A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.
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Reviews
r96sk
7
By r96sk
I don't have much to say about 'High Plains Drifter'. It didn't thrill me or anything, but it did keep my attention from start-to-finish so it's evidently a good film.
Clint Eastwood is the only cast member worth talking about, he gives a commanding performance in the lead role. Geoffrey Lewis, a frequent castmate of Eastwood's, is the best of the rest, if I had to pick. The film does feature dark themes, which helps the film's pacing out a lot.
It's nothing special in my eyes, though there is entertainment there no doubt. It's a borderline 8* rating for me, but not quite.
drystyx
2
By drystyx
Another Hollywood (spaghetti) formula Western where homicidal maniacs abound.
Here, Clint plays a homicidal maniac who obviously comes back from the dead after being killed by three bad guys and betrayed by an entire town of people.
So, the first thing he does is murder the only three men who weren't part of that. Makes sense? Not if you're looking for credible motivation.
But credible motivation isn't a part of most of Eastwood's Westerns. Certainly not the spaghetti ones.
So, the rest of the movie is just sound and fury, signifying nothing, and don't try to make sense out of any of it. It's just another movie about homicidal maniacs being everywhere. If the West or East or anywhere was anything like this, there wouldn't be anyone left in one piece to keep a town going. They'd all either be dead or crippled.
But Eastwood loved to be in that sort of thing. A hundred years from now, he'll be remembered for many good Westerns like Hang Em High and Joe Kidd, and his Rawhid series, and Dirty Harry, because he played credible characters in those.
He doesn't do that here.
Wuchak
7
By Wuchak
**_Clint paints the Western town red, like Gehenna_**
A mysterious Stranger (Eastwood) trots into a remote town in west-central California, a dozen miles from the Nevada border. The townspeople desperately need his help to prepare for the release of three vengeful men from the territorial prison.
"High Plains Drifter" (1973) was Clint’s third directorial effort (although he also did some uncredited work on “Dirty Harry”). It parallels his “Pale Rider” from a dozen years later with the difference that Preacher from “Pale Rider” is essentially righteous and therefore protects worthy people whereas Stranger in this flick is vengeful, focusing on dishing out retribution to those who are bad. The fact that there are few ‘good’ people in Lago makes you root for the Stranger, to a degree, but it also prevents the viewer from having compassion for the townsfolk.
There’s also an emptiness and tediousness to the proceedings that works against the movie. Still, this is an iconic Eastwood Western and holds up in its unique, nigh satirical way.
The beautiful Marianna Hill plays the blonde, Callie. She was 30 years-old during shooting. You might remember her from the Star Trek episode “Dagger of the Mind” from seven years prior. She was one of the most winsome women to appear on Star Trek and had gigs in numerous television shows throughout the 60s and 70s, as well as quite a few films like Elvis' "Paradise, Hawaiian Style,” this one, and even starred in the atmospheric horror flick "Messiah of Evil” (aka “Dead People”), which came out the year after this. It was the pinnacle of her career and she faded out of acting after 1977.
The film runs 1 hours, 44 minutes, and was shot at Mono Lake, California (the town of Lago), which is northeast of Yosemite National Park (with the west side of the lake being in the park), as well as Winnemucca Lake, Nevada, which is about 170 miles due north of Mono Lake.
GRADE: B/B-
