Stacey Bridges (Geoffrey Lewis), Bill Borders (Scott Walker), and Cole Carlin (Anthony James), who have been released from jail after they brutally whipped to death the town's local lawman Marshal Jim Duncan (Buddy Van Horn) who is in his grave with an unmarked gravestone, set out to return to "Lago" to get their vengeance. Or the ghost of Duncan, hanging in a tortured purgatorial limbo, until he can get a proper burial, a shred of justice, and some overdue payback. Sep 7, 2010, Runtime: After a shoot-out leaves the town's hired-gun protectors dead, the town's leaders petition the Stranger to stay and protect them from three ruthless outlaws who are soon to be released from prison. "[10] The graveyard set featured in the film's final scene included tombstones inscribed "Sergio Leone" and "Don Siegel" as a humorous tribute to the two influential directors. The image is an example of a ticket confirmation email that AMC sent you when you purchased your ticket. If the film is memorable, it's for the themes and relatively gripping latter acts, and while I wish there was more inspiration throughout the film in order to make the final product rewarding on the whole, when the drama bites, it grips as an at least almost rewarding thriller. Clint: The Life and Legend . If there's ever an actor that would sell me in watching a western, that man would be Clint Eastwood. attempting to shoot the Stranger in the back after he's killed all the gunmen is remarkably similar to the remaining Rojo brother trying to shoot The Man With No Name in the back after he's killed everybody else in. Its also a film that deserves to be seen by anyone who has a sweet tooth for the genre or thinks they have a bead on Eastwood as a filmmaker. High Plains Drifter is a 1973 Western directed by (and starring) Clint Eastwood, with a screenplay by Ernest Tidyman (The French Connection, Shaft). Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. The allegory cant get blunter then him literally put up a signpost that says hell and have the town paint all the buildings red. High Plains Drifter. . This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. All we know is it is very difficult to side with him as a protagonist and as such we are left with an uneasy feel throughout the film from which we can only be unburdened after knowing just what he wants and why hes doing it but we never do, which is probably why I was left with such an uncomfortable feeling after the film was finished. As they unknowingly beat a dummy in the bed, the Stranger tosses a stick of dynamite into the room, destroying most of the hotel, then shoots two of his attackers dead, as Morgan flees wounded. The three gunmen all get what they deserve, but the first one to die, Cole, is whipped to death just as the Marshal was. He was mellow on the set, never asked for more than one or two takes, and made a habit of coming in both under-schedule and under-budget on his filmsalthough he probably would have preferred to call them movies rather than films. The violence of the film (including a couple of murders by bull-whipping) is continual and explicit. Robert E. . Coming Soon. Read our extensive list of rules for more information on other types of posts like fan-art and self-promotion, or message the moderators if you have any questions. The film was critically acclaimed at the time of its initial release and remains popular. 978-0823230143 . Still from High Plains Drifter In Rabbinical literature, the angel of death, a creation of God on the first day, exacts slaughter, in the manner ordained by God, to restore the honour of mankind. The film was shot on location on the shores of Mono Lake, California. She's standing less than 8 feet away from him, but he simply ducks under the water and comes out completely unscathed. Still from the opening scene. Wayne, who it turns out wasnt a fan of the film, wrote an angry letter back, saying that High Plains Drifter isnt what the West was all about and that it isnt the American people who settled this country. The Duke may have thought that he was putting the young Eastwood in his place. Says the paradox: to save the just, you must make a pact with the Devil. Though his laconic sense of humor often drags out the pacing of the movie, Eastwood uses his camera with intelligence and flair. Of course, the townspeople themselves aren't exactly innocent either so much as punishing them, along with the three gunmen, for their role in the marshal's death. That night, in his hotel room, the Stranger dreams of Jim Duncan, a U.S. Regarding power and authority, these depictions favour critical views of big business, the American government, masculine figures (including the military and their policies), and a turn to greater historical authenticity. The most eye-catching and best-known sequence in the film occurs when Eastwood tells the cowering citizens of Lago to paint every building in the town red as they await the three murderers return. Book: White, Mike . Starring: Clint Eastwood,Verna Bloom,Marianna Hill. Amid shoot-outs and existentialism, a stranger is hired to protect a town from outlaws -- but his recipe for defense could be a deal with the devil. Clint asked John Wayne if he wanted to be in a Western together. One you unglue your eyes from the gorgeous scenery, filmed on location, you understand that this is definitely not your typical John Wayne flick. It was a hit. As a freshly minted red-hot commodity both at home and abroad, Eastwood quickly parlayed his new-found bankability into a handful of macho and muscular studio pictures like the fish-out-of-water cop thriller Coogans Bluff and the bloated WWII action-adventure Where Eagles Dare. High Plains Drifter is a 1973 Western directed by (and starring) Clint Eastwood, with a screenplay by Ernest Tidyman ( The French Connection, Shaft ). and the [5] An uncredited rewrite of the script was provided by Dean Riesner, screenwriter of other Eastwood projects. The film was shot on location on the shores of Mono Lake, California. Some critics thought Eastwood's directing derivative; Arthur Knight in Saturday Review remarked that Eastwood had "absorbed the approaches of Siegel and Leone and fused them with his own paranoid vision of society". Whenever Clint Eastwood is given a unnamed Cowboy you better expect nothing but the best. | "[16] Tom Zito of The Washington Post called it "an enjoyable, well-constructed work that suffers only from a slightly tedious tone that makes the film seem longer than its 105 minutes."[17]. (2) The stranger was Marshal Jim Duncan himself come back to exact his revenge (perhaps through a deal with the devil.). "[14], Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called it "a nervously humorous, self-conscious near satire on the prototype Clint Eastwood formula of the avenging mysterious stranger. Geoffrey Lewis plays one of the badguys and the idea to paint a town red is strange but it worked well, the whipping scenes are great and the shootings and violence Clint Eastwood's acting is faultless and perfect and the story never gets boring. Starring: Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill 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). Murphy, Arthur D. (March 28, 1973). High Plains Drifter: Official Clip - Who Are You? Powerful and timeless. He looks like the tight-lipped, cigar-chewing sharpshooter of Hang 'Em High or Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy, and on paper High Plains Drifter certainly reads like your typical Clint Eastwood western. "You know," Mordecai says, "I never did know your name." Wayne wrote back saying this movie is terrible because of the violence and it's revisionist portrayal of westerns. The next morning, as the Stranger rides out of town, he passes Mordecai carving a fresh grave marker. the dolly shot and zoom in the final scene showing Marshal Jim Duncan's name on the gravestone Mordecai just finished engraving after The Stranger tells him that he does in fact know The Stranger's name establishes at the very least that he came to town to avenge Duncan's death. By what name was High Plains Drifter (1973) officially released in India in Hindi? . Terms and Policies That's obviously wrong. I hope hes wrong, or just being playfully cryptic. There's also, of course, the last line of dialogue in the movie. Book: Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra . Edit, Awards Edit, American screenwriter Ernest Tidyman wrote the screenplay for High Plains Drifter and followed it up with a 1973 novelization of the film. [3] Maybeand this is where the movie gets really interestingbecause he is Duncan. Marvel Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer, Jurassic Park Movies Ranked By Tomatometer, RT25: Celebrating 25 Years of Rotten Tomatoes, Fatal Attraction Series Stars Joshua Jackson and Lizzy Caplan on the Sexy, Unsettling Psychological Thriller, Prime Video Acquires J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves Batman: Caped Crusader and 2 More Animated Projects, Clint Eastwood's sophomore outing as director sees him back in the saddle as a mysterious stranger, and the result is one of his most memorable Westerns. 2004 . And maybe it stung the young director at the time. Universal wanted Eastwood to shoot the feature on its back lot, but Eastwood opted instead to film on location. High Plains Drifter, which followed a mysterious gun-fighter (Eastwood) hired by a local town to defend its people against three violent outlaws, is a dark, revisionist examination of the cowboy . and our But once he shows his skills with a pistol, the locals realize he may be able to help them fend off a band of criminals who have been terrorizing the town. I was mostly satisfied by the story as the more it went on the more I got interested. The film was critically acclaimed at the time of its initial release and remains popular. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. [10] The Italian, Spanish, French and German dubbings restored it. Crucially, he's your grandfather's idea of Christ, one who The Stranger only agrees to take up the role after the town meets his bizarre demands including painting the town's buildings red and rechristening the town itself as "Hell". High Plains Drifter is Western star Clint Eastwood's first attempt at directing one of his own westerns. Can the mysterious gunfighter without a name stop the three outlaws? While seemingly an act of meanness, particularly in the way he said it, in truth he wants them to stay out of harm's way. Find a list of the best recent and upcoming film and TV titles added to Music title data, credits, and images provided by, Movie title data, credits, and poster art provided by. [8] The film was completed in six weeks, two days ahead of schedule, and under budget. McFarland . Impressed by his abilities, the townsfolk hire him to protect the town, but start to second-guess their hire when he begins to take advantage of them. The Stranger lures one of the Carlin brothers outside and whips him to death, then kills the remaining outlaws one by one. After gunning down three desperado's who tried to kill him, the town hires the gunfighter to help defend the town from three murderous outlaws. "I never did know your name" "Yes you do", as the camera pans to show the previous marshal's gravestone and name. Maybe thats because back in 1973, working as a director for only the second time, Eastwood was still figuring out what kind of director he wanted to be. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/HighPlainsDrifter. He found out the mine was on government land and was going to report it, which would result in it being closed. Given that he was mentored by the likes of Don Siegel and my personal favourite director Sergio Leone it's no wonder that Eastwood went on to make hits like The Outlaw Josey Wales and Unforgiven. Eastwood could finally say goodbye to the small screen once and for all. 20th highest-grossing film released in 1973, "The Representation of Justice in Eastwood's, "Kino: Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter Detailed for Blu-ray", "Metallica's Kirk Hammett Soundtracks a Six-String Shootout on New Song 'High Plains Drifter', https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=High_Plains_Drifter&oldid=1151485503, This page was last edited on 24 April 2023, at 10:54. [12], Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film "part ghost story, part revenge Western, more than a little silly, and often quite entertaining in a way that may make you wonder if you lost your good sense.

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