High Plains Drifter (1973) Review

 

A mysterious gunman arrives in the isolated town of Lago, where the uneasy townsfolk, desperate for protection from a band of returning outlaws, hire him as their reluctant saviour. What unfolds is a grim tale of guilt, violence, and spectral revenge.

Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter (1973) - his second directorial feature - remains his most eerie and unsettling Western. Written by Ernest Tidyman (The French Connection), the film leans heavily into gothic frontier mythology, blending the Western's dusty conventions with elements of the supernatural.

Bruce Surtees' cinematography captures the desolate, sun-baked landscapes of Mono Lake and the makeshift town, steeped in unease. Dee Barton's sparse, unnerving score deepens the tension, perfectly matching the film's sinister mood.

Eastwood is in commanding form as the nameless Stranger - cold, relentless, and ambiguous in motive. Verna Bloom brings brittle defiance to Sarah Belding, while Geoffrey Lewis impresses as the vicious Stacey Bridges. Marianna Hill adds an edge to her role as the manipulative Callie Travers.

The film's oppressive atmosphere builds to a surreal, violent showdown, as Lago becomes a hellish trap for both the townsfolk and their would-be tormentors. Pre The Unforgiven, Eastwood's directed Western trilogy, while it lacks the emotional heft of The Outlaw Josey Wales or the solemn elegance of Pale Rider, High Plains Drifter offers a raw, unsettling vision of frontier justice.

Overall, audacious, visually striking, and narratively sharp, it stands as Eastwood's most haunting Western - a grim, darkly memorable morality play about cowardice, consequence, and revenge.