movie review high plains drifter

High Plains Drifter Is Clint Eastwood's Mysterious, Overlooked Masterpiece

Before he was known as a conservative filmmaker (both stylistically and politically), he made this strange and surreal Western.

With the possible exception of John Wayne, no actor was more synonymous with the movie Western during the second half of the 20 th Century than Clint Eastwood. The young actor had come to Hollywood from the San Francisco Bay area in the early ’50s, and thanks to his 6-foot-4-inch stature and good looks was signed to a $100-a-week contract at Universal, where he was quickly put to work in a string of hokey B-movies like Revenge of the Creature and Tarantula . Before he could despair over his flailing, fledgling career, he would be saved by the Western—a genre that immediately fit him like a bespoke duster.

Although he’d already appeared in more than a dozen often-uncredited, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them parts by 1959, Eastwood’s career was salvaged when he was cast that year as Rowdy Yates on the hit TV oater, Rawhide . And it was during the show’s hiatus toward the end of its run that he was offered the lead role in Sergio Leone’s 1964 spaghetti Western, A Fistful of Dollars . Eastwood knew nothing about Leone—and frankly, there wasn’t much to know yet. But he took a what-the-hell gamble and flew to Spain to shoot the first installment in what would become Leone’s stylish, international sensation Man With No Name trilogy (which would also include 1965’s For a Few Dollars More and 1966’s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly ). When the movies exploded like TNT overseas, no one was more surprised than Eastwood to learn that he had transformed into a global superstar overnight. Eastwood could finally say goodbye to the small screen once and for all.

As a freshly minted red-hot commodity both at home and abroad, Eastwood quickly parlayed his new-found bankability into a handful of macho and muscular studio pictures like the fish-out-of-water cop thriller Coogan’s Bluff and the bloated WWII action-adventure Where Eagles Dare . But like a Broadway-trained thespian who periodically returns to the stage to keep his or her instincts honed, Eastwood would keep circling back to the genre that had first forged his mythology in a crucible of six-shooters and squinting glances, the Western.

Eastwood proceeded to crank out a bunch of lean, economical Westerns— Hang ‘Em High , Two Mules for Sister Sara , The Beguiled —and was encouraged by his frequent director and most formidable mentor Don Siegel to try his hand behind the camera. And in 1971, he finally got his shot with the paranoia-drenched Fatal Attraction prototype Play Misty for Me . It was a hit. It turned out that Eastwood was a natural born director, albeit a different breed of one. In an era when New Hollywood movie-brat auteurs grasped for Art, Eastwood seemed to unconsciously position himself as their antithesis. He was mellow on the set, never asked for more than one or two takes, and made a habit of coming in both under-schedule and under-budget on his films—although he probably would have preferred to call them “movies” rather than “films”.

Which brings us to 1973’s High Plains Drifter , a movie that’s so frequently overlooked and uncharacteristically strange and surreal that it sticks out like a sore, red-painted thumb in the long sweep of Eastwood’s filmography. As stridently revisionist as any Western of the Vietnam era, High Plains Drifter is really only a Western on paper. I mean, there’s horses and saloons and tumbleweeds. But more than anything, it’s a ghost story (if you choose to see it that way…and I do) in frontier drag. It’s also a film that deserves to be seen by anyone who has a sweet tooth for the genre or thinks they have a bead on Eastwood as a filmmaker. It may also be the closest that he ever came to making an experimental, out-there movie.

High Plains Drifter was released in theaters on this day in 1973. And two decades before Eastwood would win Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for his return to the genre with the twilight apologia Unforgiven , he still hadn’t begun to grapple with the regrets and ramifications of shoot-first-ask-questions-later Old West violence. It wasn’t a hell of a thing killing a man yet. And High Plains Drifter is wall to wall with killing (not to mention some pretty un-P.C. rape and sadism). Not for nothing did it earn a controversial ‘X’ rating in the U.K. when it opened there.

Nowadays, we tend to think of Eastwood as a pretty conservative filmmaker. Not just politically, but also stylistically. He’s never been as thematically oblique or stylistically flashy (unless you consider his lack of flash to be flashy). He keeps things lean and simple. But High Plains Drifter is daring, weird and wonderful. Maybe that’s because back in 1973, working as a director for only the second time, Eastwood was still figuring out what kind of director he wanted to be. Did he want to be a stripped-down bareknuckle filmmaker like Siegel, or a baroque allegorist like Leone? For the first and last time in his career, High Plains Drifter would prove that he might just want to be both.

Written by Ernest Tidyman, who was a bit of an uncategorizable genre schizophrenic himself having already written both the Blaxploitation classic Shaft and earned a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for The French Connection , High Plains Drifter is a haunting and haunted supernatural revenge story about a mysterious, cigarillo-chewing man with no name (guess who?) who rides into the small mining town of Lago and immediately begins to toy with the locals, playing judge, jury, and executioner for their sins. You see, Lago is a town with a past. As we slowly learn in an onion-peel haze of almost-psychedelic flashbacks and dream sequences, the townsfolk silently watched as three of its scuzziest citizens brutally whipped Lago’s marshal, Jim Duncan, to death. Now, with those murderers just released from prison, they want Eastwood’s Stranger to defend them. But he has a score of his own to settle.

Tidyman said that his script for High Plains Drifter was inspired by the infamous 1964 Kitty Genovese case, where a 28-year-old Queens woman was stabbed and murdered as her terrified neighbors reportedly stared out their apartment windows and watched without calling for help. And Eastwood takes that Old Testament theme of payback for cowardice, hypocrisy, and inaction and grafts it onto the genre that he knew in his marrow. Over the course of the movie, Eastwood’s Stranger acts as if he’s Lago’s savior, but he’s not interested in protecting them, he wants them to pay for Duncan’s murder. Maybe…and this is where the movie gets really interesting…because he is Duncan. Or the ghost of Duncan, hanging in a tortured purgatorial limbo, until he can get a proper burial, a shred of justice, and some overdue payback.

The most eye-catching and best-known sequence in the film occurs when Eastwood tells the cowering citizens of Lago to paint every building in the town red as they await the three murderers’ return. Meanwhile, he picks up a brush to drip the letters H-E-L-L in crimson on a signpost at Lago’s border. These people want protection, but there’s no salvation for them. They’re already in hell for their sins (at least everyone other than Verna Bloom, who was the only person who tried to help Duncan). Still, it’s Eastwood’s flashbacks to Duncan’s murder-by-bullwhip that are even more horrifying—and technically dazzling thanks to Bruce Surtees’ fever-dream cinematography, Dee Barton’s eerie score, and Eastwood’s decision to have his longtime stunt double, Buddy Van Horn, play Duncan, making the physical similarities between Duncan and the Stranger all the more creepy.

I’ve watched High Plains Drifter probably a half dozen times and every time I’m more and more convinced that the Stranger is the ghost of Duncan meting out punishment from the Great Beyond. But Eastwood has always been cagier about interpreting his film, saying that that interpretation might be true, but it’s also possible that the Stranger is Duncan’s avenging brother. I hope he’s wrong, or just being playfully cryptic. Because it’s a far more interesting movie the further you get away from its Western-ness and the more it steps into the realm of spectral, mystical Tales from the Crypt pulp.

There’s one last reason why I adore High Plains Drifter and it really has nothing to do with what happens on screen. After the film came out and wound up being a big box-office hit, Eastwood wrote a fannish letter to John Wayne, suggesting that they make a movie together. It was one generation’s Great Western Star reaching his hand out to the previous generation’s. Wayne, who it turns out wasn’t a fan of the film, wrote an angry letter back, saying that High Plains Drifter “isn’t what the West was all about” and that it “isn’t the American people who settled this country.” The Duke may have thought that he was putting the young Eastwood in his place. And maybe it stung the young director at the time. But looking back now, I’d say that Eastwood comes out of that exchange looking like the victor.

@media(max-width: 73.75rem){.css-1ktbcds:before{margin-right:0.4375rem;color:#FF3A30;content:'_';display:inline-block;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1ktbcds:before{margin-right:0.5625rem;color:#FF3A30;content:'_';display:inline-block;}} Movies

This Is the Best Cameo in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’

So, What’s Going on with Marvel’s ‘Blade’ Reboot?

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Post-Credits, Explained

Where to Watch All 34 Marvel Movies In Order

‘Twisters’: A Meteorologist Answers Your Questions

Timothée Chalamet Is Damn Good as Bob Dylan

Why ‘Twisters’ Should’ve Let the Hot People Kiss

The Best Horror Movies of 2024 (So Far)

You’d Better Watch Out, Because ‘Twisters’ Is Here

Everything We Know About 'Deadpool & Wolverine'

Help Me Figure Out What to Name 'Twisters 2'

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors, a road paved with bloodshed: high plains drifter turns 50.

You cannot accuse "High Plains Drifter" of being a case of bait and switch. The 1973 Universal Western, released 50 years ago this month, tells you what it is with its first scene. A stranger on horseback materializes in the punishing desert, the telephoto image distorted by shimmering waves of heat. Did this stranger really appear like a mirage, or was the heat playing tricks on us? The answer to that question comes from the eerie and unsettling score by jazz musician Dee Barton, which seems more appropriate for hallucinatory horror than a Western. 

As always, the score is the window into the soul of the director, and, in this case, the director was Clint Eastwood , making his sophomore film as a filmmaker and his first Western as a director-star. “High Plains Drifter” can be read as a clear declaration of directorial intent. This was not like the Westerns of yesteryear (lore has it that Eastwood reached out to John Wayne after “High Plains Drifter” was released about collaborating, and Wayne informed him he would not work with the younger man because he was so appalled by the new Western and read it as an affront to his entire filmography). Nor is the film perfectly in line with other anti-Westerns of the day though the film shares the era's frankness about matters of race and gender. Eastwood’s politics are notoriously complex: though a longtime Republican (now a registered Libertarian), his critiques of American society, especially along the lines of race and gender, have been pointed at times in a manner at odds with conservatism. But identity politics have never been the thematic engine of Eastwood’s work. What drives “High Plains Drifter” is key because it will become the auteurist throughline of Eastwood’s directorial body of work, which is now entering its sixth decade: An Old Testament preoccupation with sin, guilt, retribution, and (as he has aged) the possibility for atonement.

“High Plains Drifter” can be easily summarized in a way that makes it sound so generic as to be almost postmodern: a nameless stranger rides into town with a secret and ends up defending it against a trio of outlaws bent on revenge. The nameless, opportunistic, and anti-heroic Stranger, played by Eastwood, is clearly a riff on The Man With No Name, and the setup is reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa ’s masterpiece “ The Seven Samurai .” And yet, the script immediately goes to great pains to distance this story from those stories. The Stranger is just as competent with violence as The Man With No Name, but there’s an added level of viciousness we’ve never seen before. When The Stranger kills three men within minutes of riding into the lakeside town of Lago, there’s an element of subterfuge and excess to this, unlike in Eastwood’s earlier films. Sure, they were menacing him and “asking for it,” but when they get it, they get it in such a fashion that right away dispels any idea of classical heroism. 

And then there’s the rape. Barely a minute after this triple homicide is committed in broad daylight, the town beauty antagonizes The Stranger. We expect the usual kind of hostile banter with a simmering sexual undercurrent that’s the life’s blood of Old Hollywood. But then the Stranger, after saying someone ought to teach her some manners, drags Callie Travers (played by Marianna Hill one year before she would be immortalized as Fredo’s similarly headstrong wife in “ The Godfather, Part II ”) into a nearby stable and rapes her. For many today, this will be your off-ramp. It is jarring to see the hero of your film commit an unambiguous act of sexual violence before the conclusion of the story’s exposition. But, again, Eastwood is letting you know upfront who this character is. 

Two interesting points about the mise-en-scène during this rape scene. At one point, we notice the act has an audience: Mordecai (played by Billy Curtis, who once played a Munchkin in “ The Wizard of Oz ”), one of the few passably decent people in Lago, watches with prurient interest. Later, we will see the earlier brutal act of murder that sealed the town’s fate through his eyes, and I think it has to be noted that Mordecai’s spectatorship links these two acts. Eastwood also signals that this rape shouldn’t merely be written off as a roll in the hay by giving us a subjective shot from Callie’s point of view after the act. We look up at The Stranger, who towers over the camera. It underlines that this was about him asserting his power over her violently (as he did with the men minutes before), and it also asks us, the viewer, to see through the eyes of this woman who has just been brutalized. In this cultural moment of moral absolutes, this won’t be enough to justify The Stranger’s actions for contemporary viewers, but the film clearly understands the moral line that has been crossed. 

Rather than jail The Stranger for either of these transgressions, the city fathers of Lago make him a proposition: If he will handle the pesky matter of three violently vengeful outlaws en route to Lago after a year of imprisonment, the town is essentially his. He can have anything he wants from any of the shopkeepers free of charge. The Stranger balks initially but agrees to train the townsfolk to defend themselves. And, in the meantime, he begins taking full advantage of his carte blanche, and not always in expected ways. When he witnesses the general store owner harassing an old Native American man with two boys, The Stranger lavishes each boy with his own jar of candy and gives the old man more blankets than he can carry. And we understand this not to be an act of virtue but an expression of his contempt for the hypocrisy of the townspeople. 

This is what makes “High Plains Drifter” so interesting to watch in 2023: It’s about as bleak a portrait of the white man’s expansion into the American West as has ever been painted. And it paints this picture without the usual signifiers of this corruption. We do not see wanton violence against the indigenous population (as in 1970’s “ Little Big Man ”) or outlaws tormenting the salt of the earth white settlers. The film slowly reveals to us that the outlaws are coming back because they were betrayed by Lago when they brutally killed the town’s marshal Jim Duncan at their behest. Marshal Duncan had learned that the gold found by his fellow townsfolk was actually on government land; therefore, claiming the riches was tantamount to theft. Knowing Duncan to be morally unyielding, the good people of Lago arrange for him to be murdered. The outlaws, our putative villains, are actually exploited laborers. Marshal Duncan, the only person in town with the moral courage to object to the town’s theft, is killed by a bullwhip in front of the eyes of all in Lagos. Many of the best films are about the act of watching, but “High Plains Drifter” is uniquely preoccupied with perspectives and points of view. Lest we sympathize too much with the wronged assassins, Eastwood films a massacre they commit after being released from prison and shoots it from the murderers’ points of view. We are forced to see their crimes through their eyes in a way that says that the audience, like the townspeople of Lago, are complicit. 

But what “High Plains Drifter” is known for is the subtle-but-not-too-subtle insinuation that The Stranger is the reincarnation of Marshal Jim Duncan (casting Buddy Van Horn to play the slain lawman was a deliberate tip of the hat to this since he and Eastwood bore a passing resemblance to one another). When The Stranger enters the town, which leads to a ballet of people staring at him and him staring back, he flinches at the sound of the whip being deployed on a team of horses. Duncan’s public execution by bullwhip (an instrument synonymous with the pain and cruelty of American slavery) resonates powerfully because, for me, it is clearly marked as a lynching. 

Consider at this point that “High Plains Drifter” was written by Ernest Tidyman , who was not Black but is most well known as the author of the Shaft novels and the screenwriter for the two Shaft films directed by Gordon Parks. Tidyman said he was interested in creating a Black hero more in line with the Black people he knew in real life, neither a saint nor a white man’s hollow symbol. His interest was not limited to Black heroes; he published a non-fiction book entitled Dummy in 1974 about African-American deaf-mute convicted serial killer Donald Lang which was made into a 1979 TV movie starring LeVar Burton as Lang and Paul Sorvino as his hearing-impaired attorney. The teleplay was written by Tidyman and directed by Frank Perry .

Tidyman understood that any film considering American evil could not get too far from the specter of racism. And while there are no explicit references to anti-Blackness, the choice of the whip and the public nature of Marshal Duncan’s slaughter are whispering a truth that some ears can hear perfectly well, that the kind of violence routinely visited on Black men at that time could all too easily be turned on a white lawman if he forgot one of his twin directives: To protect capital and/or protect white supremacy. 

This subtle allusion to race also dovetails with Clint Eastwood’s persona. This may seem strange if your first association with Eastwood is the actor who was so distressed by the possibility of a second term for President Obama that he spoke to an empty chair at the Republican Convention in 2012 (he has said the appearance is something he regrets), or the many years he spent training his iconic .44 Magnum on Black bodies as Dirty Harry Callahan . But if you know the Dirty Harry series well, attempts were always made to temper the violence against Black people with scenes of Harry enjoying camaraderie with African-Americans. Dirty Harry’s famous “Do you feel lucky punk” speech delivered to a wounded Black bank robber he held at gunpoint is immediately followed by Harry being treated by a Black doctor who grew up in the same neighborhood as Harry (“We Potrero Hill boys have to stick together,” the doctor says to Harry). 

It is well known that Eastwood is a lifelong jazz devotee, and it has long been my view that this exposure to Black culture had a profound impact on Eastwood’s persona. He has, in essence, been performing Black Cool without being too obvious about it. That’s what has made his persona, his swagger, his ‘50s hipster mien, strikingly different from the likes of Wayne, Cooper, or Stewart. 

Eastwood will never be labeled “woke” by the reactionaries of our day, but looking back on his career, he veers dangerously close to it. Before his recent period (where he became preoccupied with the most basic kind of American heroics in such a way as to pander to Obama-era malcontents), his filmography boasted a late-career run with Morgan Freeman , a flawed attempt to reckon with the racist undercurrents of his persona in “ Gran Torino ,” and even a film that details in no uncertain terms how wronged women have been silenced through institutionalization in “ Changeling ” (ironic given the deplorable treatment Eastwood doled out to his domestic partner Sondra Locke at the close of their romantic and creative partnership). His decision to make a companion piece to his largely stateside World War II film “ Flags of Our Fathers ” that focused solely on the doomed Imperial Japanese forces tasked with the mission of holding Iwo Jima was audacious. And because it was Clint Eastwood, no one cried foul, even when he was photographed directing that film wearing the field cap of the Imperial Japanese Army. Imagine the potential uproar if Spike Lee had been similarly documented.  

If race is a subtle breeze blowing through “High Plains Drifter,” then gender is a howling wind. The rape of Callie Travers continues to resound in the story long after the act. The town’s indifference to this act is just one more example of its moral turpitude, even though Callie herself (who watches the brutal murder of Marshal Duncan with a flicker of sadistic arousal) is part of the corruption. Only Sarah Belding, the wife of the local hotel owner (played by the late Verna Bloom ), seems to be above the rest of the town, which is why it’s especially rich that when The Stranger rides into town, Sarah is shown watching him from the second floor of the hotel, from a higher vantage point than every other person in town. 

Sarah, aware of The Stranger’s rape of Callie, expects the same treatment when he takes her to his bedroom. But he demurs until she throws herself at him. Sex with The Stranger seems to lead to a moral awakening for Sarah and causes her to confess the town’s original sin. As he turns to leave her in the morning, she says: “Be careful. You’re a man who makes people afraid, and that’s dangerous.” He replies in that iconic Eastwood way: “Well, it’s what people know about themselves inside that makes them afraid.” 

At this point, The Stranger orders the townspeople to paint Lago red, in essence literally rechristening it as Hell before the final conflagration (which is beautifully shot in Panavision by the late great cinematographer Bruce Surtees ). He forces the denizens of Lago to shed the hypocrisies of law and order and faith and God to become honest for just one moment about whom they truly serve. 

Half a century later, some of the country seems ready to embrace what the townspeople of Lago struggle to ignore. Eastwood and Tidyman understood the ugly truth buried beneath the mythology that the Western, above all other American genres, promoted and enshrined. The Stranger avenges the murder of Marshal Duncan by killing the assassins and almost destroying the town, but the lie that Duncan was killed to protect stands intact as he dematerializes in the desert. Despite their ordeal at the hands of the outlaws and The Stranger, the people of Lago who survived the killing will enjoy their ill-gotten gains. 

That truth is what elevates “High Plains Drifter” to the peak of the genre. It was a bold announcement from Eastwood, a man obsessed with how fear can turn men into evil. Fifty years later, it has lost none of its lacerating power.

Now streaming on:

Brandon David Wilson

Brandon Wilson is a filmmaker, film writer, and lecturer.

Latest blog posts

Netflix's The Decameron Sinks to New Lows

Silents Synced Pairs Silent Classics with '90s Alt-Rock (It’s a Gen-X Thing)

Time Bandits Offers a Fun Summer Diversion

The 10 Most Intriguing Titles at the 2024 Venice Film Festival

Latest reviews.

The Fabulous Four

The Last Breath

Glenn kenny.

The Girl in the Pool

Marya e. gates.

Robert Daniels

Deadpool & Wolverine

Matt zoller seitz.

The Way We Speak

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• 80% Deadpool & Wolverine Link to Deadpool & Wolverine
• 94% Dìdi Link to Dìdi
• 75% Twisters Link to Twisters

New TV Tonight

• 77% Time Bandits: Season 1
• 100% Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose: Season 1
• 75% The Decameron: Season 1
• 46% Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam: Season 1
• -- Snowpiercer: Season 4
• -- 61st Street: Season 2
• -- Wayne Brady: The Family Remix: Season 1
• -- Elite: Season 8
• -- Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson: Season 1
• -- Dress My Tour: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• 81% Star Wars: The Acolyte: Season 1
• 78% Presumed Innocent: Season 1
• 100% Supacell: Season 1
• 51% Those About to Die: Season 1
• 75% Lady in the Lake: Season 1
• 93% The Boys: Season 4
• 89% Sunny: Season 1
• 89% The Bear: Season 3
• 89% House of the Dragon: Season 2
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• 78% Cobra Kai: Season 6 Link to Cobra Kai: Season 6
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

100 Best Movie Duos

All Marvel MCU Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

The Deadpool & Wolverine Cast Talk Fight Scenes, Dance Numbers, and Much More

Movie Re-Release Calendar 2024: Your Guide to Movies Back In Theaters

• Trending on RT
• Deadpool & Wolverine Reviews
• Best Horror Movies
• Top Box Office
• Best TV 2024
• Movie Re-Release Calendar

High Plains Drifter Reviews

In High Plains Drifter, Clint Eastwood already shows off his promising talents as a filmmaker in only his second directing gig.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 5, 2023

A nasty, eerie Clint Eastwood Western...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 11, 2023

The difference between this and all those “Dollars” pictures is that Clint has gone and refined the art of steel-eyed enigma. Eastwood directed this one himself and, like his earlier Play Misty for Me, it shows he has some savvy behind the camera.

Full Review | Jun 14, 2022

I admit Mono looks phenomenal in this memorable piece where Eastwood spins off his Spaghetti Western persona during a violent round of vengeance.

Full Review | Aug 10, 2021

A better black comedy-cum-allegory in which Eastwood (as both actor and director) expanded on the spaghetti template.

Full Review | Dec 4, 2020

HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER is perhaps Eastwood's most mean-spirited film that deals with supernatural elements and quite literally burning down every cliche, the Western cliche that had predated "The Man With No Name.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Nov 19, 2020

A shaky sophomore effort for Eastwood. Ernest Tidyman's script all too often plays like an extended -- and inferior -- episode of The Twilight Zone.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 30, 2020

Mysterious, sporadically comical, and classically Eastwood, High Plains Drifter is a wholly satisfying revenge saga that's askew enough to surprise as it exercises known elements.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Nov 23, 2013

Eastwood holds fast to the rebel spirit of the spaghetti Westerns and revisionist "New Hollywood" Westerns of the previous decade, but packages it in a film that's slicker and more mainstream-friendly.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 28, 2013

Clint Eastwood's first Western as director is rather fascinating due to its quasi-supernatural component.

Full Review | Jul 3, 2009

As a director, Eastwood is not as good as he seems to think he is. As an actor, he is probably better than he allows himself to be.

Full Review | Oct 26, 2008

One of the best Westerns of the 1970s.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 26, 2008

Whatever the reasoning, it is a gripping work, harsh and ahead of its time.

Eastwood's second directorial effort is mechanically stylish.

Full Review | May 21, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 28, 2007

Eastwood registers strongly as actor and director of this revenge Western (yet another critique of High Noon), with a style that's influenced by his mentors, the economic efficiency of Don Siegel with touches of Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Apr 13, 2007

This was supposed to be Eastwood's fond adieu to the worlds of Sergio Leone and Don Siegel; and indeed he cuts the operatic excess of the former with the punchy economy of the latter.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2006

Clint Eastwood is the ultimate thinking man's cinematic killing machine.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Savory Eastwood western.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 14, 2005

Part ghost story, part revenge Western, more than a little silly, and often quite entertaining in a way that may make you wonder if you have lost your good sense.

Full Review | May 10, 2005

High Plains Drifter Review

01 Jan 1972

105 minutes

High Plains Drifter

Having learned his craft at the right-hand of Sergio Leone, Eastwood’s first Western unsurprisingly owes much to the grandiose mythical stylings of the Spaghetti tradition. The ingredients could well have been carried on from some further adventure between the taciturn actor and the flamboyant Italian director: a cowboy, grizzled and uncommunicative, arrives in town unwilling to share his name, despite his amoral attitude he will come to assist the town in its fight against some no-good outlaws. Yet, as the film begins its unethical march, the differences in outlook and style between the two men as directors become swiftly apparent.

High Plains Drifter has none of Leone’s exuberance, it is terse, shadowy, and gothic, as much a ghost story as anything else. The townsfolk, unusually self-serving and cowardly, did nothing to stop the death by whipping of their former marshal, and Eastwood’s presence pointedly suggests this is his vengeful spirit returned from the grave; which makes good sense of his rather ethereal character (an idea revisited in Pale Rider). Of course, it was the sadistic outlaws who were responsible for the murder, so they’re pretty much for it as well despite being framed by the locals. There’s nary a drop of innocence hereabouts.

What the film does so eloquently, with a towering menace, is carry on Leone’s work in dismantling the Western myth. The clear-cut morality of tradition finds no grip in this hardened, sunbaked hellhole, little wonder, upon seeing the film, John Wayne wrote Eastwood an indignant letter for violating, “the spirit of the West.” He, of all people, would never grasp that that was exactly the point. Eastwood was absorbing the Vietnam era bitterness that suffused his country and injecting it into their most beloved ideal.

Up until the salutary nostalgia of Unforgiven, he never found another role shaped so precisely to the grim aspect of his features, there is nothing that will surprise anyone here, but it fits the dark rigour of the film’s intentions. The landscape, so necessary a facet of the genre, crystallises Leone’s operatic grandeur into an arid emptiness, the back end of nowhere set off by a beautiful blue lake like the promise of salvation.

Suggestions

Review: clint eastwood’s high plains drifter on kino lorber 4k uhd blu-ray.

Kino’s 4K release offers the ultimate experience of one mean, bleak trip to hell.

Early in High Plains Drifter , Eastwood establishes the film’s stark terms with a scene that’s perhaps more shocking now than it was way back in 1973. The drifter rides into the mining town of Lago and is harassed by a trio of toughs who’re used to having the run of things. After casually killing them with the skill and aplomb of Eastwood’s Man With No Name from Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy, the drifter runs into Callie (Marianna Hill), an attractive woman who picks an argument with him seemingly for the attention, which spurs the drifter to drag her into a nearby barn and rape her. The abruptness of this scene is chilling, and, yes, Eastwood maintains a certain macho ambiguity as to whether or not Callie “enjoyed” it as a reprise from coupling with the local beta males, though the action itself is terse, brutal, and unglamorized. Even more unnerving is the townspeople’s indifference to Callie’s violation, though we soon learn they have a habit of allowing atrocity to flower for their own convenience.

It’s hard to imagine any star now who’d be as willing to confront the disturbing implications of their “image” as strenuously as Eastwood does in High Plains Drifter , which elaborates on the eroticized heartlessness that he previously mined in Don Siegel’s The Beguiled . The drifter’s callousness is never soft-soaped, as this character suggests the apotheosis of the resentment that drives various Eastwood heroes who are constantly tasked with saving people who can’t stick up for themselves and—worse—have no gratitude for the services provided.

In scene after scene, the drifter degrades and exploits a town with a history of ceding power to maniacs, and Eastwood, at the height of his on-screen magnetism, uncomfortably makes room for us to enjoy these humiliations. We respond to his iconic authority, envisioning perhaps that we would be “him” in such a scenario, even if most of us would be among the lambs. Which is to say that High Plains Drifter honors and explodes the sicko pleasure of the vigilante film, which allows us to pretend that we’re the alpha and thusly indulge the alpha’s sense of superiority over what are, ironically, more accurate representations of ourselves. The film could be a libertarian’s dream, which is fascinating given Eastwood’s own conservative politics.

Yet Eastwood’s politics have rarely gone unchallenged in his films. High Plains Drifter periodically enjoys a superhuman loner’s power, which is expressed via bold imagery that evokes Leone’s aesthetic, only with a tinge of gothic neuroses. Yet this film also rues this community’s weakness as a perversion of democratic ideals. The drifter is an avenging angel, perhaps literally, who treats oppressed people such as Native Americans honorably, and who’s haunted by flashbacks of a marshal being beaten to death by a trio of outlaws with bullwhips.

This is among the most disturbing sequences of Eastwood’s career, as the town’s citizens watch the murder with paralyzed awe while shrouded in darkness as the whips crack into the air like gun blasts. One is primed to consider the legend of the dozens of people who watched Kitty Genovese as she was raped and murdered in New York City in 1964, an incident that has inspired many works, such as Harlan Ellison’s short story “The Whimpering of Whipped Dogs.” We are led to wonder, especially by the film’s final image, if the drifter is this marshal returned to even the ledgers—a suggestion that’s intensified by a perverse meta twist: The marshal is played by Buddy Van Horn, one of Eastwood’s most famous stunt doubles.

The film’s horror element is teasingly evocative, emphasized mostly via the sheen of Bruce Surtees’s otherworldly cinematography. Lago is positioned along and often above a large body of water that reflects the sky, subtly proffering the illusion that the town itself is in the clouds, a notion of heavenly paradise that the drifter destroys when he assumes control and orders the townspeople to paint every building a deep, dark red. This red town cuts to the truth of the lonely brutality of western settlement in general, and could’ve sprung out one of Roger Corman’s most surreal productions, particularly The Masque of the Red Death .

When the gang that killed the marshal returns to find this hellscape, its members are brutally dispatched before the drifter rides off into a desert that shimmers with primordial, hallucinatory heat. Unforgiven was said to challenge various valedictory motifs of the western and the revenge narrative, but it essentially allows us to like Eastwood’s character and to feel that delayed closure and justice have been achieved. High Plains Drifter is a more bitter brew, suggesting that violence begets violence indiscriminately, due to authority that’s derived from the acquiescence of populations who’d rather be comfortable than righteous.

Image/Sound

Kino Lorber’s 4K release includes a “brand new HDR/Dolby Vision Master,” meaning that it’s a different scan than the HD master included on the distributor’s 2020 Blu-ray . The occasional softness that was visible on the earlier transfer has been corrected, while detail is immaculate throughout. The colors are just as eye-popping as before, but the contrast ratio is even more impressive, particularly in the shadow-laden bull-whipping flashbacks. On the audio front, Kino has added a 24-bit 5.1 surround track that adds even more intensity to the hyper-violent shootouts and an added richness and depth to the other scenes.

In his audio commentary, filmmaker Alex Cox astutely observes the various similarities and differences between High Plains Drifter and the films of Italian maestros like Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci. Cox also celebrates the film’s superb sense of location, as High Plains Drifter is set in a western town that was built out of scratch, including functional interiors in many of the buildings. Instead of cutting from a picturesque location to an obvious set, Clint Eastwood and cinematographer Bruce Surtees frequently capture interiors and exteriors simultaneously, tightening claustrophobia as well as our impression of “knowing” this town.

Mining his own filmmaking experience, Cox also talks of scenes he might’ve snipped or of the interior images that he finds to be underlit, despite his obvious reverence for High Plains Drifter . In general, this is an enjoyable commentary, which allows room for many cross-references to Eastwood’s blossoming stock company. In new interviews, actors Marianna Hill, Mitchell Ryan, and William O’Connell speak of their various experiences working with Eastwood, all describing him as an erudite and unpretentious artist who trusts his actors and keeps them on their toes with his famous preference for single takes.

This 4K release also includes a new commentary with the always dependable film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, who do a great job contextualizing the state of the western in the early 1970s. They discuss the influence of both spaghetti westerns and the death of the Hays Code on the sadism and morally gray antiheroes that came to dominate Hollywood westerns for a time. Their conversation also compellingly covers John Wayne’s response to High Plains Drifter and others like it, and the inspiration that screenwriter Ernset Tidyman drew from 1969’s Django the Bastard , as well as a real 1964 murder, which dozens of people witnessed and didn’t help to prevent. An archive promo and trailers for other vintage Eastwood productions round out a slim yet informative supplements package.

With an excellent new audio commentary and a solid boost in A/V quality, Kino’s 4K release of High Plains Drifter offers the ultimate experience of Clint Eastwood’s mean, bleak trip to hell.

You might be interested in

Review: Joshua Logan’s Paint Your Wagon on KL Studio Classics 4K UHD Blu-ray

Review: Michael Cimino’s Thunderbolt and Lightfoot on KL Studio Classics 4K UHD Blu-ray

4K UHD Blu-ray Review: Martin Scorsese’s After Hours on the Criterion Collection

Chuck Bowen

Chuck Bowen's writing has appeared in The Guardian , The Atlantic , The AV Club , Style Weekly , and other publications.

Derek Smith

Derek Smith's writing has appeared in Tiny Mix Tapes , Apollo Guide , and Cinematic Reflections .

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Review: Season Three of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery on Kino Lorber Blu-ray

4K UHD Blu-ray Review: Henry Selick’s Coraline Joins the Shout! Factory

Sign Up for Our Weekly Newsletter

High Plains Drifter Movie Ending Explained

Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter left fans with plenty of questions following its shocking ending. 

The Eastwood-led 1973 Western film is back in the news, following its streaming debut on Netflix in the U.S.

Centering on a mysterious cowpoke known as The Stranger, High Plains Drifter on the surface looks like a simple story of dustbowl revenge, but looking deeper can expose a myriad of mind-blowing possibilities.

Breaking Down High Plains Drifter

After completing several seemingly impossible feats of survival throughout the film, High Plains Drifter ends with audiences wondering who exactly this mysterious magic man is. 

The identity of Clint Eastwood's The Stranger is left intentionally ambiguous throughout the movie, possibly hinting that he is nothing more than a ghost or apparition and not a physical human at all. 

This is evidenced both in the beginning and end of the film with the character appearing from the desert atop his horse to kick off the movie, and then stoically riding off into the sunset to close it. 

Another instance of his ghostly ways can be seen in moments where the main character is shot point-blank but left unscathed.

According to one popular fan theory (known as the 'ghost story' interpretation of the film), Eastwood's Stranger is the ghost of Marshal Jim Duncan: a character named during the movie's ending. 

Before the credits roll, The Stranger has a moment with Billy Curtis' Mordecai. Mordecai tells The Stranger before he leaves, "You know, I never did know your name," to which Eastwood's cowboy says, "Yes, you do."

As Eastwood's protagonist rides off and the movie fades to black, it is revealed the unmarked grave The Stranger previously said he was buried in has been engraved with, "Marshal Jim Duncan, Rest in Peace" seemingly confirming the identity of the mysterious character. 

If he is, in fact, Jim Duncan, then the events of the movie make a lot more sense. 

The film turns into a story of revenge, with Eastwood's character returning from the dead in a corporeal form to avenge his murder and torment the town that stood by as he was slain. 

Has the High Plains Drifter Ghost Theory Been Confirmed?

While the creatives behind High Plains Drifter have remained tight-lipped about the film's ending and apparent meaning, there have been hints that fans may be onto something with their 'ghost story' theory. 

Star Clint Eastwood is said to be a big fan of the speculation that surrounded the film since its 1973 release.

Eastwood even evidently favors the 'ghost story' theory from fans but has not come out to publicly declare whether fans are onto something or not. 

Seeing as the movie heavily seems to imply Eastwood's Stranger character is the deceased Marshal Jim Duncan, it does look like that is very likely the case. 

Yes, fans will supposedly never get a concrete answer one way or the other, the evidence has piled up for those who think The Stranger is more than a gruff cowboy causing chaos in the West. 

High Plains Drifter is now streaming on Netflix. 

LATEST NEWS

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Forgotten username or password ?

• Start a new list…
• Add all films to a list…
• Add all films to watchlist

Add to your films…

Press Tab to complete, Enter to create

A moderator has locked this field.

Add to lists

Where to watch

High plains drifter.

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Welcome to Hell

A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.

Clint Eastwood Verna Bloom Marianna Hill Mitchell Ryan Jack Ging Stefan Gierasch Ted Hartley Billy Curtis Geoffrey Lewis Scott Walker Walter Barnes Paul Brinegar Richard Bull Robert Donner John Hillerman Anthony James William O'Connell John Quade Jane Aull Dan Vadis Reid Cruickshanks Jim Gosa Jack Kosslyn Russ McCubbin Belle Mitchell John Mitchum Carl Pitti Chuck Waters Buddy Van Horn

Director Director

Clint Eastwood

Producers Producers

Robert Daley Ernest B. Wehmeyer

Writer Writer

Ernest Tidyman

Editor Editor

Ferris Webster

Cinematography Cinematography

Bruce Surtees

Assistant Director Asst. Director

James Fargo

Executive Producer Exec. Producer

Jennings Lang

Art Direction Art Direction

Henry Bumstead

Set Decoration Set Decoration

George Milo

Stunts Stunts

Buddy Van Horn George Orrison Richard Farnsworth Chuck Hayward Mario Arteaga Cody Bearpaw John Hudkins Carl Pitti Blair Burrows Chuck Waters George P. Wilbur

Composer Composer

Sound sound.

James R. Alexander

Malpaso Productions Universal Pictures

Releases by Date

06 apr 1973, 19 apr 1973, 18 may 1973, 22 may 1973, 01 jun 1973, 02 jun 1973, 28 jun 1973, 12 jul 1973, 16 jul 1973, 03 aug 1973, 05 aug 1973, 22 aug 1973, 05 sep 1973, 07 sep 1973, 23 oct 1973, 22 nov 1973, 02 jan 1974, 22 feb 1974, 01 apr 1974, 21 jul 1975, 28 may 1997, 18 sep 2001, 15 aug 2022, 16 aug 2022, 20 feb 2001, 01 mar 2001, 05 may 2008, 05 jun 2012, 11 sep 2013, 23 apr 2021, 14 jun 2002, releases by country.

• Theatrical R18+
• Physical DVD
• Theatrical 15
• Theatrical Re-release
• Theatrical 18 West Germany
• Theatrical 18

Netherlands

• Physical 12 DVD
• Physical 12 Blu ray

Russian Federation

• Premiere Los Angeles, California
• Theatrical R

United Arab Emirates

105 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Patrick Willems ★★★★ 8

Jesus, Clint, this is some dark shit

Review by 🇵🇱 Steve G 🇵🇸 ★★★★½ 13

With High Plains Drifter, Clint Eastwood created arguably the most debatable and ambiguous film of his entire career - both as an actor and as a director. There is so much about this eerie western that doesn't get answered. So many details missing. So many presumptions to be made.

Most revisionist westerns of its time were busying themselves rewriting the West as it had been told by Hollywood, mostly wrongly, for over 40 years. Eastwood decided to take the traditional mainstream western, slap it around a while and show that something could still be done with it - just as long as it was willing to change.

It's well known by now that Eastwood's mysterious stranger rides into a town…

Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★★

Eastwood channels two of his biggest collaborators (Leone and Siegel) into one of the grimmest westerns I've seen, that plays sorta like if the wandering Ronin in a Kurosawa movie was actually a rapist monster as well as a brutal killer and the local pacifist townspeople who hire him to protect them from murderous outlaws turn out to be just as corrupt and contemptible as he is. We're already living in hell so might as well stop pretending.

Full discussion on ep 190 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS .

Review by Adam Kempenaar ★★★★½ 3

The Stranger: All these people, are they your sisters and brothers?

Preacher: They most certainly are.

The Stranger: ...Then you won't mind if they come over and stay at your place, will ya?

And when the preacher's stunned, passive look further betrays his hypocrisy, Eastwood, not content, has the holy man graciously invite the cast-out patrons into his and the other townspeoples' homes... not charging them "one cent more than regular hotel rates."

A relentlessly bleak allegory of the human (American?) capacity for cowardice and avarice, with Eastwood's Stranger an almost Chigurh-like supernatural presence – slightly funnier, and only slightly more righteous.

Review by Ian West ★★★★★ 9

Amoral ghost story revenge that feels like a grim pulp western paperback from HELL.

Perhaps the cruelest American Western of that time period? Perhaps. Eastwood utilizes knowledge acquired from Siegel and Leone and conjures up a raw, sardonic, and mean little horror western yarn with ominous vibes and atmosphere that lingers in perpetual limbo equal parts hellish and haunting—a genre deconstruction where the hero is more frightening, cruel, and ugly than any of the villains. That dynamite fire n’ brimstone finale (and final shot) has been etched in my mind since I first saw it as a kid, same goes for Eastwood’s unpure hellbent on revenge specter—returning to save a town by breaking its back and making it humble. Red Dead Redemption. Might be my favorite 70’s western?

Apparently John Wayne hated this and that makes me love it even more.

Review by Mike Thorn ★★★★★ 2

This might be the cruellest and most hellish Western. The protagonist is literally and figuratively inhuman: a rapist, a harbinger of death, an emblem of vicious retribution. There's moral severity here, not only in thematic terms, but in imagistic ones too: a town painted red, Eastwood framed by towering flames as he brutally reaps what's been sown. This film is totally irreconcilable, irresponsible, even deplorable in some ways, but it has mythic, Old Testament-style heft. It took hold of me despite all reservations.

Review by Matt Singer ★★★★ 1

The residents of Lago describe themselves as “God-fearing people.”

They should have been worried about someone else. They just made a deal with him.

Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★ 6

Pungent little revenge tale that's unfortunately soured by a certain, how shall I put it, rapeyness. Eastwood's treatment of women in his early films always makes my skin crawl, and here we have not one but two gals who despise The Stranger until he forces himself on them, whereupon they decide that he's dreamy after all. (Though it's unclear to me whether the one he outright rapes later sleeps with him merely so that she can unlock his door for the assassins. Couldn't she just stick a knife in his heart while he sleeps?) That significant ickiness aside, though, the film has fun with its darkly comic scenario, which amounts to a one-man inversion of Seven Samurai in which…

Review by Filipe Furtado ★★★★

Most of Eastwood's early American westerns were deliberate in their references to Italian films, so it made sense his first self-directed one would do the same, but while Post or Sturges would acknowledge his Leone roots better to incorporate the Man with No Name in a more American iconography, Eastwood seems more interested in exploring Eurowestern gothic roots for a horror/western hybrid that reimagine American western long retribution motif in a far more extreme and metaphysical vain. All of Eastwood's westerns have a certain tendency towards trying to destabilize tradition by making the violence hits harder (it must be Eastwood most New Hollywood tic), but none more than High Plains Drifter. It is his most theoretical western. a very deliberate…

Review by theriverjordan ★★★★½ 39

“High Plains Drifter” is a Rosetta Stone to comprehend its creator; a tablet with its script seared in fire. 

A confluence of influences from Clint Eastwood’s acting career careen in “Drifter’s” California hellscape — where masculine bravado goes to die. 

The plot concept for “Drifter” comes loosely from the Kitty Genovese murder; infamous for how 38 witnesses stood by and watched the victim being stabbed. Eastwood transplants the setting from Queens to the frontier, and substitutes a sheriff for the young bartender. 

“Drifter” bares the traits of not just its own director - Clint Eastwood - but also of the men who had previously directed him. It stuffs Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western satire and Don Siegel’s hard-nosed action into what…

Review by eddie ★★★★

- what about after we do it? what do we do then? - you live with it

some of the most evil vibes ever in this one, welcome to hell

Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★ 6

"Yes, they're my neighbors, and they make me sick! Hiding behind words like faith, peace and trust!"

Hell is a small town on the edge of civilization.

Black-as-pitch western about a community so desperately in need of a violent savior that they give a serial rapist complete control over their town in order to kill off a few bad guys. Turns out they might have bigger problems than the bandits. By giving the man with no name free reign, they expose their own hidden violence and the hypocritical values they've buried it under. They've come together as a community, but at the cost of the lives of other human beings. The unspoken exclusion (of the bandits, of the man with…

Similar Films

Mentioned by

Select your preferred backdrop

Select your preferred poster, upgrade to remove ads.

Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. Please consider upgrading to a Pro account —for less than a couple bucks a month, you’ll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages ( example ), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads!

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

• TV Listings
• Cast & Crew

High Plains Drifter Reviews

• 69   Metascore
• 1 hr 44 mins
• Drama, Action & Adventure
• Watchlist Where to Watch

A mysterious stranger is hired by the residents of a remote mining town to defend them against a group of criminals. Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this 1973 American Western film.

Eastwood directs his first Western, and it's a knockout. HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER is a morality tale carved out of the harsh Western desert and directed with a panache that synthesized the styles of Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, two directors who had worked with Eastwood frequently. The result is one of the best Westerns of the 1970s. The story begins as a mysterious stranger (Eastwood) materializes out of the desert heat. He rides into the small town of Lago, where his presence is considered a threat by the mean and cowardly populace. Before too long, he is attacked by three gunmen, and Eastwood kills them all coolly and efficiently. The stranger then rents a hotel room, and the town midget, Curtis (who is also disenfranchised in town due to his size), attends to his needs. At night, Eastwood's dreams are plagued by a recurring nightmare of a helpless man being whipped to death in the street by three sadistic sadistic mining company enforcers while the townsfolk stand by and do nothing to stop it. Meanwhile, the town council debates how to handle the impending threat created by a group of convicts, who are about to be released after a year in prison. They intend to return to the scene of their crimes — Lago — and destroy it. Desperate, the town's leaders cautiously approach Eastwood and plead with him to save their town from the vengeful enforcers. Eastwood agrees to help them, but then proceeds to turn the town on its head by teaching self-defense and requesting all sorts of strange things from the townsfolk, including having them paint the town red and rename it "Hell." An eerie, supernatural western that takes the avenging man-with-no-name character created by Eastwood and Leone to its most logical extreme. Eastwood would later bury the character completely in his own THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES only to have him rise like the Phoenix, redefined as a much more human, compassionate and caring hero.

🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed!

Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!

Get us in your inbox

Sign up to our newsletter for the latest and greatest from your city and beyond

By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions.

Awesome, you're subscribed!

The best things in life are free.

Sign up for our email to enjoy your city without spending a thing (as well as some options when you’re feeling flush).

Déjà vu! We already have this email. Try another?

Love the mag?

Our newsletter hand-delivers the best bits to your inbox. Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions.

• Things to Do
• Food & Drink
• Arts & Culture
• Time Out Market
• Coca-Cola Foodmarks
• Los Angeles

High Plains Drifter

Time out says, release details.

• Duration: 105 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Clint Eastwood
• Screenwriter: Ernest Tidyman
• Clint Eastwood
• Verna Bloom
• Mariana Hill
• Mitchell Ryan
• Stefan Gierasch
• Billy Curtis
• Geoffrey Lewis

Been there, done that? Think again, my friend.

Discover Time Out original video

• Press office
• Investor relations
• Work for Time Out
• Editorial guidelines
• Privacy notice
• Do not sell my information
• Cookie policy
• Accessibility statement
• Terms of use
• Modern slavery statement
• Manage cookies
• Advertising

Time Out Worldwide

• All Time Out Locations
• North America
• South America
• South Pacific

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

High Plains Drifter

• A gun-fighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago and is hired to bring the townsfolk together in an attempt to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.
• A Stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides into in the dusty mining town of Lago, where the townspeople are living in the shadow of a dark secret. After a shoot-out leaves the town's hired-gun protectors dead, the town's leaders petition the Stranger to stay and protect them from three ruthless outlaws who are soon to be released from prison. The three have their sights set on returning to Lago to wreak havoc and take care of some unfinished business. A series of events soon has the townspeople questioning whether siding with the Stranger was a wise idea, as they quickly learn the price that they each must pay for his services. As the outlaws make their way back into Lago, they discover that the town is not exactly as they had left it, and waiting in the shadows is the Stranger, ready to expose the town's secret and serve up his own brand of justice. — bob-oconnor1964
• The sleepy Wild West mining town of Lago, named after a local lake, is shaken up when a tough stranger (Clint Eastwood) stands up to the local gun champions and kills them in an uneven duel. The locals are impressed, enough to vote in town council to let Sheriff Sam Shaw (Walter Barnes) explain those were hired guns overstepping their task. But the three worst the town ever saw, which they were hired to check, are being released from jail. The Stranger accepts seemingly reluctantly, to be put in charge of order and mounting a defense, recruiting the factotum dwarf as his Deputy. Instead of doing their dirty work, he abuses his "blank pay check" not just for free goods, but also to commandeer everyone in a militia and transform the whole town. The jail-freed trio realizes too late that he's after vengeance for the whip-torment they inflicted on weakling Marshal Jim Duncan (Buddy Van Horn) years ago, still the stranger's daily nightmare. — KGF Vissers
• A stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides out of the hot desert into a small town in the wild west. The townspeople are scared of him, and three gunmen try, unsuccessfully, to kill him. He takes a room and decides to stay. Meanwhile, a group of outlaws are about to return to the town and take their revenge. Will the town's leaders convince the mysterious man to help? — Colin Tinto <[email protected]>
• A mysterious gunfighter without a name (Clint Eastwood) rides across the desert landscape and arrives in the mining town beside the sea "Lago" to stay for the night. After gunning down three desperado's who tried to kill him, the town hires the gunfighter to help defend the town from three murderous outlaws. Stacey Bridges (Geoffrey Lewis), Bill Borders (Scott Walker), and Cole Carlin (Anthony James), who have been released from jail after they brutally whipped to death the town's local lawman Marshal Jim Duncan (Buddy Van Horn) who is in his grave with an unmarked gravestone, set out to return to "Lago" to get their vengeance. Can the mysterious gunfighter without a name stop the three outlaws? — Daniel Williamson
• A distant figure on horseback rides through shimmering, midday heat. He's nearer now, a bearded man in a dark cowboy hat and long dusty overcoat--the Stranger ( Clint Eastwood ). The Stranger enters the tiny western town of Lago and rides slowly down the main street. The townspeople stop and watch him pass. Freighter Jake Ross ( John Quade ) cracks a bullwhip to wake his team of horses. The Stranger, startled, snaps his head around at the source before riding on. The Stranger leaves his horse at the livery stable and walks to the saloon. On the front porch three armed, tough-looking men watch him enter: Bill Borders ( Scott Walker ), Tommy Morris ( James Gosa ), and Fred Short ( Russ McCubbin ). The Stranger exchanges looks with Borders and enters the saloon. From the end of the bar farthest from some locals, he orders a "beer and a bottle" from saloon keeper Lutie Naylor ( Paul Brinegar ). The three men who were on the porch enter and take positions around him. Borders says, "Flea-bitten range bums don't usually stop in Lago. Life here's a little too quick for 'em. Maybe you think you're fast enough to keep up with us, huh?" Everyone freezes, waiting for the Stranger's reaction. He suddenly reaches for the whiskey bottle, scattering the local town folk, and causing the three tough men to tense. As he leaves, he whispers, "I'm faster than you'll ever live to be," He walks across the street to the barber shop, whiskey bottle in hand, and pays for a shave and a hot bath. He hangs his overcoat and gun belt on a coat rack. The barber ( William O'Connell ) seats him, drapes him with a smock, and nervously applies shaving cream to his face. The three toughs enter and resume taunting him. The Stranger ignores them, irritating Borders, who suddenly spins the chair. The Stranger shoots Borders in the forehead with a gun hidden under the smock. He then shoots Morris and Short before they can react. He stands and removes the shaving cream with the smock. He puts on his gun belt, replacing a wooden gun stock in the holster with his smoking gun. He steps outside, where the stunned townspeople are creeping over to view the carnage. A dwarf, Mordecai ( Billy Curtis ), gives him a cigar and offers a light, asking, "What did you say your name was, again?" The Stranger replies, "I didn't." The Stranger walks toward the stable. Callie Travers ( Mariana Hill ), a young woman of unknown background, purposefully collides with him. The shoulder of her sleeve is ripped, and she berates him for it. He tells her there's no reason to make a fuss, that she could have asked if she wanted to get acquainted. She angrily insults and repeatedly provokes him. He tries to leave, but she grabs him and insults him again. He returns her insults. She tells him he has "the manners of a goat" and slaps the cigar from his mouth. Pushed too far, he tells her, "You're the one that could use a lesson in manners," and drags her, screaming, into the stable. He throws her onto the loose hay and rapes her. The Stranger walks back past the barber shop where townsmen remove the dead bodies left by the stranger and clean up the barbers shop. They stop and watch him pass. He enters "Belding's Hotel" and finds the owner, Lewis Belding ( Ted Hartley ), at the desk. The Stranger says, "Room." Belding gives him a key, reminding him to sign the register. The stranger merely looks at him and goes upstairs to his room. In the room, he wedges a chair under the doorknob, takes a gulp of whiskey, and lays down to sleep. In a dream, a bloodied man ( Buddy Van Horn ) lays in the same position as the sleeping Stranger. The man who is wearing a badge is being whipped in the street by three men. It is dark, but the silhouettes of those watching are clearly the townspeople. The three men whipping him are not shown. The bloody man asks the townspeople for help, but receives none. As he passes out, he says, "Damn you all to hell." The stranger wakes from the dream. The next morning, the Stranger wakes and goes to the barber shop. He asks for his bath which the barber, instantly nervous, orders Mordecai to prepare in the back room. The trembling barber nicks the man he is shaving, Sheriff Sam Shaw ( Walter Barnes ), shoos him away. Sam waits until the Stranger has settled into his bath, then asks if he can sit down to talk. Trapped, the Stranger reluctantly gestures that Sam may join him. Sam says that Borders was not a loved man and there will be no charges filed. Callie Travers, who The Stranger had raped in the stable, enters the tub room with a revolver, says "You dirty bastard!," and shoots at the Stranger, who slides under the water. Sam wrestles her for the gun and, as he drags her out, instructs Mordecai to tell the Stranger not to leave town until Sam talks to him. After they're gone, the Stranger comes up for air and says, "I wonder why it took her so long to get mad." Mordecai, who witnessed the rape, responds, "Because maybe you didn't go back for more." In a backroom of the mining office, the prominent men in town are meeting: Mayor Hobart ( Stefan Gierasch ) of the general store, Dave Drake ( Mitchell Ryan ) and Morgan Allen ( Jack Ging ) of the mining company, the undertaker ( Richard Bull ), the gunsmith ( Reed Cruikshanks ), hotelier Belding, saloonkeeper Naylor, freighter Ross, and the preacher ( Robert Donner ). They have learned that Stacey Bridges and his cousins, the Carlin brothers, are to be released from prison that day. These three have sworn to burn the town to the ground. The group was counting on the mining company's hired gunfighters--Borders, Morris, and Short--to defend the town, but The Stranger killed them. Now, they are considering hiring the Stranger. Belding and the preacher don't like it, but the rest are in favor. The meeting is interrupted by Sam entering with still angry Callie in tow. Sam tells them about Callie's shooting outburst. Morgan Allen, her lover, tells her to be patient. Callie says, "Isn't forcible rape in broad daylight a misdemeanor in this town?" Allen tells her they need to avoid hysterics. She refers to hysterics not too long ago and spits on him, loudly questioning the manhood of the townsmen. Sam finds the Stranger eating at the hotel and tries to persuade him to defend the town. He says Bridges and the Carlins were troubleshooters for the mining company who were bullying townspeople before being convicted of stealing gold from the mining office. The Stranger suggests they were railroaded, and Sam admits that's why they are mad at the town. The Stranger says Sam can handle it. Sam replies, "I'm no law man", adding that his predecessor, Marshal Jim Duncan, was whipped to death in the street by outsiders. More pleading, then Sam says, "This is a God-fearing town. These are God-fearing people." The Stranger replies, "You like 'em. You save 'em." Desperate, Sam says, "Look, what if we offered you anything you want?" The Stranger stops in his tracks, turns, and asks, "Anything?" In Hobart's store, the mayor and Sam explain that the Stranger "has a free hand in this town," that he can have anything he wants in the town, "even if it's a squaw or a Mex to keep your bed warm at night," and that, as far as preparing the ambush, everyone is ready to follow his orders. The Stranger pockets a handful of cigars. He gives two Indian children each a jar of candy and gives a stack of blankets to an old Indian man Hobart has just scolded for touching the merchandise. On the way out, he encounters Sarah Belding ( Verna Bloom ), Lewis's wife, who served his meal earlier and caught his eye. He repeats, "Anything I want." The Stranger visits the boot maker ( John Hillerman ) and takes many items, for which Sam says there is "no charge." He does the same at the leather maker ( Jack Kosslyn 's) shop. A number of townsmen follow him, carrying his booty. He leads them to the saloon where he orders a round on the house for everyone who's following him. When Naylor complains, Sam delights in saying "Everyone's got to put something in the kitty." Hearing this, The Stranger removes Sam's badge and pins it on Mordecai. Mayor Hobart snickers. The Stranger removes Hobart's hat and puts it on Mordecai's head, making him both sheriff and mayor. Mordecai is thrilled. At the gunsmith shop, Mordecai selects a huge revolver since he "can't be sheriff without a gun." The Stranger informs the townsmen they are now part of the "City of Lago Volunteers", tells the gunsmith to give each man a rifle, and orders everyone to report to the street for drills. At the territorial prison, Stacey Bridges ( Geoffrey Lewis ), Dan Carlin ( Dan Vadis ), and Cole Carlin ( Anthony James ) are released, and their gun belts returned. The jailer claims their horses were used for food, so they face a long walk. Dan says, "Drake and Allen don't seem to have remembered." Stacey replies, "One way or another, they'll remember." In Lago, the "volunteer" townsmen take shooting positions on the roofs of the taller buildings, while the Stranger watches from a central walkway. Sam and Mordecai gallop through town on Ross's wagon, pulling a trailer loaded with three stuffed dummies on saw horses. The townsmen rain gunfire on the dummies, but score no hits. The Stranger mutters, "Shit." Ross approaches the Stranger from behind, holding a knife, and says, "I don't remember lending my wagons to be shot up." Without looking back, the Stranger says, "You're gonna look pretty silly with that knife sticking up your ass." He draws and fires four shots, beheading each dummy and knocking off Mordecai's hat. He holsters his gun and says, "You still here?" Ross replies, "No, I was just going." Sam and Mordecai are excited about the shooting display, Sam saying, "This is going to be a picnic." The Stranger tells them to keep the men practicing. The Stranger asks two Mexican laborers to use lumber from Belding's barn to build picnic tables. When Naylor, who overheard, questions the picnic, he's told he is furnishing the beer and whiskey. Belding arrives. The Stranger overrules his objection to his barn being torn down, and tells him to provide 35 bedsheets for the picnic. Mordecai, the Stranger's new sidekick, says they also need someone to provide a barbecued steer and 200 gallons of red paint. Finally, the Stranger orders Belding to get everyone out of his hotel. Flabbergasted, Belding asks where his live-ins are supposed to go. The Stranger replies, "Out." Bridges and the Carlins come across three men camping. They shoot them and steal their horses and clothes. Now, instead of walking, they are riding at full gallop. At the mining office, Allen and Belding suggest to Drake that hiring the Stranger was a mistake. They argue that convicts always threaten revenge but rarely carry through, and complain that the Stranger's crazy orders have the townspeople turning on one another. Drake wants to wait a few days to be sure. The discussion is heated, and reveals that the townspeople, in addition to Bridges and the Carlins, had a hand in Marshal Duncan's death, or as Drake puts it, "One hang, we all hang." Drake refuses to budge and Allen storms out. At the hotel, the evicted guests are leaving, and Belding and the preacher are outraged. The preacher complains to the Stranger but gets nowhere. Sarah reports the readiness of the Stranger's connecting rooms, "The best in the hotel. One for entertaining and one for sleeping...if your conscience lets you sleep." The Stranger replies, "I sleep just fine, Ma'am. Care to see for yourself?" Sarah leaves in a huff. The Stranger tells Belding he wants fried chicken for dinner with the best bottle of wine in town, then leaves. Mordecai giggles and, when the angry Belding swipes at him, dives under the raised walkway. Under the walkway, Mordecai has a flashback to the night of Marshal Duncan's whipping which he viewed from this same position. The whippers are Bridges and the Carlins. As in the Stranger's dream, the townspeople just watch. The exception is Sarah, who tries to stop it, but is restrained by Lewis. In Callie's bedroom, the Stranger enters while Callie is brushing her hair. She gets a gun from the dresser, but he grabs her wrist and controls it. He tells her he wants her company at dinner. She calls him an animal and says she doesn't eat with dogs. He says, "You might if it's the dog that runs the pack." She lets him kiss her and take the gun. She says she needs half an hour to get ready. He returns the gun and leaves. At the hotel, Sarah is serving Callie and the Stranger dinner. She asks, "Do you have any special request for dessert?" The Stranger looks at Callie and says, "No, I've already taken care of that." Callie smiles. Sarah leaves, disgusted. In the hills, Cole's horse has come up lame, and he suggests they're pushing too hard. This angers Stacey, who says maybe they should leave Cole. Dan tries to calm Stacey, saying Cole can ride double with him. Stacey says, "When they find those bodies back there, they'll be a hunting party out for us, and I want time to take one year of my life out of Lago before we move on." They shoot the lame horse and ride on, slower now. Allen and Ross meet Mordecai walking at night. He's been drinking. Allen knocks him cold with a left hook. They look up and watch the light go out in the Stranger's hotel room. In the church, Belding speaks to the church-goers, including Drake. He complains that good people have been thrown out of his hotel, which is now being used for "fornication and sins of the flesh." He and Sam argue over who should step in. It gets caustic, and the preacher says, "Gentlemen, please! Look what's happening to us." Belding agrees, adding "It couldn't be worse if the devil himself had ridden right into Lago." In his hotel room, the Stranger sleeps while Callie sneaks out of bed and gets dressed. Outside, Morgan Allen, Jake Ross, and three henchmen carefully ascend the hotel stairs, which creak anyway. Callie leaves the room and shuts the door, just as the men arrive. The men enter the room and beat the covered figure in bed with axe handles. The Stranger, on a ledge outside the window, lights a stick of dynamite and throws it onto the bed. The attackers see it and rush for the door, but only three escape before the room explodes. Outside, the Stranger shoots two attackers as they retreat down the stairs, leaving only Allen, who ducks into the hotel lobby. The Stranger follows and finds Allen holding Sarah in front of him as a shield. As Allen backs away, the Stranger shoots his exposed shoulder. Allen falls backward to the floor, pulling Sarah down with him. Bleeding badly, he releases Sarah, and scrambles out the back door toward the barn. In the barn, Allen mounts a horse and rides out. Callie pleads with him to take her with him, but he brushes her off and rides on. The Stranger has an easy shot at Callie, but lowers his gun, and she runs away into the darkness. The townspeople arrive, having heard the blast. Upset at the damage to his hotel, Belding lets it slip that he knew about the attack. The Stranger hears and is unhappy. He orders the townsmen to begin digging graves, in the dark, for the four men killed. Drake assures the Stranger he had nothing to do with the attack and offers him a bonus to stick with the agreement. The Stranger doubles it, Drake agrees, and the Stranger turns and steps away. Belding whispers to Drake, questioning the large bonus. Drake whispers back, "Promising's one thing, paying's another. He might just catch a bullet." The Stranger says, "Oh, you and Lewis can grab shovels too." The Stranger turns to Sarah, who says "I don't know where you're going to sleep now. All the rooms are ruined, except for our room." The Stranger looks at her and smirks. Sarah backs away, shaking her head. The Stranger takes her elbow and leads her into the hotel. She calls to Lewis for help. Lewis hears, but does not respond. In the Belding's bedroom, Sarah grabs a pair of shears and backs into a corner. The Stranger lays on the bed, and asks what she is doing. She says she's defending herself, citing Callie's rape. The Stranger plays with her, recalling Callie enjoyed it, and acting as if Sarah wants the same. He says, "I'd like to oblige you, but a man's got to get his rest sometime." Sarah, angry at the suggestion, attacks him. He controls her, and forces her to kiss. She stops fighting and submits. The next morning, they are relaxed with each other, Sarah in bed and the Stranger getting dressed. Sarah asks if he has heard of Jim Duncan, who lies in an unmarked grave, adding, "They say the dead don't rest without a marker." As he's leaving, she says, "Be careful. You're a man who makes people afraid and that's dangerous." He replies, "It's what people know about themselves, inside, that make them afraid." At the cemetery, the townsmen are finishing up the four graves. The Stranger is painting something unseen on a sign. At the Strangers behest, Mordecai orders everyone to begin painting the town red. There is grumbling and disbelief, but no dissent. Naylor says, "I'll paint if you say we got to, but when we get done this place is gonna look like Hell." As the tired men tote their tools back to town, the sign is revealed. "Hell", in red, covers "Lago". Lewis enters the Belding bedroom and tells Sarah there is an important meeting they should attend. She refuses, saying the neighbors make her sick. While defending the neighbors, Lewis reveals that Duncan was killed because he had discovered the mine was on government property and was determined to report it. The mine would be closed, ruining the town. He sees the murder as "the price of progress", but Sarah can't live with that anymore. She says, "I'm packing to leave, Lewis. I won't be coming back." In the hills outside town, Bridges and the Carlins see Allen, near collapse, fall from his horse. Bridges sits him up and tries to persuade him to reveal the combination to the safe in the mining office. He promises that, in return, he'll move Allen into the shade and give him water. Allen curses him. Bridges threatens with a pointed stick, but Allen remains defiant. Bridges drives the stick into his neck, and says "Two sticks of dynamite will take care of that iron box. We don't need him." A rifle shot ricochets near Dan's feet, and the three dive behind barely adequate cover. Unbeknownst to them, it's the Stranger, who had been tracking Allen by his blood droplets. Hidden on a ridge above, the Stranger lights a stick of dynamite, leaves it, and changes position. The dynamite explodes while Stacey is firing blindly up the hill, confusing the three, and showering them with debris. Then, from another direction, the Stranger shoots Cole's ear, and the three must hurriedly shift positions. Stacey figures it must be Drake and shouts out, seeking a parley. Getting no response, he fires more shots blindly, and there is another explosion, much closer this time. The three are shook up, filthy, and scratched from the blast. As they listen to the Stranger ride away, still unseen, Stacey screams, "I'll kill every man in Lago." The Stranger rides back to Lago which is now completely red. He tells Mordecai, "The guests are on their way to the party." Mordecai runs down the street, lined with picnic tables, telling everyone to get ready. He finds the prominent men drinking in the saloon. They are scared and all need one more drink before reluctantly moving outside. The Stranger ties up at the hotel, and on his way in, tells the livery boy to get up in the church tower and ring the bell at the first sign of dust. Bridges and the Carlins ride toward the town, down out of the hills now. The Stranger exits the hotel, having retrieved his overcoat. He walks to the saloon and gets a drink. Sam and Naylor are anxious, wanting him to get ready outside, but he tells them there's plenty of time. Mordecai asks "What about after we do it? What do we do then?" The Stranger says, "Then you live with it." They walk into the street and watch everyone take their positions. A "Welcome Home Boys" banner has been raised at the town's entrance. Mordecai asks, "When are you going to give the signal?" The Stranger replies, "I'm not. You are." The church bell begins ringing. The Stranger mounts his horse and rides calmly down the back road out of town. The townspeople watch in horror. Bridges and the Carlins arrive, pausing when they see the banner. They draw their guns and gallop down the main street, whooping, shooting, and roping tables. Mordecai yells, "Fire!", but they all freeze or panic. Sam is roped and dragged over a collapsing table. Several rooftop gunners are shot or knocked back by splintering wood. The livery boy is shot out of the tower. Stacey catches Drake sneaking out of the mining office, backs him into the lake, and shoots him dead. Later, after dark, the town is ablaze. The battered townspeople are in the saloon being roughed up by Stacey and Dan. Stacey beats Sam back onto a table, yelling, "A party?" Cole enters with Callie and throws her to the floor. She tries to convince Stacey she always loved him, but he's not buying it. Cole wants to know who ambushed them, and Stacey says, "We're going to find out right now." Then, a whip flies in over the swinging doors, wraps around Cole's neck, and drags him out, choking. The Stranger whips Cole to death in the street while Stacey, Dan, and the townspeople remain inside, stupefied by what they hear. Finally, the bloody whip is thrown into the saloon. Stacey orders everyone out into the street where they gather around Cole's body. Stacey and Dan look for the whipper but see no one. Two sticks with lit fuses fly from behind a building and land near the body. The townspeople scatter, screaming "Dynamite!" When the fuses burn out, Stacey examines them and sees they are just sticks of wood. Dan tells Stacey the horses are gone. Stacey and Dan move down opposite sides of the street, guns drawn, searching for the whipper. A whip from above wraps around Dan's neck, lifts him, and hangs him dead from a balcony. While Stacey is looking at Dan's body, a lantern is thrown into the street. Spooked, Stacey fires three times. While Stacey reloads, the Stranger's voice is heard whispering, "Help me, help me." The Stranger steps out in front of a burning building behind Stacey, who turns and sees only his silhouette. Stacey takes aim, but the Stranger draws and shoots Stacey's gun from his hand. Stacey yells, "Who are you?", and the Stranger shoots him dead. Belding steps out from between buildings and aims a shotgun at the Stranger's back. A shot is fired and Belding falls over dead. Mordecai is revealed, holding his huge revolver. The Stranger nods and walks away. The next morning, the Stranger rides down the smoldering street. Sarah, well dressed, is climbing aboard a buckboard. She and the Stranger exchange nods. The Stranger rides out to the cemetery where Mordecai is carving a grave marker. Mordecai says, "I never did know your name." The Stranger replies, "Yes, you do. Take care." As Mordecai watches him ride away, the marker is revealed-- "Marshall Jim Duncan, Rest In Peace." In the distance, the Stranger disappears into the heat shimmer.

Contribute to this page

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More from this title

More to explore, recently viewed.