High Plains Drifter (1973)

[K1stpierre]

Discuss

[Jake Gittes]

For my money, this is Eastwood's best film. It takes the classic western premise - a mysterious stranger rides into a town and is asked to protect it - and brilliantly turns it on its head: the stranger may be the protagonist, but he's not at all a good guy, and the town is populated almost entirely by scumbags and cowards. A really nasty and misanthropic piece of work, fully committed to its worldview, and pretty unforgettable in the end. 

[Goffe]

Basically, no one in that town deserved what they got, more often than not the film felt like a silly "how far can our protagonist push the characters" exercice.

For me, no movie will ever work if the protagonist is straight up bad, you have to give me reasons to justify what he's doing, even if it's not the right thing do, he at least has to have understandable reasons for doing his bad deeds.

And no, I don't think killing the old sheriff was enough of a reason, especially because the town had a reason for doing what they did, a pretty major reason. It goes without saying that I sided with them and not with Clint.

Don't get me wrong, the movie is quite well made, and the ending redeemed it substantially, but if you're like me you won't have a good time watching it, the problem stated in the paragraphs above is a huge one and it didn't let me enjoy the movie. If any of that doesn't bother you, if you think a western about a SPOILER ghost coming back from hell to torment and kill his killers SPOILER, then this movie is for you.

 

45/100