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High Plains Drifter (1973)

Dir: Clint Eastwood

The lakeside mining town of 'Lago'.
One day a 'stranger' (Clint Eastwood) rides in, kills three men who start trouble, and makes himself at home.
The less than good people of 'Lago' have a bigger problem though.
Three outlaws, Stacey Bridges (Geoffrey Lewis), Bill Borders (Scott Walker) and Cole Carlin (Anthony James) are on there way to 'Lago' after being released from prison.
They are out for revenge after being set up for falsely stealing gold from the mine by the corrupt and powerful head of the mining company Dave Drake (Mitchell Ryan) with help from Hotel owner Lewis Belding (Ted Hartley) and storeowner Morgan Allen (Jack Ging), who were all pulling a scam against the mine that Bridges and his men were party to.

The townsfolk offer the 'stranger' anything and everything he wants if he will stay and take care of the outlaws.
He agrees to the deal and starts to turn the town upside down, taking what he wants, insulting anyone he wants and making any changes that he wants, like making the much picked on town midget Mordecai (Billy Curtis) the new Sheriff and Mayor.

But there is a deeper darker secret in 'Lago' about the night the town stood and watched while their young Sheriff was bullwhipped to death in the street by Bridges, Borders and Carlin…and little do the townsfolk know how that night has come back to haunt them as the 'stranger' makes his plans……

Eastwood's second Directorial project (after "Play Misty for Me) is one of his finest and is perhaps THE most successful mix of the traditional American Western and the more cynical and gritty take on the genre seen in the Italian/Spanish films that gave Eastwood his big break.

Eastwood's Spaghetti Western past (and schooling) is noticeable in a few ways in fact, like the sweaty and dusty faces of the townsfolk (including a few grimy close-ups), the realistically basic and dirty look to 'Lago' itself, parts of Dee Barton's excellent and haunting score (the drum heavy accompaniment to Bridges and his men riding through town during one of the flashbacks to the whipping is almost exactly the same as Morricone's score during the stake-out of the bank in "For a Few Dollars More"), and also in the far from simple take on who's good and who's bad.

This blurring of what is right and wrong, good and bad, is the biggest strength of Ernest Tidyman's and Dean Riesner's screenplay in fact, and it makes "High Plains Drifter" not only one of the most intelligent Westerns ever made but also one of the most intriguing.
That Bridges, Borders and Carlin are bad men is never in doubt, they are cold-blooded murderers and thugs.
But that they are indeed innocent of the crime they were sent to prison for means that even these killers have been wronged.
And that they were wronged by the people who are, on the surface, the movie's helpless victims is a brilliant idea.
The basic "High Noon" style plot of 'bad men coming to cause trouble in an innocent town' has been warped and distorted into something far more engaging and far more cynical.

But this refreshing take on the traditional Western does not end there. Eastwood's 'stranger' is, again on the surface, your typical avenging angel who is here to right a wrong and of course the viewer will see him do it.
But nothing here is that simple.
The 'stranger' is a true anti-hero, acting in a brutish and cruel fashion that is far ahead of the normal Western 'hero' role. That the townsfolk deserve such treatment is pretty much open and shut, but his blanket actions (especially his sexual conquests and the way they play out) are still not the actions of any kind of traditional 'good guy'.
The vengeful justice that the 'stranger' has come for (in a wonderfully, mostly abstract until the very end, supernatural twist to the tale, again such a departure from Western norms) does not play-out as it would do in any traditional Western either.
The punishment for the town's cowardliness and corruption is basically down to itself. It has a choice.
The 'stranger' has a plan for punishment, but the outcome of that plan is ultimately down to the people themselves.
He leads them to the path of retribution and punishment most certainly…but the choice of going down it is theirs. He even equips them so they do indeed have that choice
If they do what they never did that night of the whipping they have a chance at salvation. The 'stranger's' revenge may never actually happen.
The fantastic twist that Eastwood's character pulls on the townsfolk, even those (like Mordecai who has become his right hand man) who were not fully to blame, is a cruel but beautiful moment, one of the finest moments in Western history even as it blows all the conventions, as well as the viewer's expectations, away.

Complimenting this great screenplay are the excellent performances from all concerned.

Eastwood gives his character the bare minimum of dialogue but as always he makes little into much as his character provides plenty of black humour but also a deadly serious undercurrent that is essential to the movie's finale.

Fan favourite Lewis makes the basically one dimensional villain Bridges into something more thanks to his spot on portrayal of his character's almost righteous zeal in getting revenge for the wrong done to him.

Verna Bloom (who Eastwood would direct 9 years later in the underrated "Honkeytonk Man") as the Wife of the scheming weasel Lewis, also makes a strong impression as one of the only people who tried to stop the whipping and whose been fighting with her conscience ever since.
Her scenes with Eastwood drip with an underlying sexual attraction to a man she finds fascinating as well as frightening.

Billy Curtis is the other main highlight. He plays the complex character of Mordecai perfectly. Mordecai was part of the town that stood and watched the whipping and yet he was one of the few in no position to do anything without help and one of the few to still show regret. And Curtis takes the viewer happily on the journey his character takes (obviously treated with little respect before the 'stranger' arrived) as he becomes the, ultimately still powerless without the 'stranger', Sheriff and Mayor of 'Lago'.

Eastwood keeps the action scenes to a minimum, but places them into the narrative at strategic points adding violent energy when needed to the drama that is playing out in the town.
The whipping flashbacks are suitably vicious and filmed (some great cinematography by Bruce Surtees, a veteran of many an Eastwood movie) in a nightmarish fashion that adds to the supernatural element of the film.
This Hellish aspect to the plot comes into it's own during the flame lit finale and the famous facelift the town undergoes (where everyone is literally in a 'Hell' of their own making) that keep the unusual supernatural idea alive while never letting the film become overwhelmed by it.
The violence in general is sparse, cold and brutal. This is the violent 70's and the film, despite the strong character drama and interaction, uses that fact when it needs to.

To sum up, this is a highlight of the Western genre, a highlight of Eastwood's Directing history and a highlight of that most glorious cinematic decade, the 70's.
It's a complex, multi-layered, mould breaking take on a few old Western themes that relies heavily on characters and drama but also provides some great visuals, exciting and violent set-ups and a totally satisfying ending that makes sure the film ends as expertly as it started.
Essential viewing.