When the attractive, blond townswoman Callie Travers flirtatiously insults him, he rapes her in the livery stable. Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study . 0-00-638354-8. Naturally, they never say this guy's name, but we all know who he is, so this is pretty much Eastwood's big answer to all of those rather annoying religious references that Hollywood had been throwing in all of their westerns prior to this one. After the film came out and wound up being a big box-office hit, Eastwood wrote a fannish letter to John Wayne, suggesting that they make a movie together. It was Eastwood's second film as director, and the first Western he directed. 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. Flashbacks to Marshal Duncan's murder showed Cole wearing the biggest grin; he's definitely not smiling when he gets on the wrong end of the bullwhip, but. New York, NY . It's never revealed who the drifter is, but it's implied that he's the Devil, or the Angel of Death, or the ghost of Marshal Duncan - either way, it's at least a little supernatural, and very. Callie and several men including Morgan Allen conspire to kill the Stranger. Dee Barton wrote the film score. Elements include a darker, more cynical tone, with focus on the lawlessness of the time period, favouring realism over romanticism. By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie. Fordham University Press . Cinemark The Stranger finds Bridges and the Carlins, who have just finished off Morgan, and harasses them with dynamite and rifle fire, leading the outlaws to believe the townspeople are responsible. the Terms and Policies, and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. [11] On Metacritic the film has a score 69% based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. After a federal marshal discovered that Lago's mine was on government land (which would have forced the closing of the mine), the town hired three gunfighters to murder him. 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. He accepts only after he is given free rein to do as he pleases around the town, an offer which he does not waste at all, forcibly taking any woman he wants and throwing families out of their hotel rooms so he can have the entire building to himself. Murphy, Arthur D. (March 28, 1973). Not just politically, but also stylistically. All rights reserved, including educational use. | 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. When the attractive, blond townswoman Callie Travers flirtatiously insults him, he rapes her in the livery stable. John Wiley & Sons . After gunning down three desperado's who tried to kill him, the town hires the gunfighter to help defend the town from three murderous outlaws. Anti-heroes are still common, but with stronger roles for women and more-sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans and Mexicans. The goal of /r/Movies is to provide an inclusive place for discussions and news about films with major releases. There's always retribution for your deeds. The film was critically acclaimed at the time of its initial release and remains popular. Clint Eastwood and Issues of American Masculinity . This cantata, from 1725, begins, effectively, as musical reminiscence and narrative longing, a continuation of where the St. Fra Angelico : Resurrection of Christ and Women at the Tomb (1440-41), Fresco, Convento di San Marco, Florence. Id argue that the movie is just as brutal and cynical as Leones westerns if not more. The townspeople then turned in the outlaws on false robbery charges to avoid paying them, and they have vowed revenge. "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. "[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. 2011 . Where was 'High Plain Drifter' filmed? List of locations in Clint [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. Meaning of hells comin with me : r/Poormanspoison - Reddit 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]. 20th highest-grossing film released in 1973, "The Representation of Justice in Eastwood's, "Kino: Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter Detailed for Blu-ray", "Metallica's Kirk Hammett Soundtracks a Six-String Shootout on New Song 'High Plains Drifter', https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=High_Plains_Drifter&oldid=1151485503, This page was last edited on 24 April 2023, at 10:54. 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. Theme by, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), J.S. Too bad, this movie is better than 95 percent of John Wayne's movies. I was mostly satisfied by the story as the more it went on the more I got interested. The most eye-catching and best-known sequence in the film occurs when Eastwood tells the cowering citizens of Lago to paint every building in the town red as they await the three murderers return. Especially from the line "they didn't know him by his face". Will the town's leaders convince the mysterious man to help? [8] The film was completed in six weeks, two days ahead of schedule, and under budget. Cinemark There's also, of course, the last line of dialogue in the movie. Still, the film comes close enough to rewarding to endear adequately as a thriller, and a stylish one at that. 2013 . The next day, Lago officials offer the Stranger "anything you want" to protect the town from Bridges and the Carlins, who will soon be released from prison. User Reviews 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. At least Sergios movies had the humour to counterbalance the depraved killings and the degenerate treatment of women. It wasnt a hell of a thing killing a man yet. The film was critically acclaimed at the time of its initial release and remains popular. [10] The Italian, Spanish, French and German dubbings restored it. 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. This content is imported from youTube. 2009 . That isn't the American people who settled this country. Tidyman's screenplay was inspired by the real-life murder of Kitty Genovese in Queens in 1964, which eyewitnesses reportedly stood by and watched. The Stranger accepts the job and takes full advantage of the deal: he appoints a downtrodden dwarf named Mordecai as both sheriff and mayor, provides a Native American and his children with blankets and candy when the shopkeeper refuses to serve them, gets a new saddle and boots, and forces the saloon to serve everyone free drinks. The, Cantata 182, composed in 1713, is for Palm Sunday, which is the first day of Holy Week and the Sunday before Easter, and. It is gradually revealed that the townspeople hired the outlaws to murder Duncan when he discovered that the local gold mine was illegally dug on government-owned land and would have to be closed, destroying the town's livelihood. After having sex with him in his room, Callie slips out as three men enter. The text is Martin Luthers. So, for the first big western he makes himself, Eastwood plays a charismatically quiet, yet intimidatingly dangerous stranger with no name; now that's new. But more than anything, its a ghost story (if you choose to see it that wayand I do) in frontier drag. Says the paradox: to save the just, you must make a pact with the Devil. Given that he was mentored by the likes of Don Siegel and my personal favourite director Sergio Leone it's no wonder that Eastwood went on to make hits like The Outlaw Josey Wales and Unforgiven. Slaughter may be by burning, beheading, or throttling. As stridently revisionist as any Western of the Vietnam era, High Plains Drifter is really only a Western on paper. Ernest Tidyman, Release Date (Theaters): Clint Eastwood, Producer: By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and This film just feels mean, and the nastiness all comes from the character of the stranger. Nowadays, we tend to think of Eastwood as a pretty conservative filmmaker. the townspeople had the marshal killed. 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". (2) The stranger was Marshal Jim Duncan himself come back to exact his revenge (perhaps through a deal with the devil.). Director Clint Eastwood: Attention to Detail and Involvement for the Audience. Meanwhile, after spending a night in a hotel bed together, Sarah Belding tells the Stranger of her belief that Jim Duncan cannot rest in peace nor depart the physical realm because he was buried in an unmarked grave. [7], Complete buildings, rather than facades, were built, so that Eastwood could shoot interior scenes on the site. The film often intercuts with a blurry flashback of a Marshall being whipped by three gunmen with close to the entire town standing by watching, doing nothing to help the poor fellow. Returning to Lago, the Stranger inspects the preparationsthe entire town painted red, armed men on rooftops, picnic tables laden with food and drink, and a big "WELCOME HOME BOYS" bannerthen he silently departs again. [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. It is bad. 978-0786449613 . Rob Ager, in a detailed and wordyinterpretationof the film, and also argues that the avenging angel is the ghost of the murdered marshall. Meanwhile, a group of outlaws are about to return to the town and take their revenge. The Stranger assembles a group of citizens to defend the town and has them practice shooting, but soon realizes that none have the necessary skills. As they unknowingly beat a dummy in the bed, the Stranger tosses a stick of dynamite into the room, destroying most of the hotel, then shoots two of his attackers dead, as Morgan flees wounded. Haunting. r/movies - 'High Plains Drifter' Is Clint Eastwood's Mysterious High Plains Drifter: Official Clip - Lago is Hell, High Plains Drifter: Official Clip - I'm the Sheriff and the Mayor, High Plains Drifter: Official Clip - A Whipping Revenge, High Plains Drifter: Official Clip - He Shot My Ear Off, High Plains Drifter: Official Clip - A Shave and a Shootout. Privacy Policy Universal Pictures, For a video version of my thoughts, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4hLVDc9yrs. The best thing about western is that they have good story, and this one is no different. This would explain why nobody in the town recognized him, but he knew how exactly the Marshal was killed and he was able to kill the three men in the same way. 2004 . Edit, Awards It uses material from the Wikipedia article "High Plains Drifter". Cookie Notice 1999 . They won't be able to see your review if you only submit your rating. Why Were Blade Runner and The Thing '80s Bombs? 1999 . Callie and several men, including Morgan Allen, decide to kill the Stranger. 6275 . Anyway Clint. High Plains Drifter Reviews - Metacritic It is one of those examples, I Lombardi, Verdis fourth opera, is set during the First Crusade. He could also be some sort of avenging spirit as well. The Stranger suddenly returns and kills the outlaws one by one, whipping Cole to death, hanging Dan with another whip, and shooting Stacey. This particular revisionist western is characterized by trippy, almost abstractionist artistic touches that are admirable as unique, and not even all that overwrought, yet the occasions in which the offbeat meditations are overplayed stand, distancing subjective value with artistic non-conventions to storytelling. Clint Eastwood became a star starring in Westerns, so it wasn't new to see him in this role. This is the film of a magnificent intellect. Obviously he's not okay with rape and he's sure as hell not trying to glorify it - but the execution seems miscalculated, to say the least. Not for nothing did it earn a controversial X rating in the U.K. when it opened there. By creating an account, you agree to the Meanwhile, the best you can say for High Plains Drifter is that the title is a low pun. Privacy Policy. One of my favorites from back in the day. New #Steelers TE Darnell Washington would have gone much higher than late-third round but "medical zonked him," as one scout said.
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