This was the second time that Clint Eastwood sat in the director’s chair and the first ever Western he directed. For some reason a lot of people seem to overlook this film in favor of movies like The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, Unforgiven, For a Few Dollars More, and so on and so forth. Why is that? High Plains Drifter wasn’t the typical western in that it was more of a revenge story crossed with a ghost story. So what? It was still set in the wild west and catered to those that loved the genre.
The ghost story of it was actually underplayed unless you were looking solely at the dreams of the main character and the things that the man in the dream had gone through. You get the idea that maybe he was there, or that he’s experiencing them somehow thanks to being in Lago. Unfortunately for this last theory that type of story line wasn’t all that well though of back in the day and hadn’t yet been fully developed.
It was a western, plain and simple, and even more simple is that it was a story of revenge. The Marshall of Lago had been set up by certain townsfolk and then murdered by their hired killers to prevent anyone from knowing what secrets the Marshall had to tell. Not a single person in the town lifted a finger to stop the bandits, yet standing together it’s been proven throughout history that any town can very easily halt a rampaging gang if they so desire. But throughout the film it’s shown that the people of Lago are gutless, that they’re cowards, and worst of all, they’re greedy cowards.
In walks a stranger, fresh out of the wilderness. He starts shaking things up and the people of Lago, who know that the killers that were hired will be getting out of prison soon to take their revenge for being double-crossed, see a bright light in this strange but dangerous gungslinger.
If you really watch you can see just how cowardly the townsfolk are. A woman, detestable as she is, gets dragged into a barn and violated by the stranger and no one lifts a finger. That same stranger then demands a full and unlimited run of the town. He appoints the smallest among them as sheriff and mayor, and he shakes up the town by striking back at those that would seek to unseat and possibly kill him. He’s basically the worst sort of savior they could ask for, but he’s their only hope.
But then the day comes, and he seems to abandon them. Riding his horse through the hellish landscape that Lago has become he says not a word before he disappears, leaving the townsfolk to their well-deserved punishment. Only after they’ve been humiliated does he reappear and take his revenge on the three men that killed the Marshall in his dreams. One by one they fall until the last is dead.
The next day the stranger leaves town once again, his horse striding among the broken and burning remnants of a town that has been forced to endure a penance unlike any other. He says not a word until he reaches the site of a grave that has finally been given a proper headstone. When Mordecai says “I never did know your name.” to which the stranger replies, “Yes you do. Take care.” He then vanishes into the horizon, leaving Lago to its own devices once again.
An eerie beginning, a true revenge story with none of the turn the cheek nonsense, and an ending that’s just as fitting as it can get. Yes, High Plains Drift is WAY underrated.
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