Year of Eastwood #15

High Plains Drifter (1973)

Starring: Eastwood
Directed by Eastwood

Clint is the Stranger in town. The townspeople of Largo don’t take too kindly to strangers. Something about outsiders makes them nervous. Clint drifts by after a long day of riding across the high plains and all he’s looking for is some whiskey and a hot bath, and maybe some munchkin to light his cigar. Three guys from the Welcoming Committee stop by to greet Clint, but he ends up shooting them. Turns out the guys were the goons the town hired for protection against the bad guys. So the town decides since Clint killed their protection, he's qualified for the job.

The women in Largo (both of them) are wild - kinda like those stray cats you find out in the barn. They scratch and claw, but after a tumble in Clint’s bed, he tames them but good. The men in the town are yeller and they promise Clint anything he wants in return for his protection. Clint takes them up on their offer which equates to a handful of cigars, fried chicken, and some gumballs and blankets for the town Indians. Clint's always nice to them Indians. Clint trains the men to fight the bad guys - which involves some target practice and painting the town red. When the moment of truth arrives, the town rolls over like a sack of potatoes, so it’s Clint to the rescue.

High Plains Drifter, like many of the American Westerns, is a version of the morality play. The perils that can be faced in the undiscovered country, where pioneers looking to lead their own way of life end up paying a high price for making up their own rules. The townspeople are trying to cover up a dirty secret and Clint is part of that past. In the same way that High Noon, starring Gary Cooper, involves the sheriff protecting a town that doesn’t deserve his help - Clint gets involved with a town that clearly doesn’t deserve saving. But he does his duty, leaving the town in shambles, and off he goes into the sunset. I’m sure the next town he stops at will be glad to see him.