Haven Anyone Seen Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter movie?

I am not normally all that into westerns, but I thought that I would give this one a shot on the advice of Pete.

Where to start...

Eastwood's best work? Quite possibly.

There was a lot more depth here than your average western (or your average film, for that matter). I'm not even sure where to begin describing this picture.

The opening scene in the barbershop was intense and there were several great action scenes, but I really enjoyed the ending, even though I'm not exactly sure what he was getting at. I don't want to give too much away, so I won't make any direct comments about what happened.

I will say that I'm pretty sure that I know 'who' Eastwood was, as I thought they made it relatively obvious in the last scene. I was confused on the whole painting the town thing, though. Obviously, the color had some deeper significance than just the obvious (as was painted on the sign).

Also, I now know what the Three Amigos was parodying at the end when they had all of the townspeople chipping in to prepare for 'El Guapo.' I couldn't help but to think about that several times.

This is clearly a classic, though... A must-see for any film buff, regardless of whether you are 'into' westerns or not.

90/100

To be quite honest, after multiple viewings, High Plains Drifter has officially made my top 10 all time.

Spoilers:

Was he the murdered sheriff reincarnated? Is he Death himself? Or is he simply a past friend coming for revenge? I've seen this movie 4 times now, and I know I'll see it many more than that eventually, but each time I've watched it, I've come out with the same questions. I don't know.

And...I thought about it in a few days....

Spoilers:

The impression that I got was that he was sort of like the Anton Chigurh character... The picture of death. I also flirted with the idea of him being the murdered sheriff's son... Which would have explained why he made it a point to say that 'you know who I am' when the little guy was casting the grave stone.... If he was a son of the same name, the guy would have literally been writing HIS name whilst asking him who he was.

But, I settled on the Chigurh angle. It is the only thing that I could think of that would have explained painting the town red or setting up those picnic tables (a clear reference to the Last Supper).

I'm not totally convinced, though... There are a lot of different ways to think about it and that is why it is such a great movie. I watched it three nights ago and I've been thinking about it ever since.

Check out the Spoilers Tag; looks like you'd find it useful.

Yes, I've seen High Plains Drifter many times, and yes, it is one of Clint's better Westerns. As for who exactly The Stranger is, Eastwood has purposefully never quite answered it publicly when asked, but it's rather silly of him not to as its perfectly clear from the evidence in the film that he is the murdered Sheriff reincarnated as an avenging Angel. Too many supernatural things occur during the narrative, and he has a flashback to the night of the killing. If he was a brother or some other relative, obviously he could not have a detailed memory of that night from that point of view, especially as the townspeople don't even speak of it amongst themselves, much less somebody who could have told it second hand to this drifter. He tells Mordecai that he knows his name as he's finally marking a proper grave for the Sheriff: it's frippin' spelled out in the end! Literally. Yet some want to play the game of 'who is he?' Fine. Maybe he's his brother or second cousin who has the dead man's memories and can magically disappear when his room is dynamited. It's possible...if you reject the evidence given in the narrative.

And check out the thread devoted entirely to Eastwood the director HERE.

__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

It's number 50 in my top 100 and when I redo my list, it'll probably be closer to the top 20... so, yeah, I've seen it a few times...

As to who he was, I'm with Holden on that one...

__________________

Well put.

I agree with everything Holden says. Because I was going to say everything he just said but in a lot shorter form and with very bad grammer.

I think it may be his strongest if not one of his strongest directorial/acted film that most people won`t give a chance. For the very reason that it is a western. It`s obvious he`s an avenging angel or manifested spirit but it's freakin cool.

It's an excellent film. In fact, it's so good, that it's one of very few westerns that I actually think is really good.

It's a great movie, and one that I've always thought of as sort of a ghost story.

Clint Eastwood re-visited the ideas from High Plains Drifter in Pale Rider. Not as good a film in my opinion, but still worth seeing.

For Eastwood's penultimate post-Sergio Leone western, try The Unforgiven. It won an Oscar for best picture, and for once the Academy got it right that year.

__________________
Popcorn A web comic about movies.

That's close. The Unforgiven is a 1960 John Huston western with Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn, Audie Murphy, and many others involving a Kiowa girl who's adopted by whites, but the Kiowas decide they want her back. Eastwood's flick is simply Unforgiven, and it's a deserving Oscar winner, but I don't find it as good as his follow-up western to High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales.

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

The Outlaw Josey Wales trumps High Plains Drifter, but is a tad under Unforgiven for me.

And as Holden mentioned, it is clear who the stranger is in the film.

__________________
"A candy colored clown!"
Member since Fall 2002
Top 100 Films, clicky below

http://www.movieforums.com/community...ad.php?t=26201

not yet. I must see this movie very soon.