In 1973’s High Plans Drifter, Clint Eastwood plays …. The Stranger.

No, not the Man With No Name.  The Stranger has a name but he chooses not to share it.  That said, when one person says that he doesn’t even know the Stranger’s real name, the Stranger replies, “Yes, you do.”  The Stranger appears to emerge from the heat of the desert, riding into the small mining town of Lago and gunning down the three bullies that the townspeople hired to protect them after the murder of their town marshal.  With no other option, the townspeople accept the Stranger as the town’s new protector.

The Stranger is drawn to the town and the townspeople but he doesn’t seem to particularly like any of them, with the exception of Mordecai (Billy Curtis), the dwarf that the Stranger appoints as the town’s new sheriff.  The townspeople, the majority of whom are cowardly and motivated by greed, aren’t particularly likable themselves.  The Stranger rules the town like a dictator, kicking everyone out of the hotel so that he can have it for himself and ordering that every building in the town be painted red.  Over the town’s welcome sign, he paints one word: “Hell.”  When the townspeople see how well the Stranger can shoot, they celebrate in the belief that they’ll always be safe.  The Stranger responds by leaving town just as three sadistic outlaws, led by Stacey Bridges (Geoffrey Lewis), approach.  The Stranger may be looking for revenge on Bridges but he also seems as if he wants to make the town suffer for its sins as well.

Much as with the case of The Man With No Name, the Stranger is not motivated by kindness or any sort of concern for the safety of the townspeople.  He often shows a cruel-streak when it comes to dealing with the cowardly townspeople.  He doesn’t attack unless he’s attacked first but once you’re on his bad side, he’ll gun you down without a hint of emotion.  When the Stranger sleeps, he is haunted by nightmares of the previous marshal (played by Buddy Van Horn, Clint Eastwood’s stunt double) being murdered by Bridges and his men while the townspeople stood by and did nothing.  We learn that the townspeople, worried that it might be bad for their business interests, didn’t even give the late marshal a decent headstone after his death.  One woman mentions that spirits can’t rest unless they have a proper marker….

Getting the idea?

High Plains Drifter is probably the closest that Eastwood has ever come to making a supernatural horror film.  The Stranger may or may not be a vengeful ghost (the movie leaves that for you to decide) but he turns the small town of Lago into his own personal version of Hell and, when he attacks the men who killed the marshal, he moves with the ruthless determination of a slasher villain.  The scene where Bridges and his men ride into the town is like a filmed nightmare.  This is a dark film, one in which Eastwood’s Stranger is not the hero because he’s particular heroic but just because everyone else in the film is so bad.

This was also Eastwood’s second film as a director (following Play Misty For Me) and also the first of many westerns that Eastwood would direct.  The imagery is often haunting, all the more so because some of the most violent scenes take place in broad daylight.  The scenes where the Stranger seems to materialize out of the desert’s heatwaves perfectly capture the mythology of the old west and its “heroes.”  Eastwood gets good performances out of his ensemble cast and, even more importantly, he shows that Eastwood the director had a perfect understanding of Eastwood the actor.  As the Stranger, Eastwood says more with a snarl or a half-smile than most actors could say with a multi-page monologue.

High Plains Drifter is violent, often disturbing, and ultimately unforgettable.