Product Details

• Actors: Walter Barnes, Verna Bloom, Paul Brinegar, Richard Bull, Billy Curtis
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: March 1, 1992
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300182452
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,499 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video
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-defense 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 humor 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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best and most original westerns of all time., August 23, 1998

By	GMAT ([e-mail]) (Amherst, MA, USA) - See all my reviews

"High Plains Drifter" (1973) is one of the best and most original westerns of all time. It is also of of the best films that Clint Eastwood has ever made. It was only the second film that Eastwood ever directed, yet it is a western masterpiece, as it funnels all of the violent, harsh, and brutal images and themes that were first seen in the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns (which made Eastwood an international star) into one picture. No other film blurrs the lines of good and evil like this one. No other film has humor that is so dark and so black. No other film tests and re-defines the nature of screen heroism, as Eastwood plays his darkest and most enigmatic character ever. This film strips the western to its most brutal, raw, violent, and merciless essence, revealing the old West to be a truly immoral and corrupt land. Eastwood's compulsive, surrealistic imagery is both haunting and powerful, and it works in pefect tandem with Dee Barton's eerie score. Filmed around Mono Lake, California, the hellish locations of the film add to its haunting atmosphere. The western town, constructed by Henry Bumstead out of raw wood is a classic, and helps to reveal the mean-spirited hypocrisy and vicious economic determinism of the townspeople. The film has an unexpected, spontaneous, and completely anarchic quality that eliminates the western's typical predictablity and simple cliches. It is extremely challenging, unnerving, apparitional, allegorical, and curiously memorable. This is Clint Eastwood at his most daring and outrageous, as both an actor and director, testing the audience to see if it will support this most radical of anti-heroes. "High Plains Drifter" is my favorite film of all time, and it is not to be missed! END

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High Plains Drifter - Another great Eastwood western!, April 6, 2003

By	K. Wyatt "ssintrepid" (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: High Plains Drifter (DVD)

In this classic western, Clint Eastwood performs admirably as producer, director and of course starring in the lead role. High Plains Drifter is an excellent tale that highlights Eastwood's talents in this genre, whether it's his "Stranger" type aura or the clipped but poignant lines. This great western has a superb script and exceptional performances by Eastwood and the other actors. Its surreal style, unexpected plot twists and great camera angles serve well to enhance this movies overall appearance. I do not normally comment on the soundtrack for films however, in this case I feel compelled to because I felt the soundtrack for this one is a perfect accoutrement to the overall feel of the movie!

The premise:

A lone stranger rides into town and is immediately set upon by some of the locals. Unfortunately for these rough locals, they've picked the star of the movie in Clint Eastwood to aggravate and they receive his quick six shooter justice for their efforts. The locals, being a cowardly bunch, eagerly set out to appease him in every way in order to secure his loyalty and protection from a group of criminals who are soon to be released from the territorial prison.

The "Stranger" agrees to be their benefactor and immediately sets out to do so in some strange ways. Through humiliation, misogyny and the threat of immediate "justice," he begins to prepare the town for return of the criminals. As a surreal side note, the Stranger and some of the locals are having waking nightmares about the brutal killing of the former marshal by the criminals who are expected to return. What follows is a western that is one of the best and a benchmark for all westerns to follow.

I highly recommend this great Eastwood western to any and all die hard or casual fans of the genre or the actor. It is a classic western that deserves a spot on the DVD rack.

Special features:

Not unlike many of the other movies of the time, this one isn't jam packed with special features because there just aren't many to throw in. It does have a great trailer and some production notes that are quite interesting to read through on the screen. {ssintrepid}

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Took long for her to get mad, didn't it?, December 26, 2007

By	Gunner (Bethlehem,Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High Plains Drifter [Region 2] (DVD)

High Plains Drifter DVD

High Plains Drifter starring Clint Eastwood is a great action cowboy movie. It starts out with the mysterious stranger riding through LAGO town on a pale horse with all the townsfolk staring at him. It's as though they sense something is coming. Kind of like the tingling before a lightning storm. Then he goes into the barber shop for a shave. The shooting is something to behold. There are flashbacks to when the town's marshal was bull whipped to death. The stranger gets the town to agree to give him "anything he wants", it's like a pact with the Devil.


Highly recommended for fans of Eastwood.