I'm 98% sure the idea for this is drawn from that movie. 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. 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. Dialogue earlier in the film, and the final scene with Mordecai strongly imply, however, that he's. 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. | 3,224 IMDb 7.4 1 h 45 min 1973. [9], The character of Marshal Duncan was played by Buddy Van Horn, Eastwood's long-time stunt double, to suggest that he and the Stranger could be the same person. The Malpaso Company. 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. [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. I mean, theres horses and saloons and tumbleweeds. The three gunmen all get what they deserve, but the first one to die, Cole, is whipped to death just as the Marshal was. 1999 . Submissions should be for the purpose of informing or initiating a discussion, not just to entertain readers. 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". But more than anything, its a ghost story (if you choose to see it that wayand I do) in frontier drag. 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. Of course, another possibility is that the Stranger is. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. 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. Copyright Fandango. Not for nothing did it earn a controversial X rating in the U.K. when it opened there. As we slowly learn in an onion-peel haze of almost-psychedelic flashbacks and dream sequences, the townsfolk silently watched as three of its scuzziest citizens brutally whipped Lagos marshal, Jim Duncan, to death. "[14] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 stars out of 4 and wrote, "What does work very well indeed is Eastwood's presence, personal style, and direction. 0786484217 . He favored a less explicit and more supernatural interpretation, and excised the reference. With Eastwood, the cigar seemed to work as a brake on a temper that was quick to favor violence. The Stranger lures one of the Carlin brothers outside and whips him to death, then kills the remaining outlaws one at a time. Holes in the plot were filled in with black humor and allegory, influenced by Sergio Leone. 1558491201 . Wayne wrote back saying this movie is terrible because of the violence and it's revisionist portrayal of westerns. Jefferson, N.C . "[18], The film had its share of detractors. Meanwhile, a group of outlaws are about to return to the town and take their revenge. Read critic reviews. 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. She's standing less than 8 feet away from him, but he simply ducks under the water and comes out completely unscathed. [25], American musician Kirk Hammett included a song named High Plains Drifter, which takes its title from the film, on his 2022 extended play, Portals. When the drifter rides into Lago, he is met with incredulity and disapproval by the townspeople. Its plot is nothing out of the ordinary but its given a supernatural and sadistic treatment that makes it stand out from the crowd. High Plains Drifter 1973 | Maturity Rating: 16+ | 1h 45m | Westerns Unavailable on an ad-supported plan due to licensing restrictions. Marshal, being whipped to death by outlaws Stacey Bridges and brothers Dan and Cole Carlin, as Lago's citizens watch in silence. 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. Starring: Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill Watch all you want. Much is explored in regards to the townsfolk not doing anything when they are oppressed or when oppression becomes apparent to them. 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. The townspeople are scared of him, and three gunmen try, unsuccessfully, to kill him. He later orders the hotel owners, Lewis and Sarah Belding, and all the other guests to vacate the premises, leaving him its sole occupant. Coming Soon. Under a joint production between Malpaso and Universal, the original screenplay was written by Ernest Tidyman, who had won a Best Screenplay Oscar for The French Connection.[6]. Even when the film is traditional in structure, it's often distancing, for Eastwood's quiet directorial intensity is often more quiet than intense, and therefore more dry than Eastwood can handle as a sophomore directorial storytelling, resulting in dullness that is the biggest issue of the final product. English, Director: It was one generations Great Western Star reaching his hand out to the previous generations. Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story: Season 1. Too bad, this movie is better than 95 percent of John Wayne's movies. The jail-freed trio realizes too late that he's after vengeance for the whip-torment they inflicted on weakling Marshal Jim Duncan (Buddy Van Horn) years ago, still the stranger's daily nightmare. Kapsis; Coblentz, Kathie . But the three worst the town ever saw, which they were hired to check, are being released from jail. He favored a less explicit and more supernatural interpretation, and excised the reference. In the final scene, the Stranger rides his horse out of town into the hot undulating waves of the desert and disappears. Portions of the town aflame in the night produce the backdrop of the lake of fire. That being said, we never see any miners. The Stranger is then shown painting "HELL" over the Lago town sign. . (2) The stranger was Marshal Jim Duncan himself come back to exact his revenge (perhaps through a deal with the devil.). 1-57806-070-2 . 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. University of Massachusetts Press . This 10-digit number is your confirmation number. 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 . When they ask if they can come to the "fiesta", he says no. How do the stores make any money if strangers keep getting driven out? 2011 . It's also a pretty violent business that won't disappoint the millions who flocked to the Leone westerns. It's Me, Margaret. More straightforward when Morgan punches out Mordecai. and the 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. Your Ticket Confirmation # is located under the header in your email that reads "Your Ticket Reservation Details". "[17] Tom Zito of The Washington Post called it "an enjoyable, well-constructed work that suffers only from a slightly tedious tone that makes the film seem longer than its 105 minutes. 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. Is dad a fan of action-packed movies from the wild, wild west? 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". Brutal story-line which is about as close to an explicit allegory as the western has ever come. Tidyman's screenplay was inspired by the real-life murder of Kitty Genovese in Queens in 1964, which eyewitnesses reportedly stood by and watched. "[19] John Wayne criticized the film's iconoclastic approach; in a letter to Eastwood, he wrote, "That isn't what the West was all about. Please enter your birth date to watch this video: You are not allowed to view this material at this time. [7], Complete buildings, rather than facades, were built, so that Eastwood could shoot interior scenes on the site. Regal Cinemark In this Western, a drifter with no name (Clint Eastwood) wanders into a small town, where his gun-slinging abilities are in high demand. 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. All rights reserved, including educational use. 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. These people want protection, but theres no salvation for them. Sep 7, 2010, Runtime: In some details they will seem inappropriate at the moment but it is not wasted. Payback! Clint Eastwood: Interviews . 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. The, Cantata 182, composed in 1713, is for Palm Sunday, which is the first day of Holy Week and the Sunday before Easter, and. The camera then reveals the name on the grave marker to read "Marshall Jim Duncan, Rest In Peace." [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. "I never did know your name" "Yes you do", as the camera pans to show the previous marshal's gravestone and name. 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. [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. It is bad. But he has a score of his own to settle. 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. The goal of /r/Movies is to provide an inclusive place for discussions and news about films with major releases. 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. | 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. It's the story of a mysterious, crack-shot out-of-towner paid handsomely to protect an idyllic California . This film just feels mean, and the nastiness all comes from the character of the stranger. That, however, is small comfort as this cold, gory and overthought movie unfolds. Eastwood's direction is overambitious and undercooked at the same time, but when middleground is found, it's hard to deny the potential which has since gone on to be fulfilled more tightly by the talented filmmaker, who sells a fair bit offscreen here, though not as much as he does onscreen.
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