Max’s Drive-In Movie – High Plains Drifter

The word ambiguity pops up in my head when I watch this movie. It’s part of its allure. His later movie, Pale Rider, has some things in common with this one. But this movie is more raw and gritty. That reminds me why I love seventies filmmaking. Yes, it’s called a revenge movie, but I don’t see it as revenge. I see it as a movie about justice. This is not an innocent town; many of its citizens have witnessed things they could have tried to stop but refused to. 

This movie is not one I’ve watched all of my life. My son, Bailey, turned me on to this movie not long ago. How did I miss this movie? It’s now high on my movie list. It’s uncomfortable to watch at times, and it has mystery. That’s probably the reason we are still talking about it 53 years after it was released. 

It’s not a total spaghetti-type western, and it’s not a total Hollywood western movie. It’s on its own in a special category. Everything in this movie has a purpose and a reason, so nothing is random. This is the first western that Eastwood directed, and he didn’t miss a beat. He learned from two of the best, Don Siegel and Sergio Leone. He even put their names in the town’s graveyard as a tribute (see below). 

This movie is a 1973 western directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. It arrived during the era when westerns were getting darker and stranger. The film blends the revenge themes of spaghetti westerns with something closer to a ghost story. Eastwood plays a nameless stranger who rides into the small mining town of Lago, a place that clearly has problems it would rather forget.

The town hires the stranger for protection. Three outlaws are about to be released from prison and are coming back for revenge, and the people of Lago know they cannot defend themselves. The stranger agrees to help, but he does it on his own terms. He quickly takes control of the town, training them and pushing the citizens in ways that make them uncomfortable. The more he does, the clearer it becomes that the town is hiding something about its past. 

Without giving away too much, the stranger’s actions start to feel less like protecting and more like judgment. Lago is slowly turned into something resembling a trap for the returning outlaws. The film’s tone grows darker and more eerie as it approaches the final showdown. Eastwood keeps the audience wondering who the stranger really is and why he seems to know so much about the town.

As I said before, in this movie you will find surrealism, darkness, and symbolism…not a typical Western. Plus some wonderful character actors like Mitchell Ryan, John Hillerman, Geoffrey Lewis, Verna Bloom, Billy Curtis, Marianna Hill, Walter Barnes, and more. . 

I’ve liked how this one feels different from most westerns. It’s not just gunfighters and dusty streets. There’s a sense that something bigger is going on beneath the surface. Eastwood had already made his mark in westerns, but here he pushed the genre into darker territory. The mystery surrounding the stranger keeps the film interesting, and it leaves you thinking about it after it ends. This movie shows a lot of violence and uncomfortable scenes, so if that bothers you, beware before you watch it. It also gives the phrase “painting the town red” another meaning altogether. 

Fun Fact…the graveyard also had a few other directors besides the ones I mentioned, and Eastwood was quoted as saying, “I buried my directors.“