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High Plains Drifter Customer Reviews (37 - 39 of 39 Reviews)

Supernatural western 5 stars for content 2 for quality
An odd supernatural western with a number of twists, Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter is now recognized as a pivotal and important western. When it was released it was blasted by many critics for its violence since then its critical reputation has risen.

Eastwood plays a stranger who arrives in an odd town called Lago. The residents are wary of any stranger and the gunslingers hired to protect the mining operation (among other things)immediately want to take him down a peg or two. They have no idea who they're dealing with. There's a dark secret involving murder eating at the heart of Lago and its residents. Its corrupting effects are hidden by pleasant facades of the buildings.

The residents want to hire The Stranger who defend them against outlaws who have a grudge against the towns people. He's initially reluctant but agrees after given carte blanc to the town. He does lives up to his end of the bargain but not before exacting a brutal revenge.

The film certainly merits five stars. It's an assured second film from Eastwood as a director. The script by Ernest Tidyman (with uncredited rewrites by Dean Reisner)marvelously captures many of the elements that made Sergio Leone's westerns so popular and manages to invert many of them at the same time. Reportedly inspired by a subgenre of samurai films revenge films, Eastwood chose to make the film when the treatment intrigued him. Tidyman's (The French Connection)screenplay is lean and compact providing a perfect frame work that echoes and compliments the films that Eastwood made for Leone. The haunting musical score also echoes Morricone's scores for Leone's films without imitating them.

Universal has given this classic western shoddy treatment. The cover you see here isn't the cover on the current version. It's a much less dramatic photographic image. Additionally, it's clear that this is just a re-release of the original 1997 bare bones DVD. The film has not been remastered and there's loads of analog artifacts as well as some interlacing problems in a couple of scenes. The film deserves to be restruck from the original negative and remastered with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. It also deserves a commentary track from star/director Eastman as well as a documentary on this magnificent film. There is a promotional film floating around that was made at the time of the film and the least Universal could have done with this reissue was put it on disc. That, along with a retrospective documentary and interviews is really what this terrific film deserves. Sadly, Universal has chosen to release it with little fan fare at a budget price but without any of the extras that would make it worthwhile. There is the original trailer (in pan and scan format) and production notes.

One other minor flaw is that the transfer is cropped incorrectly in this widescreen presentation. As a result, some of the credits appear at the very edge of the screen. While this isn't a major issue, the film isn't presented in quite the way it should be.

Eastwood deserves kudos for this fine western which was a pivotal film in his career as both director and star. Universal deserves a round of boos and hisses for the shoddy presentation of this reissue. Hopefully, this film, like Unforgiven, will receive the deluxe presentation it deserves.

Could have been much better
Good concepts but its too corny and lacks refinement

Ride out west into the Twighlight Zone
The Twighlight Zone meets the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I like this movie on many different levels. First, there is no one better at playing mean than Clint Eastwood. The level of mean here almost equals his output in Dirty Harry. Second, there's a midget in this movie, and it isn't some ten second cameo either. This midget, who knows how to act, plays a major role throughout the movie. As far as midget performances go, this guy ranks right up there with the Wizard of Oz and anything Joe Pesci has done. Finally, the supernatural feel of the movie is accentuated by an unnerving soundtrack and irregular camera angles.

If you're hungry for DVD extras, this release will leave your stomach growling. There's a trailer, notes, and bios to snack on, but no commentary tracks or interviews to gorge on.

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