TotalTelly.co.uk

Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV

High Plains Drifter [1973]


RRP: £6.99
Our Price: £4.75 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Clint Eastwood's second film as a director (and his first Western) is a variation on the "man with no name" theme, starring Eastwood as the drifter known only as "the Stranger". He rides into the desert town of Lagos and is quickly attacked by three gunmen. Recovering with the aid of a local dwarf (a memorable role for Billy Curtis), the Stranger is hired by the intimidated townsfolk to fend off a band of violent ex-convicts. After teaching the citizens self-defence and instructing them to paint the entire town red and rename it "Hell", the Stranger vanishes. He reappears when the marauding criminals arrive, and delivers justice and teaches the townsfolk a harsh lesson about moral obligation. Is he a figure from their past or a kind of supernatural avenger? Combining humour with action, High Plains Drifter is both a serious and tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Westerns that made Eastwood a household name. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com


"Urghh, He Sure Had A Lot Of Blood Left In Him, Didn't He...?"
Review date: 2008-07-26 Rating: 10 out of 10

'High Plains Drifter' is my very favourite Eastwood movie.(and that's saying something) I especially like the dark humour and ambiguity, but in truth, there's not much I don't like.
You just know something bad is gonna happen the minute you see him appear through the desert heat-haze in the eerie title sequence, and by the time the film ends, with the same shot in reverse (a la 'the Searchers') something bad has!
In between, we're treated to much violence, sexism, adultery, hypocrisy and general wretchedness from the Lago townsfolk, and they're supposed to be the victims!
These people are dire, far worse than the actual villains, (who are gold-star nasty in a traditional sense.) they stood and watched as their sheriff, the only honest character in the film, was whipped to death in the street.
In essence, 'High Plains Drifter' is a cross between 'Witchfinder General', 'High Noon' and 'the Omen', only with lashings more unpleasantness. The main difference being, there's people to cheer for in those films. There's no-one here. Even the `hero' is a cruel, merciless killer, who is himself in no moral position to deliver salvation OR retribution to the cowering townsfolk.
And who is he? The murdered sheriff's avenging kin? His ghost? The devil? The plot leads us up all the various avenues and alleyways but in the end, it doesn't really matter. We're just glad that everyone who deserves retribution - gets it! The doing-good-via-bad cliché is hammered home, but again we don't really care. We know right will out, however perversely (and hopefully brutally!) because Eastwood's with the programme.
Visually, the films superb. The town appears condensed, like a vacuum, especially when Eastwood demands it be painted red. It's not the traditional homely Western hamlet, which deserves to be defended by brave men for whom it's worthwhile giving their lives. It's a bleak, soul-less outpost, desperate and afraid of it's own shadowy secrets and the fact they're returning to haunt it when it thought they were buried with the sheriff. Bruce Surtees camerawork effortlessly conveys this - and more.(let's not give Eastwood ALL the credit) We get a very real sense of the artless, cuboid structures and the creepy inhabitants deserving each other.
Performance-wise, Eastwood plays Eastwood with a twisted comic bravado, (he knows he's distorting the western myth, by subverting the very iconography and legend that built it in the first place) he prowls the streets like Ann Coulter on the look-out for liberals, a cold glint as another low-life bites the dust.
Geoffrey Lewis is grotesquely brilliant as the drunken, heartless, leering chief-baddy, and the rare Verna Bloom is handsome and sassy as the rebellious wife of one of Lago's slimy conspirators.
There's blood by the bucket, roaring gun-fights, an inevitable,(but well-staged) all consuming fire, seriously nasty whippings and there's even a squalid, squeaky-voiced dwarf who, along with some 'pesky injun savages', are the only people to benefit from the 'drifter's' brief tenure.
'High Plains Drifter' is a delirious amalgam of all that's small and sleazy in our sugar-veneered world. A cynical, yet not completely hopeless vision of mankind in general, which is as valid and relevant now as when Eastwood shot it.


Similar Products

Reviews


'Welcome to 'Hell'.
Review date: 2008-05-13 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is a must see western. It's Clint cutting his directorial teeth on the genre after stamping his mark as the anti-hero man with no name son of a gun.

As a western it's a damned fine film, but it has a wonderfully mysterious quality to it that takes it to a much higher level. There are some truly iconic scenes on show -'a shave in the barber shop' & 'the bullwhips'. As a director Eastwood seems to live and breathe the west, as an actor he has instant believability, there's nothing 'showy' here it's gritty realism and Geoffrey Lewis.

It's gotta be watched and that's the bottom line. Adios.

Adults Only Cinema- With one hell of a twist!
Review date: 2008-04-07 Rating: 10 out of 10

I've seen all the greatest western action movies ever made, from Josey Wales to The Wild Bunch. This is my favourite of the lot.

THE PLOT:
The Drifter (Eastwood) is hired by the residents of a small town in the middle of nowhere to protect them from a gang of ruthless, sadistic outlaws. However these towns folk hold a dark, mysterious secret of their own. This movie has one hell of a twist if your smart enough to figure it out!!

REVIEW:
The movie starts off slow, with little dialouge for the first half hour or so. However this simply helps build the tension, with short but sadistic outbursts of violence helping engage the viewer.
Many have critized the film for being too stylized, and in some parts too explicit for its own good, with prolonged scenes of rape, gun fights and slashings which may disturb some viewers. However it is no more violent then it should be.

Adults Only.
5 Stars.
A must see.

is the man with no name also in this
Review date: 2007-03-30 Rating: 8 out of 10

high plains drifter was directed and of course starred clint eastwood as a man without a name,clearly a reference to the role that eastwood played in the leone triple decker western series in the 60s,the character he plays isnt the exact same man by any means but there are nodding similarities.
Clint plays a man that is a law unto himself,drifts from time to town ,not hurting anyone but clearly not a man to be kissing babies and waving at crowds of people either.
When he visits a town that is in the hands of ruthless outlaws and as a result the town has lost its identity,the character of clint decides to stick around and help rid the town of its vermin but clint needs help so he reaches out to the townsfolk to help him destroy the threat.
The film works on many levels and when the infamous scene where the people of the town paint everything red and clint renames it hell then its clear that the blood will spill,the direction of film making style that clint settles on with this is one of beauty,drawn out shots,wide shots of the surrounding area and so forth are all implified,the film is faster paced than the style of leone for example and the outcome here is great,all round a special movie then.

a high plain's drifter
Review date: 2007-01-19 Rating: 10 out of 10

He comes down from High Plains. He makes a justice. Draednouth. Unvulnerable. He is nor a man (as he is Superman, of course, nor a woman). He is Angel.

Angel, who comes down from High Plains to make a justice due to his ethernal drift. Draednouth. Unvulnerable. Drifter along Heaven's frontier of God's Law. Frontier between Heaven and Hell. "Frontier is where I am".

God bless,

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Mitch Ryan
Jack Ging
Marianna Hill
Verna Bloom
Clint Eastwood

Creators:
Clint Eastwood (Primary Contributor)
Verna Bloom (Primary Contributor)
Bruce Surtees (Cinematographer)
Ferris Webster (Editor)
Jennings Lang (Producer)
Robert Daley (Producer)
Dean Riesner (Writer)
Ernest Tidyman (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Universal Pictures UK
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
EAN: 5050582002041
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2006-09-18
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 101 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1973-08-22
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: Arabic (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Turkish (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Greek (Subtitled)
Language: French (Dubbed)
Language: German (Dubbed)
Language: Italian (Dubbed)
Language: Spanish (Dubbed)

Add to Cart

© 2006 Darren Hester, DesignsByDarren.com, Some Rights Reserved.
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional