High Plains Drifter

High Plains Drifter is a 1973 Western movie starring and directed by Clint Eastwood, wherein he reprises his Man with No Name role. This movie is not only morally complex in the manner of the spaghetti westerns Eastwood had made his reputation in earlier, but it introduces the environmental themes that were to appear in a number of Eastwood's later movies. (It is unknown whether filming this movie on the shores of Mono Lake was deliberate, although this movie displays many deliberate touches.) High Plains Drifter was written by Ernest Tidyman.

Related Topics:
1973 - Western movie - Clint Eastwood - Man with No Name - Spaghetti western - Environmental - Mono Lake - Ernest Tidyman

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The movie opens as has countless other Westerns: out of the shimmering haze of the horizon, a lone horseman rides into town. The townspeople eye him warily, and the crack of a teamster's whip serves to show how tense the air is.

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The Stranger enters a bar for a beer and a bottle of whiskey. He is challenged by three gunslingers -- only to turn his back and walk away from them. They follow him to the barbershop across the street, where he surprises them and shoots all three dead in an explosion of bullets. Then, insulted by a local woman, he drags her into the livery stable and rapes her. The next day, she tries to kill him while he takes a bath. "Wonder what took her so long to get mad?" asks the puzzled stranger; "Because maybe you didn't go back for more?" replies an onlooker.

Related Topics:
Gunslinger - Livery stable - Rape

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By this point, it is clear this is no longer just a typical western.

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Three felons, who are to be released from the jail in Yuma in a few days, are expected to return to the town of Lago and wreak havoc. In desperation the town hires the Stranger's help in return for "anything he might want".

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We learn that the town and the three felons are linked by an illegal mine, and that they killed the previous town marshal to keep him quiet. (The felons had been framed for theft of gold from the mine in order to keep them quiet about their part in the marshal's death.)

Related Topics:
Mine - Marshal

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This tale of vengeance eventually revolves around the Stranger and his bizarre demands and activities. Eastwood's character extracts a steep price for his help with the three returning felons: by the film's end, the town is in ruins, many of the prominent citizens are dead or missing, but the men the town has feared are dead too.

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The question that has tormented the townspeople through the movie -- who is the Stranger? -- is addressed cryptically at the end. Leaving town, the Stranger encounters Mordecai, the town outcast, finishing a grave marker apparently at the Stranger's request. Mordecai says to him, "I never did know your name." The Stranger replies, "Yes, you do." Mordecai blanches at the answer, and as the Stranger returns to the shimmering haze of the horizon, the camera pans over the grave marker to reveal the murdered marshal's name.

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