Review of High Plains Drifter (1973) by Movieznp — 07 Apr 2020

Clint Eastwood became a star starring in Westerns, so it wasn't new to see him in this role. But being his second directorial movie, and his first Western, he worked quite safe, just doing what he learnt working as an actor in previous Westerns, especially "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964). .

The opening sequence is a homage to (and not a bland ripoff of) the opening of A Fistful of Dollars. In fact, the entire movie uses the template of A Fistful of Dollars, but in a really loose manner. It's not really one of the greatest Westerns ever, it's very good though. The story unfolds quite interestingly, and Eastwood has always been great when is an eye squinting badass. His badass-ery and the dynamics between him and the characters elevated the material quite a bit. The movie doesn't feel quite ambitious, in fact, it feels kinda amateur compared to later Westerns, like "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (1976) and "Unforgiven" (1992), Eastwood directed. Everything felt pretty okay, until the final twist elevated the movie a bit more. It wasn't a Se7en or Usual Suspects or The Sixth Sense kind of twist, but was good enough to make the things we watched look better in the end. .

The thing that was kind of stuck in my head was that the musical score and Eastwood's character - a mysterious messiah with unknown origins - in this movie was kinda "in you face" Dollars Trilogy reminiscence. Every Western before and after Sergio Leone's four absolutely great Westerns are bound to compared to the said four films. And, in my opinion, none of them are anywhere near those films. So, the music not being original isn't an issue, it could've been a little less obvious though. .

I give it a 7.8/10 (A-).