Revisit: High Plains Drifter
A Universal Pictures release 1973
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by Ernest Tidyman
A stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides out of the hot desert into the small western town of Lago. The towns people are scared of him, and 3 gunmen try unsuccessfully to kill him. He takes a room and decides to stay. Meanwhile, a group of outlaws are about to return to town and take their revenge. Can the town convince the mysterious man to help?
I miss the old days of Clint's westerns. The colors were already washed out - none of that digital tinting bullshit.
This is your pretty standard post-goldern western, lots of gunplay and bloody as hell. While Fistfull of Dollars may remain the offical Yojimbo adaptation, Eastwood seems to have piggy-backed a lot of the samurai saga's basic structure, while reverting the conflict from an inner struggle to an outside figure (the two gangs in Yojimbo vs. the roaming bandits in Drifter). Though it may not be the most original of westerns, it's a pretty fun movie.
