Review of High Plains Drifter (1973) by Solomon F — 07 Jan 2010

Clint Eastwood revisits his own image as the Man-with-No-Name at the director's helm--though the results are interesting, they are not entirely successful. Being Eastwood's second directorial film, he had yet to find his own style, and parts of the story are handled in a ham-handed manner.

The strong motivation and hate that drives his character for revenge is both the strength and the weakness of this film. What made the Man-with-No-Name so cool is that while his ways of dealing with his enemies were unexpected, they were witty and rarely over-the-top.

He did not rape women in broad daylight, literally paint a whole town red for theatrical effect, or yank people standing near a doorway into the dark like Freddy Krueger. Yet here Clint Eastwood does all of those things.

Perhaps Eastwood was trying to deconstruct the character, but in doing so he made him much less appealing. That said, in contrast to Eastwood, all the other characters--including the villains--have as much resolve or personality as a pile of rocks.

So, in the end, you watch a character you can't sympathize with ruthlessly obliterate a town full of people you don't care about. If the film has any drawing point, it's probably the action, which is infrequent but gratifying.

Eastwood has made many better westerns since this one.