Review of High Plains Drifter (1973) by Kyle G — 05 Jul 2011

High Plains Drifter is the ultimate Clint Eastwood film. No, it doesn't meet the popularity level as his previous Man with No Name trilogy, which includes his all-time great spaghetti western The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. But High Plains Drifter is the Sergio Leone classic, if you translate it from Spaghetti Western to American Western, and you put the man himself, Clint Eastwood, in the director's chair.

This is Clint Eastwood's second directional effort after Play Misty For Me, making it his first-ever directed western. Eastwood plays The Stranger, much like the Man with No Name. He rides into a town called Lago, which has a history of betrayal and corruption. The townspeople become shocked silent by The Stranger's arrival into town. The very beginning of the film has an incredible tone to it. It starts with this ominous music that plays through the majority of the film, giving the movie a dark theme all around. And once he enters the town on horseback, there is only the sound of the horse's hooves chomping at the ground. And once The Stranger starts to walk, the sound of his spurs hitting the ground gives some more of a dark effect to his arrival. It will send chills down your spine.

The plot involves three outlaws returning to the town where they committed a murder that involved whipping the body to death. It seems that The Stranger has some history with these men, and with the town asking him for help, he plans his revenge. And the town decides to deal with him by letting him do whatever he wants. This includes having free drinks, free guns, painting the entire town red so it looks like "Hell", and making the town's midget both mayor and sheriff.

The town painted red gives great cinematography to a film that came out in the early 70s. It still holds up to todays standards. There's also a scene at the end where Eastwood stands face-to-face with the enemy, and a house is in flames behind him. It's a shot the really defines Clint Eastwood in a western and makes the film that much darker.

The film aslo has uses of supernatural elements, which is the twist ending to this film. It's not over-the-top elements, but straight-to-the-point elements that still makes the film an authentic western.

High Plains Drifter is incredibly underrated. But, it should be up there with the like of the Man with No Name trilogy, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and Unforgiven as the greatest Clint Eastwood westerns ever made.