High Plains Drifter

A nicely gritty film that starts with Eastwood's stranger arriving in town, which is destined to be razed, although he doesn't know it yet. This is brilliantly acted and directed. A movie where you root for a man who is definitely not loveable, but still a man you want to see beat the bad guys. Clint did a great job as both director and lead. (24.08.2015)

Does this Western have any flaws? It does, and quite a few. However, it wasn't a typical American wild west film, but rather a little TLC for the soul of every cynic, and I purred with satisfaction the whole time. Clint Eastwood played an extremely just character, so he was far from pleasant. With his arrival in Lago, not only did the number of inhabitants immediately decrease, but the number of rapes went up. Which somewhat surprised me. And even though I understood the motivation of the main cynic as the story progressed, there were still matters outside my comfort zone. The film was anything but boring. In fact, I was entertained throughout. / Lesson learned: Five plus two equals nine. I would rather shop elsewhere, but it was free of charge in the end, so... (19.06.2023)

Even my apartment is larger than the space where this slightly different western was filmed. Yes, it looks like a theatre play and yes, it has potential as a short, hard-hitting story, rather than a feature-length movie. But so what? Just petty complaints. Because Clint casted himself in the role of the biggest bastard that he has played throughout his rich career and evidently he enjoyed playing it enormously. Not even the “Good" from Leone’s masterpiece can equal the “my name isn’t important, I’m just here to rape, ridicule and shoot you" gunslinger in this movie. But that isn’t the main plus of the movie. The main plus lies in the textbook build-up of an atmosphere full of uncertainty and cynicism that easily makes up for the occasionally slow tempo. It’s so good that I’m disappointed that in his career as a director he never found the time to film a horror. The guy has the talent for it. (24.07.2008)