The outlaws arrive and easily overcome the poor resistance of the townspeople; the defenders are all killed, while the survivors are rounded up in the saloon. we cut to a shot of the Stranger, seemingly implying. (2) The stranger was Marshal Jim Duncan himself come back to exact his revenge (perhaps through a deal with the devil.). It's the story of a mysterious, crack-shot out-of-towner paid handsomely to protect an idyllic California . 2009 . 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. "I never did know your name" "Yes you do", as the camera pans to show the previous marshal's gravestone and name. Finally, the High Plains Drifter script is here for all you quotes spouting fans of the Clint Eastwood movie. Before he could despair over his flailing, fledgling career, he would be saved by the Westerna genre that immediately fit him like a bespoke duster. Universal Pictures, Beastie BoysPaul's Boutique 2009 Capitol Records, LLC and Beastie BoysReleased on: 1989-07. 2011 . For more information, please see our Though his laconic sense of humor often drags out the pacing of the movie, Eastwood uses his camera with intelligence and flair. High Plains Drifter (1973) - Plot - IMDb Hes never been as thematically oblique or stylistically flashy (unless you consider his lack of flash to be flashy). Chris Nashawaty is a writer, editor, critic, and author of books about Roger Corman & Caddyshack. Not for nothing did it earn a controversial X rating in the U.K. when it opened there. Slaughter may be by burning, beheading, or throttling. "You know," Mordecai says, "I never did know your name." ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. It's Me, Margaret. Upon arriving, the Stranger has a lucid and graphic dream about Jim Duncan's death, in which Duncan declares damnation upon the townspeople for not saving his life. Jefferson, N.C . Theme by, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), J.S. Revelation 21:8 reads: But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.. When they ask if they can come to the "fiesta", he says no. [3] The film was influenced by the work of Eastwood's two major collaborators, film directors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. With Eastwood, the cigar seemed to work as a brake on a temper that was quick to favor violence. Three hired "town security" gunmen taunt and threaten him; he kills all three with little effort. As he leaves, he paints over the town sign with a single word: "Hell". 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. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. 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. The text is Martin Luthers. Anti-heroes are still common, but with stronger roles for women and more-sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans and Mexicans. That, however, is small comfort as this cold, gory and overthought movie unfolds. [8] Over 50 technicians and construction workers built an entire town14 houses, a church, and a two-story hotelin 18 days, using 150,000 feet of lumber. That night, in his hotel room, the Stranger dreams of Jim Duncan, a federal marshal, being whipped to death by outlaws Stacey Bridges and brothers Dan and Cole Carlin, as Lago's citizens watch in silence. Before the film is finished fire is raging throughout the town and everyone who was involved in the Marshall whipping gets some kind of upcommance for their actions. I didn't say 0 TDs for your 1 is good. The angel of death, who is the Satan depicted in Paradise Lost, is not inherently evil, being created by God, but is that creation of God who Himself contends with evil, and, indeed, tempts it. "[20] John Wayne criticized the film's iconoclastic approach; in a letter to Eastwood, he wrote, "That isn't what the West was all about. 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. . 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. Book: Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra . He favored a less explicit and more supernatural interpretation, and excised the reference. It didn't thrill me or anything, but it did keep my attention from start-to-finish so it's evidently a good film. John Wiley & Sons . "It's just an allegory," Eastwood said, "a speculation on what happens when they go ahead and kill the sheriff, and somebody comes back and calls the town's conscience to bear. Read critic reviews. 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 directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Ernest Tidyman and stars Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom and Mariana Hill. This 10-digit number is your confirmation number. The film was shot on location on the shores of Mono Lake, California. That, however, is small comfort as this cold, gory and overthought movie unfolds. By creating an account, you agree to the Speaking about the composition, Hammett said he didn't set out to write a song based on the movie, but upon finishing it, he realized it "conveyed the same sentiment as the film, so the piece was christened accordingly. 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". Watch High Plains Drifter | Netflix This uncertainty is kind of understandable, as Eastwood must work hard to transcend natural shortcomings to this minimalist narrative, which is still meaty, yet would have seemed meatier if style didn't also come with its own immediately questionable elements. But High Plains Drifter is daring, weird and wonderful. [19], Nigel Andrews of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that "after Play Misty For Me, High Plains Drifter emerges as a disappointingly sterile exercise in style, suggesting that the first thing Eastwood should do as a director is forget the lessons he has learned from other film-makers and start to forge a convincing style of his own. Can the mysterious gunfighter without a name stop the three outlaws? Belding, aiming a shotgun at the Stranger's back, is shot dead by Mordecai. As an actor, he is probably better than he allows himself to be. A nameless stranger rides into a small town and immediately kills three gunmen. who rides into the small mining town of Lago and immediately begins to toy with the locals, playing judge, jury, and executioner for their sins. He passed through this small town a long time ago. High Plains Drifter - YouTube Over the course of the movie, Eastwoods Stranger acts as if hes Lagos savior, but hes not interested in protecting them, he wants them to pay for Duncans murder. All rights reserved, including educational use. High Plains Drifter Is Clint Eastwood's Mysterious, Overlooked Masterpiece Before he was known as a conservative filmmaker (both stylistically and politically), he made this strange and. He later orders the hotel owners, Lewis and Sarah Belding, and all the other guests to vacate the premises, leaving him its sole occupant. [11], "It's just an allegory," Eastwood said, "a speculation on what happens when they go ahead and kill the sheriff, and somebody comes back and calls the town's conscience to bear. Jefferson, N.C . 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. A mysterious, unnamed stranger rides out of the desert, wearing a duster & black hat, into the isolated, lake mining town of Lago in the American Old West. "[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. Movies. High Plains Drifter is Western star Clint Eastwoods first attempt at directing one of his own westerns. 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. Stay up-to-date on all the latest Rotten Tomatoes news! The townspeople are scared of him, and three gunmen try, unsuccessfully, to kill him. 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. When the drifter rides into Lago, he is met with incredulity and disapproval by the townspeople. High Plains Drifter (1973) on IMDb: Movies, TV, Celebs, and more. 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. Before he was known as a conservative filmmaker (both stylistically and politically), he made this strange and surreal Western. Mostly asked to project a sense of corruption amidst a feeling of liberation from the shackles of morality, most everyone in this cast does fine, with Eastwood predictably stealing the show, with a formulaic, but still-effective portrayal of an intensely charismatic, yet chillingly enigmatic man with no name, or at least a name that is not said, just assumed. High Plains Drifter is a 1973 Western directed by (and starring) Clint Eastwood, with a screenplay by Ernest Tidyman (The French Connection, Shaft). Meanwhile, the best you can say for High Plains Drifter is that the title is a low pun. 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. Bach: Cantata 182, at Palm Sunday Hope Returns to Rejoice, J.S. The film was critically acclaimed at the time of its initial release and remains popular. Additional scenes were filmed at Reno, Nevada's Winnemucca Lake and California's Inyo National Forest. We wont be able to verify your ticket today, but its great to know for the future. In an era when New Hollywood movie-brat auteurs grasped for Art, Eastwood seemed to unconsciously position himself as their antithesis. It is bad. 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. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Whats most notable is how Eastwood holds fast to the rebel spirit of the spaghetti Westerns and revisionist New Hollywood Westerns of the previous decade, but packages it in a film thats slicker and more mainstream-friendly. That isn't the American people who settled this country. Metacritic Reviews. The scene disturbs more than the death by gun fire, only momentarily earlier, of three men by the same stranger who rapes the woman. "Clint Back in Saddle in 'Drifter'". If you can look past the dated sexual politics, this is a deeply cynical deconstruction of the romanticized western. After scouting locations alone in a pickup truck in Oregon, Nevada and California,[7] he settled on the "highly photogenic" Mono Lake area. Book: Ruffles, Tom . In addition to the cruel nature of the film there is a surprising supernatural element at play. 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. Says the paradox: to save the just, you must make a pact with the Devil. . An American Journey: Issues and Themes . Additional scenes were filmed at Reno, Nevada's Winnemucca Lake and California's Inyo National Forest. Not the townspeople, not the villains, not even the "anti-hero" at the center. The goal of /r/Movies is to provide an inclusive place for discussions and news about films with major releases. Over the years, a number of fans have asked where was High Plain Drifter filmed. 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. Morrisville . Get the freshest reviews, news, and more delivered right to your inbox! It's also a pretty violent business that won't disappoint the millions who flocked to the Leone westerns. I hope hes wrong, or just being playfully cryptic. High Plains Drifter is a 1973 American Western film directed by Clint Eastwood, written by Ernest Tidyman, and produced by Robert Daley for The Malpaso Compa. 2023 METACRITIC, A FANDOM COMPANY. Will the town's leaders convince the mysterious man to help? As he leaves, he paints over the town sign with a single word: "Hell". It is gradually revealed that the townspeople hired these 'outlaws' to murder Duncan when he discovered the local gold mine was illegally on government land and would have to be closed, destroying the town's livelihood. "Mortal combat, East and West". Anushka Pathania. The CulturalRites article on his most interesting film is available here. And two decades before Eastwood would win Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for his return to the genre with the twilight apologia Unforgiven, he still hadnt begun to grapple with the regrets and ramifications of shoot-first-ask-questions-later Old West violence. As night falls and the town burns, it looks like the outlaws are getting the better hand. Cookie policy. A stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides out of the hot desert into a small town in the wild west. Storytelling style is questionable, but make no mistake, musical and visual styles are never less than solid, even when handled in the context of storytelling. The Stranger accepts the job and takes full advantage of the deal: he appoints a downtrodden dwarf named Mordecai as both sheriff and mayor, provides a Native American and his children with blankets and candy when the shopkeeper refuses to serve them, gets a new saddle and boots, and forces the saloon to serve everyone free drinks.
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