Movie lovers who want to explore the Western genre have plenty of options, but one of the worst films to start with is a Clint Eastwood classic. When looking at the actors in Westerns, there are plenty of names to choose from when it comes to top-tier Westerns. These include movies with John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Clint Eastwood, and Kevin Costner. However, Eastwood is a name that many fans need to be aware of concerning his Westerns, as some are very different from what most fans look for in the genre.
Eastwood got his start on television, but he broke out as a Western icon thanks to Sergio Leone and his spaghetti westerns. Eastwood played the Man with No Name in the Dollars trilogy, starting with A Fistful of Dollars. These movies fit the typical Western form, but they were made by an Italian filmmaker playing in the genre that Americans perfected. However, when Eastwood began directing his own movies, he took on a more fringe genre movie, combining the Western with a more supernatural take with High Plains Drifter.
High Plains Drifter Isn’t A Great Introduction To The Western Genre
Clint Eastwood Brought Too Much Supernatural Aspects Into The Movie
The Western genre usually consists of stories based in the American West and offers tales of ordinary, everyday people and the men and women who stand up to bad guys to protect their towns. Sometimes, the genre also presents mysterious people who ride into town and offer to help the citizens as they face overwhelming odds from outlaws, cattle barons, and more. Clint Eastwood mastered that form of the genre, and he showed this in his spaghetti Westerns, which ended with The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
He also played a similar character in High Plains Drifter, but this movie added things to the story that are not part of typical Western movie lore. The film starts with some disturbing moments. Eastwood is The Stranger, a man who rides into town and immediately kills three gunmen hired to protect the town. He then rapes a woman who flirts with him and has a dream of a U.S. Marshal who was whipped to death by some outlaws as the town’s citizens watched and did nothing.
By the end, the film hints that The Stranger is not even human.
From the start, this is not what most Westerns look like. The Stranger is shown to be a murderer and a rapist in the very first scenes. However, that is only part of why this Clint Eastwood Western movie is not a good one for beginners to the genre. By the end, the film hints that The Stranger is not even human – but possibly the ghost of the U.S. Marshal, given a physical body to achieve his vengeance. With the supernatural slant, this is very much a fringe Western meant only for those already familiar with the genre.
Why High Plains Drifter Is Still A Classic Clint Eastwood Movie
Clint Eastwood Even Made A Spiritual Successor
While High Plains Drifter might not be a movie that Western beginners should watch first, it is one that everyone should view at least once. Yes, the movie opens with some disturbing moments, and The Stranger is far from a good guy. However, this is a prototypical Clint Eastwood character that matches The Man With No Name and might even eclipse him when looking at the depth of this story. The Stranger is no different from many other mysterious strangers, from Fistful of Dollars to the Japanese classics like Yojimbo. He is just crueler.
High Plains Drifter also gets credit for not spelling out who The Stranger is. Many people point to the last scene, which includes the graveyard marker of U.S. Marshal Jim Duncan and The Stranger’s words, saying Mordecai knows who he is. He is suggested to be Duncan’s ghost, and his anger and vengeance against the townspeople make sense. There was also a spiritual successor years later with Pale Rider, where Clint Eastwood admitted he was a ghost. Despite its supernatural leanings and cruelty, High Plains Drifter remains one of the 70s best – and darkest – Western films.
