High Plains Drifter
They'd never forget the day he drifted into town.
Clint Eastwood's second film as director, High Plains Drifter returns the actor to his familiar scene of the Old West and his familiar role of "The Man With No Name." Eastwood portrays a mysterious stranger who emerges out of the heat waves of the desert and rides into the guilt-ridden town of Lago. After committing three murders and one rape in the first 20 minutes, The Stranger is hired by the town to protect it from the three gunmen just out of jail. The Stranger then paints the town bright red, and renames it "Hell'" and supplies Devine retribution in a fiery climax.
Member Reviews
Sit A Spell - Squish
Thematically fitting Sergio Leone's 'Man With No Name' trilogy, we find, on the surface, a weary stranger enter the town of Lago looking for a drink and a bath. Instead this man finds himself facing extreme trials. As character studies go, 'High Plains Drifter' goes beyond the question of moral ambiguity and dives deep into humanity's darkness. Our stranger is more than a man coping harshly with the cruel world around him, he's sinister in his villainy, all too often going overboard in the resolutions of his challenges. Yet, rather than making the townsfolk drive him away, it inspires them to hire his gun slinging skills to protect them from three men who were imprisoned a year ago. They vowed that the town would suffer for putting them away and that day is fast approaching.
I do all I can to avoid spoilers and the better the film, the more cautious I become, so you'll have to pardon me for not going into detail about the plot's genius, but I can tell you that the musical score is a true tribute to the Western style we've all grown to appreciate, though it displays a darker, more haunting air, properly representative of the stranger whose moment in life we follow.
'High Plains Drifter' is a film that can be described as pure, rugged Western with a heavy streak of Film Noir, both in the cinematographic silhouetting as well as the exploration of the character as an anti-hero, and I believe that this film, though perhaps not as perfect as 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly', is a heavy-hitting tale that belongs in everyone's repertoire.
In fact, if there are only three westerns that you ever see in life, make High Plains Drifter one of them. It's so dark in fact that the online rumour mills say John Wayne wrote a letter to Eastwood condemning the film, stating that the 'Spirit of the West' was tainted by this film.
Well kids, if nothing else had sold me to see this, that certainly would have.Un western pas comme les autres - morlock
Eastwood n'est pas le bon ni même la brute encore moins le truand ! Mais il est brutal, et on ne l'a jamais vu aussi macho, aussi méprisant envers ceux qu'il va aider et aussi distant vis à vis du respect des hommes. Il vient punir, se venger et surtout faire prendre conscience de sa honte de sa couardise à la ville qu'il nomme "enfer" et il va régner en diable dans cet enfer avant de les abandonner à leur culpabilité. Tout ce film est imprégné d'une vision apocalyptique dont on a du mal à digérer la violence. Rien n'est pardonné, tout est punition ou abandon. Une petite trace, tout de même, d'humanité dans ses rapports avec le nain, le seul être qui, comme lui, a subi les sévices de cette ville.Classic Eastwood Western!! - delpiero
The Movie:
One of the great Eastwood Westerns for sure. It has a mythic feel about it and the score does a nice job of setting the mood. Eastwood is a drifter who comes to town and proceeds to turn it upside down when he is asked to help protect the townspeople from some outlaws who are coming to get their revenge. Highly recommended for Western and Eastwood fans.
The DVD:
Not enhanced for widescreen TV's is the major problem here. Overall picture quality is pretty good but there is some speckles and artifacts here and there. Sound is pretty good as well. At this time this is the only DVD available so if ya wanna see it, this is the only way you can.
Member Reviews
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Sit A Spell - Squish
Thematically fitting Sergio Leone's 'Man With No Name' trilogy, we find, on the surface, a weary stranger enter the town of Lago looking for a drink and a bath. Instead this man finds himself facing extreme trials. As character studies go, 'High Plains Drifter' ...Un western pas comme les autres - morlock
Eastwood n'est pas le bon ni même la brute encore moins le truand ! Mais il est brutal, et on ne l'a jamais vu aussi macho, aussi méprisant envers ceux qu'il va aider et aussi distant vis à vis du respect des hommes. Il vient punir, se venger et surtout faire ...Classic Eastwood Western!! - delpiero
The Movie:
One of the great Eastwood Westerns for sure. It has a mythic feel about it and the score does a nice job of setting the mood. Eastwood is a drifter who comes to town and proceeds to turn it upside down when he is asked to help protect the townspeople ...