High Plains Drifter (1973)
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A mysterious stranger arrives in a corrupt mining town to deliver a brand of justice that borders on the supernatural.
The story
A mysterious, unnamed stranger rides out of the desert into the isolated mining town of Lago in the American Old West. After easily defeating three gunmen hired to protect the town, he is approached by the local council. They offer him anything he wants in exchange for protecting the town from a pair of outlaws, the Bridges and the Carlins, who are soon to be released from prison. The townspeople have a dark history with these outlaws, and the stranger's arrival creates a tense atmosphere of impending retribution in the frontier settlement.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
A mysterious stranger arrives in the mining town of Lago and defeats three local gunmen. He is then hired by the town council to protect them from the release of outlaws Stacey Bridges and the Carlin brothers. It is revealed the townspeople previously conspired to frame these outlaws for theft after they tried to shut down an illegal mine. The stranger accepts the job, taking over the local hotel and making several demands. After a series of violent encounters, including a confrontation with the townswoman Callie Travers and a deadly skirmish at the hotel, the stranger prepares the town for the outlaws' arrival by painting buildings red and changing the town sign to 'HELL'. When the outlaws arrive, the stranger leads them into a trap, ultimately killing them all. The film ends with the stranger riding away, leaving behind a sense of supernatural retribution, as it is revealed he may be the ghost of the former U.S. Marshal, Jim Duncan, who was betrayed by the townspeople.
- First release year
- 1973
- Runtime (minutes)
- 105
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Clint Eastwood
- Writers
- Ernest Tidyman · writer
- Cast and characters
- Clint Eastwood · The Stranger; Verna Bloom · Sarah Belding; Mariana Hill · Callie Travers; Billy Curtis · Mordecai; Mitchell Ryan · Dave Drake; Jack Ging · Morgan Allen; Stefan Gierasch · Mayor Jason Hobart; Ted Hartley · Lewis Belding
- Genres
- Western; Ghost; Vigilante
- Themes
- Retribution; Justice; Supernatural
- Tone and mood
- Sardonic; Somber; Violent
- Setting
- The American Old West in the mining town of Lago.
- Premise and plot tags
- Western; Revenge; Ghost Story
- Source material / true-story basis
- An original nine-page treatment.
- Content notes
- Violence
- Reception
- The film was critically acclaimed at the time of its initial release and remains popular, noted for its blend of humor, violence, and atmospheric tension.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 91% · scale: percent · review count: 33; Metacritic · score: 69% · scale: percent · review count: 10
- Awards and nominations
- 10 Top 10 · Nominated Western Film · 2008 · Nominated
- Production trivia
- The film was the first Western that Clint Eastwood both directed and starred in.; The graveyard set included tombstones for directors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel as a tribute.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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