Cookie policy. Meanwhile, the best you can say for High Plains Drifter is that the title is a low pun. The next morning, Sarah tells the Stranger that Duncan cannot rest in peace because the town buried him in an unmarked grave. Much is explored in regards to the townsfolk not doing anything when they are oppressed or when oppression becomes apparent to them. When Clint Eastwood was on "In the Actors Studio" he said the stranger was Marshall Duncan's brother. This, An astounding composition, that still reveals more of itself six decades after I first heard it. McFarland . The Stranger lures one of the Carlin brothers outside and whips him to death, then kills the remaining outlaws one by one. 1h 45m, Production Co: Sep 7, 2010, Runtime: That, however, is small comfort as this cold, gory and overthought movie unfolds. He's nearer now, a bearded man in a dark cowboy hat and long dusty overcoat--the Stranger (. The film was shot on location on the shores of Mono Lake, California. The original script identified him as the marshal's brother. 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. High Plains Drifter Is Clint Eastwood's Mysterious, Overlooked Masterpiece. 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. This most interesting film is a story of the avenging angel, who comes to the town of Lago (lake), which is indeed on the shore of a lake, and proceeds to mete out brutal retribution. High Plains Drifter is a 1973 Western directed by (and starring) Clint Eastwood, with a screenplay by Ernest Tidyman (The French Connection, Shaft). Ghost Images: Cinema of the Afterlife . "Clint Back in Saddle in 'Drifter'". Whatever he is, hes definitely one of the most memorable characters Easwoods played, and thats saying something. It is the first Western film that he both directed and starred in. If there's ever an actor that would sell me in watching a western, that man would be Clint Eastwood. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. [citation needed], Universal released the R-rated High Plains Drifter in the United States in April 1973, and the film eventually grossed $15.7 million domestically,[3] 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. Additional scenes were filmed at Reno, Nevada's Winnemucca Lake and California's Inyo National Forest. (Photo: Hendrik, Akira Kurosawa : Ran. [10] The Italian, Spanish, French and German dubbings restored it. Now, with those murderers just released from prison, they want Eastwoods Stranger to defend them. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The scene where Clint Eastwood is about to get his clean shave is honestly cinema at it's best. Dee Barton wrote the film score. Starring: Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill Watch all you want. It is the first Western film that he both directed and starred in. Think of the miners as working in the mines and therefore unseen during the day. Elements include a darker, more cynical tone, with focus on the lawlessness of the time period, favouring realism over romanticism. Well, the big difference with this particular "man with no name" character is that no one dubs Eastwood in Italian, and there is way more weird stuff surrounding him then there ever was in a Sergio Leone western. the townspeople had the marshal killed. This cantata, from 1725, begins, effectively, as musical reminiscence and narrative longing, a continuation of where the St. Fra Angelico : Resurrection of Christ and Women at the Tomb (1440-41), Fresco, Convento di San Marco, Florence. Robert Daley, Writer: Fra Angelico (circa 1440-45) March 25th is the feast of the annunciation of Mary, for which Bach composed his cantata BWV 1. Kapsis; Coblentz, Kathie . 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. High Plains Drifter begins in a way that should be immediately recognizable to anyone even remotely familiar with the genre: a stranger rides into town. Dee Barton's score is genuinely refreshing, capturing the supernatural feel of the film through a fusion of classic western themes and a whimsy which ranges from colorful to rather intense, while Bruce Surtees' cinematography, despite being not quite as playful as Barton's still-underused efforts, is also attractive in its bleakness, with a rugged palette over gritty art direction by Henry Bumstead. Eastwood could finally say goodbye to the small screen once and for all. It's never revealed who the drifter is, but it's implied that he's the Devil, or the Angel of Death, or the ghost of Marshal Duncan - either way, it's at least a little supernatural, and very. 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.. Stay up-to-date on all the latest Rotten Tomatoes news! It was a hit. [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. [13], 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. The sleepy Wild West mining town of Lago, named after a local lake, is shaken up when a tough stranger (Clint Eastwood) stands up to the local gun champions and kills them in an uneven duel. Because maybe you didn't go back for more? I didn't say 0 TDs for your 1 is good. Here its different though, and we see the cruel behaviour for what it is, even if some of the victims deserve retribution. I love High Plains Drifter, and I adore Eastwood, but the scene conveys the mindset of a writer/director who has zero clue about the psychological implications of sexual assault. Copyright Fandango. It was Eastwood's second film as director, and the first Western he directed. A gunfighting 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. I'm 98% sure the idea for this is drawn from that movie. and 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. 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. A series of events soon has the townspeople questioning whether siding with the Stranger was a wise idea, as they quickly learn the price that they each must pay for his services. You're almost there! Anushka Pathania. Machoism is also a meaty theme of most westerns but that is given a slap to the face also in the film. Ernest Tidyman's script has some raw violence for the kinks, some dumb humor for audience relief, and lots of arch characterizations befitting the serio-comic-strip nature of the plot. The allegory cant get blunter then him literally put up a signpost that says hell and have the town paint all the buildings red. It's Me, Margaret. A gunfighting 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. 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. Clint Eastwood is the ultimate thinking mans cinematic killing machine. Although hed already appeared in more than a dozen often-uncredited, blink-and-youll-miss-them parts by 1959, Eastwoods career was salvaged when he was cast that year as Rowdy Yates on the hit TV oater, Rawhide. 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. 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 . Portions of the town aflame in the night produce the backdrop of the lake of fire. We wont be able to verify your ticket today, but its great to know for the future. All rights reserved. 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. Beastie BoysPaul's Boutique 2009 Capitol Records, LLC and Beastie BoysReleased on: 1989-07. 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." Scan this QR code to download the app now. Westerns often have mysterious, strong silent protagonists but high plains drifter might have gone as far as to have the stranger be some kind of spectre or ghost, sent to the town to punish them for their sins. The Stranger replies, "Yes, you do." A film version broadcast on the Sundance Channel in 2020 has a few words noticeably cut out. 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. High Plains Drifter: Official Clip - He Shot My Ear Off! He favored a less explicit and more supernatural interpretation, and excised the reference. 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. The townspeople are scared of him, and three gunmen try, unsuccessfully, to kill him. The leading role is Christs. 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. It was Eastwood's second film as director, and the first Western he directed. 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". He then rides out of town without explanation, following the wounded Morgan. Theres one last reason why I adore High Plains Drifter and it really has nothing to do with what happens on screen. Nowadays, we tend to think of Eastwood as a pretty conservative filmmaker. The Stranger accepts seemingly reluctantly, to be put in charge of order and mounting a defense, recruiting the factotum dwarf as his Deputy. 2.75/5 - Decent. 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. 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 . But like a Broadway-trained thespian who periodically returns to the stage to keep his or her instincts honed, Eastwood would keep circling back to the genre that had first forged his mythology in a crucible of six-shooters and squinting glances, the Western. Cinema Detours . Eastwood reportedly liked the offbeat quality of the film's original nine-page proposal and approached Universal with the idea of directing it. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from [email protected]. The film stars Eastwood as a mysterious stranger who metes out justice in a corrupt frontier mining town. The film was well received by many critics, and rates 94% positive on Rotten Tomatoes based on 32 reviews. Eastwood reportedly liked the offbeat quality of the film's original nine-page proposal and approached Universal with the idea of directing it. Terms and Policies User Ratings Tidyman's screenplay was inspired by the real-life murder of Kitty Genovese in Queens in 1964, which eyewitnesses reportedly stood by and watched. Not in 2023" 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. One of my favorites from back in the day. I don't suppose the film, running only a little over 100 minutes, is too draggy, but there are a few overdrawn set pieces, some of which are a little forceful in a manner which makes the implied twists sort of obvious sooner that they ostensibly should be, or at least leaves the plot to outstay its welcome enough to hit formulaic moments. Fordham University Press . . Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is Copyright 2009-2022, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Bach, Cantata 1 Feast of the Annunciation of Mary, Caravaggios Dagger A Pursuit of Right Action, Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden Of the Pilgrimage of Life, Constellations of Desire Book Three of Solitary Ethics, Beethoven Piano Sonata 29 in B, Op. 6275 . Rarely are humble westerns permitted to drift around on such a highfalutin plane. Why Does Bruce Willis Make Movies He Hates? Meanwhile, the best you can say for High Plains Drifter is that the title is a low pun. Book: McGilligan, Patrick . Universal Pictures, "@shane130 @JFowlerESPN I disagree he would be good in 1975. 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. Anyway Clint Eastwood stars in and directs HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER which is a mystery western and quite dark, bloody and cool. Callie and several men including Morgan Allen conspire to kill the Stranger. Did he want to be a stripped-down bareknuckle filmmaker like Siegel, or a baroque allegorist like Leone? Rarely are humble westerns permitted to drift around on such a highfalutin plane. Because its a far more interesting movie the further you get away from its Western-ness and the more it steps into the realm of spectral, mystical Tales from the Crypt pulp. 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. "Eastwood Again". And Eastwood takes that Old Testament theme of payback for cowardice, hypocrisy, and inaction and grafts it onto the genre that he knew in his marrow. The scene disturbs more than the death by gun fire, only momentarily earlier, of three men by the same stranger who rapes the woman. The Best, Craziest, Weirdest Moments From Cannes, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Not for nothing did it earn a controversial X rating in the U.K. when it opened there. >> http://bit.ly/24NeaTM 367 42 comments 73 shares Most relevant Wendy Banks Nice 2y 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. Flashbacks to Marshal Duncan's murder showed Cole wearing the biggest grin; he's definitely not smiling when he gets on the wrong end of the bullwhip, but. Meanwhile, he picks up a brush to drip the letters H-E-L-L in crimson on a signpost at Lagos border. He later orders the hotel owners, Lewis and Sarah Belding, and all the other guests to vacate the premises, leaving him its sole occupant. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. And in 1971, he finally got his shot with the paranoia-drenched Fatal Attraction prototype Play Misty for Me. 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. High Plains Drifter: Official Clip - Lago is Hell, High Plains Drifter: Official Clip - I'm the Sheriff and the Mayor, High Plains Drifter: Official Clip - A Whipping Revenge, High Plains Drifter: Official Clip - He Shot My Ear Off, High Plains Drifter: Official Clip - A Shave and a Shootout. In an interview, Eastwood said that earlier versions of the script made the Stranger the dead marshal's brother. Ernest Tidyman's script has some raw violence for the kinks, some dumb humor for audience relief, and lots of arch characterizations befitting the serio-comic-strip nature of the plot. 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 Company and Universal Pictures. University of Massachusetts Press . With the possible exception of John Wayne, no actor was more synonymous with the movie Western during the second half of the 20th Century than Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood's orchestration of subtle stylization begets subtle color that rarely allows entertainment value to slip too far, and when slow spells do enter, upon being met with a genuine sense of thoughtfulness, rather than the dryness which plagues this drama as much as anything, they bite, with high tension. But looking back now, Id say that Eastwood comes out of that exchange looking like the victor. In some details they will seem inappropriate at the moment but it is not wasted. Still, its Eastwoods flashbacks to Duncans murder-by-bullwhip that are even more horrifyingand technically dazzling thanks to Bruce Surtees fever-dream cinematography, Dee Bartons eerie score, and Eastwoods decision to have his longtime stunt double, Buddy Van Horn, play Duncan, making the physical similarities between Duncan and the Stranger all the more creepy. In High Plains Drifter, the Stranger is all but a Devil in a film brimming with nihilism; in Pale Rider, very much the positive to that film's negative, morals aren't quite so out of reach, and the Preacher is gradually revealed to be something of a Christ figure. Regal 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". Drifter is lauded as being one of the very first revisionist westerns as opposed to the classic traditional westerns. 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 . The film stars Eastwood as a mysterious stranger who metes out justice in a corrupt frontier mining town. Before he was known as a conservative filmmaker (both stylistically and politically), he made this strange and surreal Western. [8] The film was completed in six weeks, two days ahead of schedule, and under budget. After Belding says "It couldn't be worse if the devil himself had ridden into Lago!" Though his laconic sense of humor often drags out the pacing of the movie, Eastwood uses his camera with intelligence and flair. Chris Nashawaty is a writer, editor, critic, and author of books about Roger Corman & Caddyshack. But the three worst the town ever saw, which they were hired to check, are being released from jail. That being said, we never see any miners. 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. 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. The Easter, In the afternoon of April 13th I spent six hours re-familiarizing myself with Killarney, in the southeast of the city. Book: Gentry, Ric . It's the story of a mysterious, crack-shot out-of-towner paid handsomely to protect an idyllic California . 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. Hes a mysterious fellow, cool and gruff looking and noticeably viler than the usual Eastwood western character. Theme by, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), J.S. A mysterious, unnamed stranger rides out of the desert into the isolated mining town of Lago in the American Old West. It's also a pretty violent business that won't disappoint the millions who flocked to the Leone westerns. The premise of the movie is basically this; (spoiler) Clint Eastwood plays a Marshall named Jim Duncan. "[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. Clint Eastwood: Interviews . The narrative concept is minimalist in scale, and the interpretation gets flimsy, but this story of a stranger gracing, then growing to corrupt ad plague and strange land carries intriguing mystery, in addition to thought-provoking themes on temptation and placing faith in unpredictable features that are stronger than the film itself. Book: Ruffles, Tom . Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story: Season 1, Link to Marvel Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer, Link to RT25: Celebrating 25 Years of Rotten Tomatoes, Link to Prime Video Acquires J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves. I was mostly satisfied by the story as the more it went on the more I got interested. 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. Free (& Subscription) Games for All Platforms: New & Upcoming, What to Watch in May: 18 Notable TV Shows & Streaming Movies. Zito, Tom (May 29, 1973). 2023 METACRITIC, A FANDOM COMPANY. In this Western, a drifter with no name (Clint Eastwood) wanders into a small town, where his gun-slinging abilities are in high demand. [5], The 'ghost story' interpretation of the film favoured by Eastwood is hinted at strongly throughout the movie, suggesting that the Stranger may be the ghost of slain Federal Marshall Jim Duncan, returning for vengeance and justice; the beginning and end of the film sees the Stranger mysteriously emerge, apparition-like, as he rides into and out of Lago through a shimmering heat-haze. John Wiley & Sons . Anti-heroes are still common, but with stronger roles for women and more-sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans and Mexicans. [4] In addition to Eastwood, the film also co-stars Verna Bloom, Mariana Hill, Mitchell Ryan, Jack Ging, and Stefan Gierasch. 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. Yeah, I'm thinking that this guy doesn't so much drift the high plains, as much as he drifts the regular plains, while high, which would be appropriate, considering he is the prince of sin. with updates on movies, TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes podcast and more. we cut to a shot of the Stranger, seemingly implying. 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 he leaves, he paints over the town sign with a single word: "Hell". The next day, Lago's town council, needing to replace the three gunmen, offer the Stranger anything he wants to protect the town from Bridges and the Carlins, who will soon be released from prison. It's also a pretty violent business that won't disappoint the millions who flocked to the Leone westerns. Starring: Clint Eastwood,Verna Bloom,Marianna Hill. Belding, aiming a shotgun at the Stranger's back, is shot dead by Mordecai. Clint Eastwood's America . It is gradually revealed that the townspeople hired the outlaws to murder Duncan when he discovered that the local gold mine was illegally dug on government-owned land and would have to be closed, destroying the town's livelihood. But High Plains Drifter is daring, weird and wonderful. (2) The stranger was Marshal Jim Duncan himself come back to exact his revenge (perhaps through a deal with the devil.). 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. The Stranger assembles a group of citizens to defend the town, but soon realizes that none have the necessary "shooting" skills. hitchcockthelegend 20 July 2008 A lone gunman with no name and seemingly with no past, rides into the dusky town of Lago. But he took a what-the-hell gamble and flew to Spain to shoot the first installment in what would become Leones stylish, international sensation Man With No Name trilogy (which would also include 1965s For a Few Dollars More and 1966s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly). Three hired "town security" gunmen taunt and threaten him; he kills all three with little effort. 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. One of my absolute favorites. "You know," Mordecai says, "I never did know your name." "[16], Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a stylized, allegorical western of much chillingly paranoid atmosphere and considerable sardonic humor that confirms Eastwood's directorial flair. Given that he was mentored by the likes of Don Siegel and my personal favourite director Sergio Leone its no wonder that Eastwood went on to make hits like The Outlaw Josey Wales and Unforgiven. 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?) 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.
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