High Plains Drifter

Directed by Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter follows Eastwood’s nameless protagonist as he rolls into a small Western town and immediately raises the ire of the local townspeople. It’s a well-worn yet promising setup that is, for the most part, employed to uninvolving and rather tiresome effect by Eastwood, as the helmer, armed with Ernest Tidyman’s screenplay, delivers a slow-moving endeavor that fares best within its striking, stylish opening stretch – with the movie, which opens with a fairly memorable initial few minutes, effectively establishing Eastwood’s commanding (and thoroughly mysterious) figure. (His character kills three men and rapes a woman almost immediately after arriving in the aforementioned town!) From there, however, High Plains Drifter segues into a meandering midsection that suffers from a lack of compelling attributes, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that the egregiously familiar narrative does little to allay the increasingly underwhelming atmosphere – which, when coupled with a less-than-gripping third act, confirms the picture’s place as a rather palpable disappointment from an otherwise solid filmmaker.

*1/2 out of ****