High Plains Drifter (1973)
They didn't know his face - They didn't know his name. But they'd never forget the day he drifted into town.
Director - Clint Eastwood
Writer - Ernest Tidyman
Starring - Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill, Mitch Ryan, Jack Ging, Stefan Gierasch, Ted Hartley, Billy Curtis, Geoffrey Lewis, Scott Walker, Walter Barnes, Paul Brinegar, Richard Bull, Robert Donner, John Hillerman
Review by The_Void
The Man With No Name returns,
A spaghetti western with horror influences. Sounds like a film that was written by God, directed Jesus and shot in heaven, and it is...well, almost. Although Clint Eastwood's horror-western is undoubtedly a very nice little story, it lacks the epic vision of the classic Leone films and so can't be considered in the same divine category that it could have been if it was. The film exudes a very low budget feel, most of which comes from the very small village that has been constructed and the fact that most of the acting is terrible. It doesn't matter, though, and these things actually add to the film in the long run as they lend it the classic spaghetti western feel. As you might expect, Clint plays the character he is best known for; the Man With No Name. Here, he takes that character to the extreme as he gives a very malevolent and uncaring performance, which is far from 'the Good'. The common shoot-out scenes are present, but Clint has also decided to include a rather graphic rape scene, which will no doubt offend some viewers.
Clint Eastwood is a minimalist filmmaker. His directorial style is solid and unfussy and as anyone who's ever seen a Clint Eastwood film will know; he's a man of very few words. This is of obvious advantage to the film as it means that it remains efficient throughout, which engages the audience and ensures they don't get bored. The way Clint plays the character is magnificent, as he continually makes us believe that he is infallible; which is needed for the film to work. Eastwood also succeeds in creating a cerebral atmosphere, which gives the film it's element of fascination. The fact that Eastwood directs and stars makes this a big personal achievement for him personally also. As I say, this isn't the greatest spaghetti western of all time; but it's a long way from the worst and fans of Eastwood will be in heaven seeing him perform his greatest role again.
Review by Theo Robertson
Be Careful What You Wish For
What’s that fable that tells us we should be careful what we wish for? The Monkey’s Paw is it? Well HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER is more or less the same tale set in a frontier town in the Wild West. Callie Travers gets what she wishes for from the stranger and spends the rest of the story complaining about it, as do most of the other characters in Lago. Gawd some people are never happy and the town’s folk in Lago don’t deserve to be seeing as they’re both cowards and greedy. Oh and they could have easily defended the town themselves against three outlaws without the help of the stranger, but I guess they’re the sort of people who always in need of someone else to fight their battles. I’m not entirely convinced if it’s the point the film is making but it does seem to have a slightly fascist subtext that might is always right, or at least Darwinism is. I can’t readily except what some other commentators have been saying about HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER being a supernatural film because Ernest Tidyman`s script strikes me as being ambiguous rather than supernatural. It’s a very good script and Eastwood show’s us he can be a very good director when he tries, though some of the acting is painfully obvious when the characters are called upon to show fear. Mind you the characters are total cowards so I guess they show their fear by having a convulsive fit
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