High Plains Drifter (1973)

A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago and is hired to bring the townsfolk together in an attempt to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writer:

Ernest Tidyman

Stars:

Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clint Eastwood	...	The Stranger
Verna Bloom	...	Sarah Belding
Marianna Hill	...	Callie Travers (as Mariana Hill)
Mitch Ryan	...	Dave Drake (as Mitchell Ryan)
Jack Ging	...	Morgan Allen
Stefan Gierasch	...	Mayor Jason Hobart
Ted Hartley	...	Lewis Belding
Billy Curtis	...	Mordecai
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Stacey Bridges
Scott Walker	...	Bill Borders
Walter Barnes	...	Sheriff Sam Shaw
Paul Brinegar	...	Lutie Naylor
Richard Bull	...	Asa Goodwin
Robert Donner	...	Preacher
John Hillerman	...	Bootmaker

Storyline

A stranger rides out of the hot desert into a small town in the wild west. The towns people are scared of him, and 3 gunmen try, unsuccessfully, to kill him. He takes a room and decides to stay. Meanwhile, a group of outlaws are about to return to the town and take their revenge - will the towns leaders convince the mysterious man to help ?

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Plot Keywords:

outlaw | gunfighter | desert | revenge | vengeance | 

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Taglines:

Aim to see it!

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 August 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

La venganza del muerto

Filming Locations:

Inyo National Forest - 351 Pacu Lane, Bishop, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

SEK 1,512,351 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Malpaso Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Billy Curtis got a stiff neck from working with Clint Eastwood, but he said it was worth it to play such a wonderful part.

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Goofs

When the Stranger buys drinks for everybody in the saloon, the shots of the bar from behind where the glasses are stored clearly show fluorescent lighting underneath the bar.

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Quotes

[first lines]
The Stranger: Beer... and a bottle.
Lutie Naylor: Ain't much good, but it's all there is.
[brings drinks]
Lutie Naylor: You want anything else?
The Stranger: Just a peaceful hour to drink it in.

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Crazy Credits

The closing shot of The Stranger disappearing into the heatwaves plays out over the end credits.

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Connections

Referenced in Legend of the Phantom Rider (2002)

User Reviews

Supernatural Western?

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, just the sound of the horse breathing and the clop of its hooves 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 tho, 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, Lago quickly resembles 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 a truly wonderful and attention holding movie.

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 magnificent 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, observers.

Mysterious and magnificent, High Plains Drifter. 9/10