Rating: 
Summary: Cruel and Dirty
Review: Clint Eastwood reprises his cigar-smoking, whisky-swilling, sharp-shootin' Western hero, but with a significantly darker aspect in this film. Eastwood's no Kurosawa or Leone, and his direction is less interested in building dramatic tension, sweeping over the brown Western desertscapes, or focusing in on the eyes of hardened gunfighters. Rather, this is a psychological Western, zooming in on the cowardly inhabitants of Lago and Eastwood's violent and total domination of them.Frequent flashbacks of a brutal - and unjust - whipping that took place before Eastwood's arrival eventually explain the protagonist's behavior, which includes several cold-blooded murders and two [forced couplings] that must rank among the most anti-feminist moments in modern cinema. First a cheap hussy, then a respected townswoman fall under the spell of Eastwood's [member]. A midget gets appointed sheriff and mayor, and turns the tables on his tormentors. No one gets shot in the back, but that's about the only depth of human depravity not plumbed here. By the time the final scene arrives, you share the directorial disgust with the town he's created, and the murderous denouement is welcome. The music is nowhere near as good as Ennio Morricone's, and the DVD transfer adds nothing to the mono soundtrack. Picture quality is OK - no better. The chapter index is decent, but skip the DVD extras - a set of cast bios and an Eastwood filmography. Great fun, but don't play it for the kiddies - stick to 'A Fistful of Dollars' for that.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Western of All Time
Review: Westerns come and some stay. Clint's work stays. I was completely blown away by this movie and still am. High Planes Drifter and Pale Rider are my two most favorite westerns. There is no Polyanna tied to the tracks in this movie. No Duddly Doright. Just Dick Dasterdly with an attitutude. This is a movie about the guilt that a town shares over the death of their marshall. The town creates the marshall's avenger and they are blown away (literally) by the depths of their anguish. Nothing like this had ever been done before. An unbelievable jaw-dropping experience. This movie should have won an academy award.
Rating:
Summary: A ghost from Hell
Review: Clint Eastwood deals with one of the most serious subjects of the West in this film, and he still has no name, even if he is identified to a dead man. A town lets its marshall be killed by three troubleshooters of the mining company because he has found out the mine is on government property, hence is stealing the US government. The troubleshooters are put in prison for a year, but the ghost of the marshall comes back before they come out. He is at once attacked by three new troubleshooters and a virago-lady. He kills the three men and rapes the woman. Then he is proposed to become the gunfighter of the town against the three vengeful ex-cons who are arriving soon. He organizes the looting of the city in its own name. Then he has to kill three more men who try to beat him up in the night, on command from the hotel manager. The hotel if blown up at the same time. Our drifter had had the hotel emptied in due time. When the three ex-cons arrive, they enter Hell. The inhabitants are left alone and are unable to resist to the burning of some buildings and to the killing of some men. They have no guts. But there comes the drifter again and he kills the three ex-cons one by one without ever them knowing who he is, who they are killed by. The drifter is Justice on horseback, because in the territories there is only that kind of justice. People are yellow bellies. In the meantime the drifter reveals two racisms among the nice people of this nice Lago city : against Indians of course, but also against Mexicans. Just as if things were changing very slowly among men. They are too chicken to have things changed or to make things change. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.
Rating:
Summary: Surprised beyond belief
Review: I do not like westerns as rule. But "High Plains Drifter" is an excellent movie. Eerie, haunting and completely unforgettable, it's a classic western ghost story. It is edgy and disturbing, but well worth watching.
Rating: 
Summary: Eastwood so so
Review: I really enjoy the westerns and Clint Eastwood, but with all honesty fid many of the above reviews a little exagerrated. Thisi movie is no math for the trilogy or another classic western Once upon a time in the west. if you want a true western, skip this one, and start with the GBU and the rest of sergio leone flicks
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Western of All Time
Review: Classic Clint Eastwood Western but without all the bad production values of some of his other westerns. Beautiful cinematography, believable dialogue and engaging characters at every turn. The eerie feeling of this movie is truly understated. Especially during the final gunbattle. By the end of the movie you may have figured it out, but watch to the absolute very end to be sure. One character nearly reprised his role and appearance in "Blazing Saddles" (you might remember him from the 'Magnum P.I.' TV show). See at least 5 of the cast members of this movie appear in the subsequent, offbeat Clint Eastwood comedy "Every Which Way But Loose". Superb filmmaking.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Eastwood
Review: "High Plains Drifter" (1973) remains one of the finest Westerns of the past 30 years, though it was sadly underrated during its initial release. The film's psychological and supernatural elements are much stronger when viewed in a modern context. Like his Oscar-winning "Unforgiven" (1992), director-actor Clint Eastwood utilizes the genre to explore the darker aspects of human nature. From a cinematic perspective, "High Plains Drifter" is superior to all the Eastwood-directed Westerns -- with the exception of "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (1976) -- and benefits from repeated viewings. Once seen, the dysfunctional town of Lago never can be forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: Very Original.
Review: When it starts it seems like an ordinary Eastwood-Western, but once you get into it you know something is going on behind what you're seeing. Who is he? What does he truly want? Even if you're looking for an ordinary western you won't be disappointed. But don't expect the same tough-guy character from the "Man with No Name" triology. It's a completely different movie(for the better).
Rating:
Summary: the dvd enhances the direction of photography
Review: i had never seen this film in widescreen format. my vhs copy was never formatted to fit the screen. now that i own the dvd, i am amazed how beautifully shot this film is, from the opening frame of the "no name" gunman appearing from nowhere in the desert heat to the very end, the movie becomes a vision of light and darkness. this film is a western but the story line stands above any western i have seen. it is about revenge. anyone that i have recommend this movie to are impressed because they don't feel it is really a western but film noir. i totally agree.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Great Existential Westerns
Review: High Plains Drifter stands as a testament to the spirit of the art-film Western, and carries the Sergio Leone inspired existential qualities within it. The Stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides into a corrupt town full of cowards, blows some of 'em away, and takes advantage of a luscious female. I consider it a misinterpretation to call what Clint does rape. His character basically treats people exactly the way they deserve, and this hot blonde in effect approached him, not vice-versa. As Bill Curtis (who played a munchkin in the Wizard of Oz) says, she tries to kill him because she loved the sex, but afterwards he ignored her. Ambiguities abound in the film. Is the Stranger the ghost of the marshall that the town had killed? The film implies this, hence he knows a lot more about the townspeople then he lets on. Also contains an impeccable understated performance from Verna Bloom. At the heart of all this is sweet revenge, and the Stranger gets it good. Ranks with The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, and the Hired Hand as one of the all time great Westerns.
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