no past, rides into the dusky town of Lago. The residents of Lago at first view the stranger with suspicion, but when news that some outlaws that are out for blood are on their way to town, they ask the stranger for his help.

This is Clint Eastwood's first Western film that he directed, and it's clear and evident that the guy not only loves the genre that made his name, he also knows what makes it work. Obviously having worked for Sergio Leone, Eastwood was making notes because High Plains Drifter oozes the mythical aura of many of Leone's finest genre offerings. To which, with thanks, the result is one of the best offerings in the 70s for the Oater enthusiast.

The film opens with our mysterious drifter slowly coming out of the beautiful sprawling haze and into Lago, it's ethereal, then there's just the sound of the horse breathing and the clop of its hooves that can be heard (the sound mix here is incredible), it's a gloriously mysterious opening that sets the tone perfectly. Yet Eastwood is just toying with us though, for a quick jolt of sex and violence snaps us out of the beatific warmth and into a quite hauntingly cold and morally challenged place. From here on in the stranger will demand all manner of odd things from the residents of Lago, he seems to be toying with them and revelling in their discomfort, with Lago quickly resembling an arid hellhole. You see, Lago has a dark secret, and our mysterious stranger has a purpose, and it's this purpose that makes High Plains Drifter an intriguing and gripping experience.

A well known fact now is that the great man of the genre, John Wayne, wrote Eastwood to strongly complain about his harsh vision of the West, one can only think the Duke failed to grasp the post Vietnam feel of a 70s made Western. It's a great directorial effort from Eastwood, more so when you marry up his acting performance to his directorial duties. Very much the perfect role, it lets Eastwood accentuate his rugged Western leanings. Eastwood would direct the similarly themed Pale Rider in the 80s and then the genre crown topper Unforgiven in the 90s. A Western great in each decade? Well that will always be debatable, but what we do know is that the Western genre was considerably lucky to have had such a man to keep the genre going for the newer interested wanderers into the Wild West.

Beautifully photographed (Bruce Surtees) on the shores of Mono Lake, California, it's a film pungent with sex, sadism, retribution and risks. High Plains Drifter is mystical and magnificent and essential Western fare. 9/10

The classic picture, shot by Clint Eastwood, who himself played the main role of a stranger without a name. For me, this picture is certainly not the pinnacle of creativity, directorial and acting, the inimitable K. Eastwood, he just has a lot more work to do. But the film definitely deserves to be seen by many.

At first glance, it seems nothing new as regards westerns, having taken it in view, the viewer will not see. But it will be so only when viewing the first half of the picture. In the future, all the actions taking place in the film will acquire a raid of mysticism, which will intensify from one action to another and acquiring clear outlines of the supernatural with the development of the storyline. The fact that a stranger appears and disappears in the end of the tape will obviously hint at the mystical interpretation of the picture. And Eastwood himself hinted at the mystical aspect of his work in his interviews. Therefore, this tape will also be interesting to those who love not only the standard work in this genre. It will definitely appeal to lovers of the mysterious and mysterious.

In the picture itself, by and large, there is nothing to complain about. Everything in it is made to last. It could not be otherwise. Just look at the team working on the film. Here there are only one professional and aurochs of their business, who set and put into practice more than one picture of this genre. Separately, I would like to mention two people, I don't take Clint Eastwood a priori into account, because everything is clear with him, he is a pro in his field, especially as regards Westerns. First of all, I note the operator Bruce Surtis, who has done an amazing job. His camera is fascinating, he showed a small town in all its glory, the viewer sees it in full view. At the right moment, he pulls out close-ups, thereby creating a lot of stress. The locations that B.Sertes shows are pleasing to the eye, they are amazing. Here, an important factor plays the role of the place where the place was chosen for filming, the endless plains, the scorching sun, the small town. The viewer will see the wild west in all its glory, against which a bloody spectacle will unfold. And the second is noted by composer Dee Burton, who wrote beautiful and very beautiful music for this film. Of course this is not Ennio Morricone. If you compare with it, many composers immediately fade away, so for me, a comparison here with the greatest meter of their work will not be appropriate. And therefore Dee Barton created classical music for this western. For me, this composer stands on a par with the great L. Bokalov.

Shootings, for which they love this genre, there is not much. But without them, the film has something to see. Perfectly written out all the characters without exception. Whether major or minor. Each will play an important role, regardless of the time interval occupied in the tape. And be sure everyone here will be rewarded according to merit. The picture does not sag, it was interesting to watch the development of events throughout its entire length, the well-written script clearly contributes to that.

The output was a harsh and merciless picture, seasoned with a touch of humor and irony, like many other works of this genre by C. Eastwood. But it may seem ambiguous to many people, so of course, it's your decision to look or not.

"High Plains Drifter" is probably Clint Eastwood's darkest western and that says quite a bit. It has similarities with "Pale Rider", his other western gem. The hero is a mysterious, ghost-like figure and he fights against the evil and corruption that infests a small town in the middle of nowhere. What sets these two films apart is that here Eastwood is fighting a lone battle , and his only sidekick is the midget Mordecai, while almost all other inhabitants of Lago are corrupted or/and cowardly.

Eastwood delivers one of his strongest performances here and manages to be charming and humorous besides exacting cool-blooded vengeance. His interactions with the two women (Marianna Hill and Verna Bloom, both solid in their roles) who are very different draws comparisons to his earlier film "Hang 'Em High". But what sets this apart from the typical Eastwood fare is the dark nature of this movie. Anthony James, the man with the unforgettable face, is once again back as one of the main villains. The rest of the cast are quite forgettable and lesser known names, which adds credibility to this movie, making it a film to be taken seriously and not just a gathering of famous faces.

This film's perhaps strongest asset is the excellent screenplay by Ernest Tidyman, the Oscar-winner for "French Connection" and it is probably the best screenplay ever written for an Eastwood-directed western. The storyline never ceases to surprise and is full of suspense and great dialogue. As always, Clint knew who to pick. As always in the Clint films, this movie is not about love. Clint and Bloom's affair almost results in love, but it never gets the chance to develop. The surprise ending adds a great touch. This film really is a delight for fans of Clint Eastwood and unusual, film-noirish westerns.

"High Plains Drifter" was the second film directed by Clint Eastwood (after "Play Misty for Me"), and the first Western. The theme- the efforts of a small mining town to defend itself against a gang of criminals with the help of a mysterious outsider- is very similar to that of a later Eastwood Western, "Pale Rider". The character played here by Eastwood, referred to only as The Stranger, is also reminiscent of an earlier Eastwood hero, the Man with No Name in the "Dollars" trilogy of spaghetti Westerns he made with Sergio Leone. Not only is he nameless, he is also laconic, soft-spoken, cigar-chewing and capable of ruthlessness when it suits his interests.

The differences between "High Plains Drifter" and "Pale Rider" perhaps reflect the differences between the periods in which they were made. In the sixties and early seventies there was a trend towards "revisionist" Westerns such as Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" or Altman's "McCabe and Mrs Miller", films which called into question the moral certainties on which many earlier Westerns had been based. The causes of this tendency have been debated, but one influence seems to have been a decline in American patriotism and self-confidence deriving from factors such as the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal.

"High Plains Drifter", dating from 1973, falls (in some respects at least) within the revisionist tradition. The inhabitants of the mining town of Lago are not innocent victims of a criminal gang but are themselves guilty of corruption and physical cowardice and are, in part, themselves to blame for the predicament in which they find themselves. The Stranger is no clean-cut, all-American hero; within a short while of his arrival in Lago he has shot dead three men in circumstances which only doubtfully amount to self-defence and has raped a woman. (Like a number of Eastwood's other films- "The Beguiled", "Play Misty for Me" and "The Gauntlet" come to mind- this one has a misogynistic streak running through it).

By the time "Pale Rider" was made in the Reagan era of the mid-eighties, America's self-confidence was reviving, and although very few Westerns were being made during that period the old moral certainties were being revived in other genres, with movies like the "Star Wars", "Superman" and "Indiana Jones" franchises. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that "Pale Rider", like Lawrence Kasdan's "Silverado" made around the same time, is much less revisionist than "High Plains Drifter". There is a much sharper moral distinction between the miners and their villainous adversaries and the mysterious gunfighter who comes to their aid is much more unambiguously heroic.

Both films have supernatural overtones, with a suggestion that the characters played by Eastwood are ghosts returned from the dead to seek revenge on those who wronged them in their lifetimes. In "Pale Rider" those overtones are not only supernatural but also religious; Eastwood's character is referred to as The Preacher and he is explicitly linked with one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. ("Behold a pale horse, and his name that sat upon him was Death"). No direct suggestion is made in "Pale Rider" as to who The Preacher might have been in his lifetime, but in "High Plains Drifter" The Stranger is identified with Jim Duncan, the former Marshal of Lago who was whipped to death to prevent him from revealing that the mine upon which the town's prosperity depends had been illegally sunk on Government land. Eastwood, in fact, has said that the Stranger was originally to have been the dead man's brother, but he preferred a more mystical interpretation.

The film is attractively photographed and competently directed; Eastwood's directorial style was clearly influenced by the directors he had previously worked with such as Leone and Don Siegel. The film-makers clearly went to some expense, building a complete Western town on the shores of Mono Lake, California; hence the name Lago. (The actors do not seem to have been in agreement as to how this name should be pronounced- most use the correct Spanish pronunciation, but some anglicise it to Lay-go).

The film has been critically acclaimed, but it has never really been my favourite among Eastwood's movies. The makers of "revisionist" Westerns often claimed that, in the name of a greater realism, they were abandoning the sharp black/white moral distinctions which had once characterised the genre in favour of shades of grey. The trouble with "High Plains Drifter" is that there are really no shades of grey; Eastwood has simply abandoned white in favour of various shades of black. Lago may have no clean-cut heroes, but it has plenty of villains. The Stranger and his accomplices are little, if any, better than the outlaws. This may, or may not, be a more "realistic" portrayal of life in the Old West than the one given in films like "High Noon", but the implied supernatural elements in "High Plains Drifter" suggest that realism was not Eastwood's main concern. The film has its virtues, but for me the moral squalor of virtually all its characters means that it does not work as a traditional Western, and its mystical tendencies mean that it does not work as a revisionist one either. 6/10

I rank HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER as a better than average Clint Eastwood film with Eastwood himself at the helm as director. It's really a character driven story set against a western backdrop with Clint as the avenger who rides into town presumably to avenge the murder of a man whipped to death while the townspeople shrank back in the shadows merely watching.

We learn later that the whipped man threatened to expose a secret about the town's mine that they were hiding and his name was Marshall Duncan, the man responsible for turning in the outlaws who served prison time and came back for their own brand of revenge.

It's a grim story with some clever plotting and a relentlessly suspenseful tone that keeps you glued to your seat until the final acts of revenge have been executed.

I know none of the players other than Eastwood, but VERNA BLOOM (who reminds me a little of Vera Miles facially), is excellent as the only halfway decent person who recognizes the mission Eastwood is on. He plays the role with his usual grim sense of humor and sarcasm, riding off into the hills after most of the bad guys are disposed of.

The final scene is set up so that he never actually gives his name, but he tells the sheriff inquiring "What's your name?" that he should know to whom he's speaking and the camera pans to the grave marker of Marshal Duncan, indicating perhaps that Clint is the brother of the murdered man. At least that's the implication I get from the ending.

Summing up: Fascinating, mysterious, enigmatic and compelling western is food for thought...but full of graphic violence, not suitable for young kids.

I really had no idea what to expect when I grabbed High Plains Drifter from the video store shelf. I recently saw The Outlaw Josey Wales, and really enjoying that film, I figured I couldn't go wrong; I was right. High Plains Drifter is more than just another western with the standard assortment of gun fights, bar scenes, and shots of horseback riding on wide-open prairie. To be sure, it does have its share of the said events, it is a western after all, but what I particularly liked was the film's character development and well thought out story.

I don't want to ruin any of the film's enjoyment for any potential viewers, so I won't go into describing any of the characters. Suffice it to say though that they all have a very realistic quality to them, especially Clint Eastwood's character. No stereotyped good guys/bad guys here, thank you very much.

As I mentioned, the story is also very nicely developed. It has multiple layers which are peeled away as the movie progresses, remaining entertained throughout.

High Plains Drifter is an excellent western. If you're a fan of the genre, you'll no doubt find it to be an entertaining watch.

A mysteriously callous stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides out of the desert into a small town called Lago and terrifies the locals by raping a lady and treading over the townsfolk, but when he kills three cowboys who wanted to make something out of nothing. The inhabitants are grateful that he freed them, but then they try to hire him to protect from three more cowboys who will return back to town when they finish their jail sentence in the next day or two. The stranger refuses the offer at first but when they tell him he can take anything for free and have power over the town he accepts the offer. Through this power he changes things around in town for his pleasure and this causes disruption amongst the locals who seem to regret hiring him.

Oh, I just love this bewildering film and I can't get enough of it! What we get here is a brutally mystical revenge western by Director/Star Clint Eastwood. I was totally mesmerised by it and Eastwood's direction is on the boil by capturing a strong essence of charm and also discomfort. It has a lot of elements going for it that it makes you (well, me) want to watch it over and over again. That's probably a good idea too, as thorough symbolisms and blinding supernatural occurrences fill the cryptic story. Some you might pick up on, while others don't seem to standout but are hidden under the material. Those enigmatic factors really keep your full interest, as the plot is played out very well with an eerie beginning that just pulls you in and then it ends with such a cunning conclusion. Before we get to the conclusion the haunting climax definitely builds sheer dread and packs bite with its visuals… a lot of bite! There's not much action in the film, but the story's subplots is what guides it and slowly builds the questions. You just wonder - There's got to be more to this new stranger in town and the townsfolk seemed to be keeping some hidden secret (or sin) behind close doors? The more the story builds on those the queries the less you seem to worry about the lack of gunfights and brawls. You actually start to read more into these mysteries when some of the questions are answered towards the end. Though, also watching the stranger toy around with the (guilty) townsfolk is pretty riveting stuff.

Another feature that blows you away would be how atmospheric it does get, with a pounding and alienating score that ticks away with its high pitch and howling sounds. These just added more unease to Eastwood's character when he was on screen with this humming score in the background. It just holds such an inspiring awe with its striking rigorous and desolated backdrop that went hand-to-hand with the brood horror and hell that follows the town's inhabitants. Engrossing scenery fills the back-shot with its vast mountains ranges and open spaces of dirt and rocks. One thing that stood out for me was the quieter moments, when it focused on body language and facial expressions to portray emotions. This really added to the alarming mood and a fairly sparse script was incredibly effective in making it highly-strung. Even the uneasy sound effects are used to great effect, especially in a particular nightmare scene. Violence is pretty much in your face and at times rather brutal, but Eastwood paces it superbly and fits it into the story. The humour that fills the story is a bit of a variety as sometimes there would be some subtle and dry humour, but then again when the dwarf was on screen it seems to play more as a loud joke. Steady camera-work is evident with plenty angle shots from behind and above and the occasional zoom. The texture of the film's material and powerful visuals is real moody, daring and it has a fairly cold-hearted tone to it all. It just leaves you with such an empty feeling.

Performance wise the cast was nothing but top-grade. Dauntingly malevolent is a good way to describe Eastwood persona as the mysterious stranger, in which he gives a typically first-rate and hypnotic performance (as usual). Is he some sort of Revenging Angel or a ghost of the past? This is what you ask. But anti-hero definitely comes to mind. The supporting cast is exceptional with the likes of the Verna Bloom, Billy Curtis, Marianna Hill, Mitch Ryan, Stefan Gierasch and Jack Ging.

This is one spellbinding semi-supernatural Western!

As is often the case with a Clint Eastwood western, High Plains Drifter is rather good.

The usual scenario opens, with Eastwood (playing an unnamed character again) riding into a small mining town, Lagos, where a small group of thugs unsuccessfully try to kill him.

This small act serves as an introduction to the local townsfolk: small-minded cowards who are all talk and no action. They also bear a horrifying secret.

Eastwood is eventually approached to help them fend off an upcoming attack from three criminals who have just been released from prison.

He also suffers from a recurring nightmare, which I will leave to you to find out.

Needless to say, all of the pieces come together by the end, and those of you not astute enough to have noticed will be saying, "of course!"

A good story combines with Eastwood's anti-heroic personality (he never really played a good guy, did he?) and a good supporting cast to produce one of the best westerns of the 1970s. As the Maltin summary states: "Half-serious, half tongue-in-cheek, with great role for midget Billy Curtis."

Curtis plays Mortecai, the town dwarf, who shadows Eastwood around Lagos. Some of the scenes in this are extremely funny, but are balanced by some harshly violent moments, of which Eastwood's nightmares are a prime example.

1985's Pale Rider bears similarity to High Plains Drifter in certain areas, but you'll have to watch that yourself to find out where.

I was a little disappointed. Admittedly, I was expecting more of a Sergio Leone style western. Clint plays "the Stranger" role to a T but it just didn't have the same appeal without the whistling, dramatic cinematography, and mismatched lip/voice editing. Plot line was pretty simple. Setting very simple. Heck, the whole movie is simple. Still, a must see for Clint fans.

High Plains Drifter looks and feels like a deconstruction of the language of the Western.

A brilliant mix of psychological and macabre, and in places even quite bizarre, it is an investigation of what is created when weakness and desire meet the man driven half to madness (Eastwood) yet seems sane: he is pathological, but is he the only standard of true sanity as a protagonist here? Has he truly lost all sense of ethic?

He starts here as the archetype of antiutilitariansim: nothing he does is for anyone's benefit if it costs him a moment of care. He is cold, brutal, effective. Yet behind this there is a sense that he has a twisted right on his side. Having being so wronged his revenge is more complex than simply killing: it demands retribution, and retribution demands the whole town pays.

More existential than even Once upon A time in the West, or, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly it is about the nihilism and the circle of violence that must be closed.

The filming is supremely confident for a second film: real silences and pauses, laugh out loud lines and situations and cold, cold chills: the language of film is expressed explicitly and implicitly. This is the death knell of the Good vs. Bad traditional Western: it is more like Kurosawa's Yojimbo though here the bad guys are few and the townsfolk are by implication as guilty as the rest because they let evil thrive and let it break a good man.

Never answering it's own questions: like Lago itself it is a world created in isolation and as such is a unique and powerful testament to Eastwood's continuing expression of the darker psyche of the cost of opening up the cowboy image and getting to a colder, starker, realism that defined 70s films.

Compulsive viewing and an important film.

This violent Western is set on Northern outdoors and the star is a mysterious revenger, ¨a man without name¨ , who comes to the aid of embattled citizens. It deals about a gunfighter (Clint Eastwood) arriving a little town called Lago that has the usual shops and buildings, as General merchandise, Livery stable, Hardware, Barber shop, Saloon , Hotel and of course the Church. The drifter donning his six-guns is contracted by townspeople to protect them from a trio of avenge-seeking outlaws(Geoffrey Lewis, Dan Vadis, Anthony James)who have justly released from jail. But the villagers wind up painting the little town and calling it : ¨Hell¨.

Well crafted Western with interesting screenplay by Ernest Tidyman. Although atmospheric , it's also downbeat and sometimes just downright nasty. The story is almost terrific as the drifter comes to strange frontier town just in time to reckoning villagers and bandits. This stirring picture contains a powerful examination of morality and hypocrisy on people of a little town. Good casting with several secondaries as Michell Ryan, Marianna Hill, Verna Bloom, Walter Barnes, Robert Donner and special mention to Billy Curtis as midget become Sheriff and Mayor. Exquisitely shot by Robert Surtees with a magnificent cinematography on the barren exteriors and snowy mountains backgrounds. Thrilling and suspenseful musical score by Dee Burton. The film is made in somewhat similar style to ¨Pale rider (1985)¨, only this time the drifter appears to have been sent from hell rather than heaven to right from ordinary injustices. Later on, Eastwood produced and directed another successful Western ¨Unforgiven(1992)¨ also with some common theme.

"High Plains Drifter" has to be the weirdest movie Eastwood made. He was always basically an anti-hero in his Man With No Name flicks, but here, he plays another man-with-no-name who might better be called the Villain of the story.

Aside from the typical blood shed, Eastwood rapes a young woman in a shocking scene early in the movie. He goes on to take several bizarre measures to help prepare a town for the arrival of some outlaws, and this is no "High Noon" or even "Rio Bravo". When the townspeople meet to express uncertainty as to what this nameless stranger is doing with their town, we share their concerns. He is most definitely not a good guy, so what is he?

We see the three outlaws, two of whom are played by Eastwood regulars Geoffrey Bridges and Anthony James, under attack by the unseen nameless man, and it is like a scene out of a horror movie as they grow increasingly terrified. We are scared for them, not of them, and they are the bad guys!

The icing on the cake, though, is Eastwood having the whole town painted red so that it looks like Hell, a place we come to think his character belongs. We barely see the bad guys do anything, well, bad. They seem more like victims, especially during the climactic scene.

A strange movie, this one. The soundtrack is constantly eerie and effective. The movie approaches acid-western style oneirism. You are not really positioned to like or dislike any of the characters, or care for them. I love movies made by icons which do things differently, which is why I recommend you check it out.

Clint Eastwood revives his signature role as "The Man with no Name" as he seems to come out of nowhere from the distant prairie and descends upon the sleepy little town of Largo and after that things there will never be the same again for the people who live there.

A film that has a lot more to it then what you see at first with Eastwood not being that mysterious and having a past which is seen in flashback every so often in the movie. Styled a lot like "High Noon" but with a twist that builds up slowly at first then takes off like a loose bronco to it's dramatic and fiery conclusion."High Plains Drifter" doesn't follow the well worn standard western scenario which is why it make it unique and thought-provoking at the same time.

Eastwood was never better here as the cool yet pragmatic stranger who's very anonymity makes him both mysterious and threatening to everyone he ruins into, friend or foe. Over the years since "High Plains Drifter" was released, back in 1973, it has reached cult statues and Eastwood has never made another western as good and as "High Plains Drifter" and that includes "The Unforgiven".

Eastwood is more then a match against those out to get him but what they, his enemies as well as the audience, don't know until the very end of the movie is that Clint has something, besides his quick guns and steel nerves, that is far beyond that of mortal man.

This movie begins with a cowboy (played by Clint Eastwood) riding out of the desert heat into a small town called "Lago". He then goes into the only saloon in town where he encounters a problem with three cowboys but rather than get into it with them he decides to go to the barbershop for a shave. The three cowboys follow and upon provoking him they get shot for their efforts. Minutes later a woman named ""Callie Travers" (Marianna Hill) deliberately bumps into him on the street and then starts and berating him for no particular reason. One thing leads to another and eventually he drags her into a barn and proceeds to rape her. After that he heads to the local hotel to get a room where he immediately falls asleep on the bed and has a nightmare of being whipped to death in this same town while all of the townspeople look on. The next day "Sheriff Sam Shaw" (Walter Barnes) comes to see him and with the blessing of the town council offers him anything he wants if he will protect the town from three outlaws who are due to be released from prison and plan to ride into town in the next couple of days. But what the sheriff and the townspeople don't realize is that this particular cowboy has his own way of doing things and doesn't particularly care whether they like his methods or not. Not only that but he has a secret agenda of his own. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a very good-albeit highly unusual-type of Western with definite paranormal overtures. Again, this film is not a typical Western but I found it to be quite entertaining and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

Clint Eastwood stars and directs in this shameless Leone homage from the early '70s. Eastwood's unnamed horse-mounted strangers have never been the friendliest characters in the west, but in this instance he takes things to a whole new level. He's quick with guns of several varieties, mowing down three rowdy bar patrons and raping a bystander in the film's uncomfortable opening scene, then settling in to take the surviving villagers for all they're worth when he's hired for protection. As it turns out, the village has a few dirty secrets of its own, and its leaders soon resort to a wide variety of veiled threats and bumbling backstabs to keep them quiet. That leaves absolutely no one in the clear as a moral compass, even the twisted preacher, and the film soon settles in to spinning lazy circles like a rudderless ship. Misogynistic, mean-spirited and narrow, it's not a whole lot of fun to watch beyond a few sporadic action shots and one or two well-placed puns. A far cry from the unspoken atmosphere, dense moral grey area and thick, palpable character of the Spaghetti Westerns that made Clint's name in the mid '60s.