[3] The film was influenced by the work of Eastwood's two major collaborators, film directors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. English, Director: Amherst . Says the paradox: to save the just, you must make a pact with the Devil. I joke about the obvious influence from Sergio Leone, but the genuinely unique aspects of this "supernatural" western go punctuated by the taking of story and storytelling notes from Leone, if not other western filmmakers, which reflect a lack of certainty to Clint Eastwood's storytelling. [7], Complete buildings, rather than facades, were built, so that Eastwood could shoot interior scenes on the site. Coming Soon. That, however, is small comfort as this cold, gory and overthought movie unfolds. "You know," Mordecai says, "I never did know your name." He favored a less explicit and more supernatural interpretation, and excised the reference. Edgar Wright talks about High Plains Drifter (1973) - Reddit With his cigar in his mouth, whether it was his Man with No Name in Leone's films or the Stranger in his own High Plains Drifter, Eastwood was a taciturn loner not looking for trouble. John Wiley & Sons . 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. Get the freshest reviews, news, and more delivered right to your inbox! Dee Barton wrote the film score. He found out the mine was on government land and was going to report it, which would result in it being closed. 2.75/5 - Decent. A gun-fighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago and is hired to bring the townsfolk together in an attempt to hold off three outlaws who are on their way. Anyway Clint. And in 1971, he finally got his shot with the paranoia-drenched Fatal Attraction prototype Play Misty for Me. the whole town knows what happened to Marshal Duncan and why, Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy, his pathetic pleas for mercy earn him no pity from either audience. Theme by, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), J.S. But Eastwood has always been cagier about interpreting his film, saying that that interpretation might be true, but its also possible that the Stranger is Duncans avenging brother. Meaning of hells comin with me : r/Poormanspoison - Reddit Link to Are You There God? Instead of doing their dirty work, he abuses his "blank pay check" not just for free goods, but also to commandeer everyone in a militia and transform the whole town. 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 inclusion of the sexually immoral, who, in the film, consort with the murderer, would explain the rape scene that occurs so suddenly after the beginning of the story. After the Stranger tells the townspeople to literally paint their town red, one of them says, "When we get done, this place is gonna look like hell." Ghost Images: Cinema of the Afterlife . Privacy Policy A Stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides into in the dusty mining town of Lago, where the townspeople are living in the shadow of a dark secret. Clint Eastwood brought the movie in on time and under budget, so he must have concentrated on the town's businessmen and a few choice townspeople to tell the story efficiently.If it helps from the viewpoint of telling the story, keep in mind that most of the scenes were shot in daylight. The Italian, Spanish, French and German dubbings restored it.[9]. Clint asked John Wayne if he wanted to be in a Western together. The young actor had come to Hollywood from the San Francisco Bay area in the early 50s, and thanks to his 6-foot-4-inch stature and good looks was signed to a $100-a-week contract at Universal, where he was quickly put to work in a string of hokey B-movies like Revenge of the Creature and Tarantula. He then rides out of town without explanation, following the wounded Morgan. The Stranger accepts seemingly reluctantly, to be put in charge of order and mounting a defense, recruiting the factotum dwarf as his Deputy. It was Eastwood's second film as director, and the first Western he directed. Scan this QR code to download the app now. 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 Stranger lures one of the Carlin brothers outside and whips him to death, then kills the remaining outlaws one at a time. With Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill, Mitchell Ryan. There's always retribution for your deeds. Hes never been as thematically oblique or stylistically flashy (unless you consider his lack of flash to be flashy). That's obviously wrong. Meanwhile, the best you can say for High Plains Drifter is that the title is a low pun. These people want protection, but theres no salvation for them. It is one of those examples, I Lombardi, Verdis fourth opera, is set during the First Crusade. TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. (3) The stranger was the ghost of Marshal Duncan. The scene where Clint Eastwood is about to get his clean shave is honestly cinema at it's best. Eastwood proceeded to crank out a bunch of lean, economical WesternsHang Em High, Two Mules for Sister Sara, The Beguiledand was encouraged by his frequent director and most formidable mentor Don Siegel to try his hand behind the camera. Universal released the R-rated High Plains Drifter in the United States in April 1973, and the film eventually grossed $15.7 million domestically,[2] ultimately making it the sixth-highest grossing Western in North America in the decade of the 1970s and the 20th highest-grossing film released in 1973. High Plains Drifter Reviews - Metacritic Still from the opening scene. 1558491201 . There are two headstones in the graveyard with the names of. Aim for the Heart . After Belding says "It couldn't be worse if the devil himself had ridden into Lago!" Callie and two men watching from inside their houses look shaken by Duncan's fate, while most other people seem unaffected or grimly pleased. It didn't thrill me or anything, but it did keep my attention from start-to-finish so it's evidently a good film. 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. Marshal, being whipped to death by outlaws Stacey Bridges and brothers Dan and Cole Carlin, as Lago's citizens watch in silence. The movie borrows heavily from Leones Once Upon a Time in the West and High Noon for its plot, as clearly the mysterious stranger has a beef with some of the dwellers in the town. I hope hes wrong, or just being playfully cryptic. The Stranger finds Bridges and the Carlins, who just "finished off" Morgan, and harasses them with dynamite and rifle fire, leading the outlaws to believe the townspeople are responsible. Edit, After having the townfolk paint the entire town red, rename it "Hell", and set up a picnic and welcoming banner for the outlaws' return, the Stranger rides out of town, leaving them to fight their own battle against the three outlaws that brutally whipped Duncan to death while the townies stood and watched. A stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides out of the hot desert into a small town in the wild west. Cinema Detours . Get a list of the best movie and TV titles recently added (and coming What to Watch Right Now on Amazon's Prime Video. Not in 2023" Still, the film comes close enough to rewarding to endear adequately as a thriller, and a stylish one at that. Rarely are humble westerns permitted to drift around on such a highfalutin plane. 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. High Plains Drifter is Western star Clint Eastwood's first attempt at directing one of his own westerns. Beastie BoysPaul's Boutique 2009 Capitol Records, LLC and Beastie BoysReleased on: 1989-07. Book: Ruffles, Tom . 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. Usually when Eastwood is punching a man across a table or delivering a nonchalant verbal beat down we are laughing and enjoying it. High Plains Drifter Clint Eastwood April 4, 2022 The 1970s was an important decade for Clint Eastwood; in a remarkably prolific run reminiscent of the classic Hollywood studio masters, the man starred in 15 films in 10 years, directing 6 of them himself. 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. As the Stranger rides off into the desert, a perplexed Mordecai stands beside the tombstone he just finished engraving: "Marshal Jim Duncan, Rest in Peace". It was Eastwood's second film as director, and the first Western he directed. Watch High Plains Drifter | Netflix Eastwood knew nothing about Leoneand frankly, there wasnt much to know yet. He orders every building in town painted blood red. Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is Copyright 2009-2022, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. He. High Plains Drifter. I know, I know, I still need to get the cast names in there and I'll be eternally tweaking it, so if you have . Its difficult to know where we stand because the townspeople deserve punishment for what theyve done but at the same time just how much of the Strangers behaviour is acceptable? The text is Martin Luthers. Watch the Clint Eastwood movie "High Plains Drifter". [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. Pale Rider (1985) directed by Clint Eastwood - Letterboxd 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. New York, NY . The Stranger drags Sarah, kicking and screaming, into her bedroom (the only room in the hotel not damaged) where they have sex. The film was critically acclaimed at the time of its initial release and remains popular. It made its Blu-ray debut on October 15, 2013, with a newly remastered transfer, and was reissued on October 27, 2020, by Kino Lorber with commentary tracks and new interviews. The libretto is, This work, with its firm and certain compound of optimism, tenderness, melancholy, and assertion, was a favourite of mine, Dante, Beatrice, and the Zodiac (15th c.) The stated theme of Paradiso is the coevality of unity and multiplicity. The premise of the movie is basically this; (spoiler) Clint Eastwood plays a Marshall named Jim Duncan. High Plains Drifter (1973) - Frequently Asked Questions - IMDb Edit, A stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides his horse out of the hot undulating waves of the desert and into the mining town of Lago and asks for a beer, a bath, a shave, and a haircut. Stay up-to-date on all the latest Rotten Tomatoes news! Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. High Plains Drifter (1973) - Plot - IMDb Over the years, a number of fans have asked where was High Plain Drifter filmed. With Eastwood, the cigar seemed to work as a brake on a temper that was quick to favor violence. University Press of Mississippi . He's nearer now, a bearded man in a dark cowboy hat and long dusty overcoat--the Stranger (. r/movies - 'High Plains Drifter' Is Clint Eastwood's Mysterious High Plains Drifter Script - Dialogue Transcript - Script-O-Rama The CulturalRites article on his most interesting film is available here. 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. Where was 'High Plain Drifter' filmed? List of locations in Clint No one looks good in the end. Think of the miners as working in the mines and therefore unseen during the day. Just confirm how you got your ticket. Three hired "town security" gunmen taunt and threaten him; he kills all three with little effort. As an actor, he is probably better than he allows himself to be. Much is explored in regards to the townsfolk not doing anything when they are oppressed or when oppression becomes apparent to them. . Edit, American screenwriter Ernest Tidyman wrote the screenplay for High Plains Drifter and followed it up with a 1973 novelization of the film. Powerful and timeless. High Plains Drifter (1973) - Trailer HD 1080p - YouTube That fact that we cant identify with the silent mysterious main character like we usually do during westerns puts us more into the shoes of the agitated townsfolk, which was a nice twist. To keep the townspeople busy, he orders every building in town painted blood red. Edit, Awards All rights reserved, including educational use. The townspeople then turned in the outlaws on false robbery charges to avoid paying them, and they have vowed revenge. A distant figure on horseback rides through shimmering, midday heat. Did he want to be a stripped-down bareknuckle filmmaker like Siegel, or a baroque allegorist like Leone? It's the story of a mysterious, crack-shot out-of-towner paid handsomely to protect an idyllic California . "[20], The film was recognized by American Film Institute in 2008 on AFI's 10 Top 10 in the category "Nominated Western Film". If you can look past the dated sexual politics, this is a deeply cynical deconstruction of the romanticized western. This would explain why nobody in the town recognized him, but he knew how exactly the Marshal was killed and he was able to kill the three men in the same way. The movie concerns awell, drifter who wonders into a small town from the high plains. But the three worst the town ever saw, which they were hired to check, are being released from jail. Three gunmen hired to protect the town taunt and threaten him; he kills all three with little effort. Schnabel, a consummate, For many years my wife and Iwould hike the mountainsthe Rockies when we lived in Alberta, and the North Shore and, Copyright 2002-2023 Hendrik Slegtenhorst. It is the first Western film that he both directed and starred in. Starring: Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill Watch all you want. You see, Lago is a town with a past. Please enter your birth date to watch this video: You are not allowed to view this material at this time. High Plains Drifter. on Twitter: "@shane130 @JFowlerESPN I disagree he The drifter, or stranger, accepts an offer to help the townsfolk defend against the three gunmen who have recently been released from prison and are on their way to cause havoc. Written by Ernest Tidyman, who was a bit of an uncategorizable genre schizophrenic himself having already written both the Blaxploitation classic Shaft and earned a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for The French Connection, High Plains Drifter is a haunting and haunted supernatural revenge story about a mysterious, cigarillo-chewing man with no name (guess who?) By what name was High Plains Drifter (1973) officially released in India in Hindi? As he leaves, he paints over the town sign with a single word: "Hell". "[18], The film had its share of detractors. Duncan made a Faustian bargain with the devil. The, Cantata 182, composed in 1713, is for Palm Sunday, which is the first day of Holy Week and the Sunday before Easter, and. 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 have lost your good sense.