HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER (1973)

MORGAN'S RATING

In Clint Eastwood's supernatural homage to his own cinematic roots -- the films of Sergio Leone and Don Siegel -- the residents of a greedy mining town conspire to murder their own sheriff when he threatens to inform the government that they've been operating on public land. They then attempt to frame the hired killers, prompting the gunmen to seek revenge. The townsfolks go to the well once more, hiring a mysterious Stranger to rid them of these bandits. But the Stranger has his own agenda and proves to be more than they bargained for.

Clint Eastwood (The Stranger), Verna Bloom (Sarah Belding), Marianna Hill (Callie Travers), Mitch Ryan (Dave Drake), Jack Ging (Morgan Allen), Stefan Gierasch (Mayor Jason Hobart), Ted Hartley (Lewis Belding), Billy Curtis (Mordecai), Geoffrey Lewis (Stacey Bridges), Scott Walker (Bill Borders), Walter Barnes (Sheriff Dan Shaw), Paul Brinegar (Lutie Naylor), Richard Bull (Asa Goodwin), Alex Tinne, John Hillerman (Bootmaker), Anthony James (Cole Carlin), William O'Connell (Barber), John Quade (Jake Ross), Dan Vadis (Dan Carlin), Buddy Van Horn (Marshal Jim Duncan), Jane Aull (Townswoman), Reid Cruickshanks (Gunsmith), Jim Gosa (Tommy Morris), Jack Kosslyn (Saddlemaker), Russ McCubbin (Fred Short), Belle Mitchell (Mrs. Lake), John Mitchum (Warden), Carl Pitti (Teamster), Chuck Waters (Stableman), Robert Donner (Preacher, uncredited).

THEY'D NEVER FORGET THE DAY HE DRIFTED INTO TOWN.

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

DIRECTOR: Clint Eastwood (Honkytonk Man). WRITERS: Ernest Tidyman and Dean Riesner (uncredited). PRODUCER: Robert Daley. EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Jennings Lang. ORIGINAL MUSIC: Dee Barton. DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures.

QUOTES

Morgan Allen: I wouldn't give you the combination to the gates of hell.

Mordecai: What happens after? The Stranger: Hmm? Mordecai: What do we do when it's over? The Stranger: Then you live with it.

FACTS

RELEASE DATE: August 22nd, 1973 (USA) - One of the headstones in the graveyard bears the name Sergio Leone as a tribute. Other headstones bear the names of Don Siegel (Eastwood's director on a total of five films, four of which preceeded this film) and Brian G. Hutton (director of Where Eagle's Dare and Kelly's Heroes). Patrick McGilligan's 2002 Eastwood biography quotes the star as saying, "I buried my directors."

Callie: From a distance, you'd almost pass as a man...but up close, you're certainly a disappointment. The Stranger: And your fee, ma'am, are almost as big as your mouth.

Stranger: You're going to look pretty silly with that knife sticking out of your ass.

Stranger: I'm faster than you'll ever live to be.

CRITICAL COMMENTS

Sheriff Dan Shaw: Billy, he wasn't a loved man. He didn't have much personality and what he did have was all bad.

"Revenge doesn't do much for your claims to nobility, but more often than not it makes for some pretty good stories and lots of guilty pleasure." -- Brad Laidman, Film Threat

Stranger: Wonder what took her so long to get mad? Mordecai: Because maybe you didn't go back from more?

Callie: Just what do you consider going too far? Isn't forcible rape in broad daylight a misdemeanor in this town?

"The universal story in its most basic form." -- Carlo Cavagna, AboutFilm.com

Sarah: Be careful. You're a man who makes people afraid, and that's dangerous. The Stranger: Why, it's people only fear what they know about themselves.

"A funny, brutal, scary movie, daringly surreal in its mix of Western and horror themes." -- Kim Newman, Empire Magazine

"High Plains Drifter will make an excellent double bill along with Eastwood's other post-modern Western, the 1992 Unforgiven." -- James O'Ehley, Movie Gurus

Sarah: They say the dead don't rest without a marker of some kind.