bamwc2 wrote:High Plains Drifter (Clint Eastwood, 1973): Eastwood both directs and stars in this western about an unnamed man who is roped in by the town of Lago to defend it against the return of three outlaws who have been released from jail after killing the town's sheriff. Although it’s far less cerebral than some of his other westerns, Eastwood knows how to make solid entertainment. My only complaint is the rape that occurred 15 minutes in. The film gives into the dangerous myth (a very common one at the time) that ‘no’ means ‘yes’ and any woman will cease her protests once the thrusting begins. The film even references this moment later on to make a joke. It’s a glaring black mark on an otherwise great flick.
SpoilerShowWas Eastwood implying that he was the ghost of the murdered marshal in his final conversation with Mordecai? He did disappear into the horizon as the credits began to roll.
Mr Sausage wrote:RE: High Plains Drifter
I thought the rape scene unnecessary, too, but I think it's there to alienate you from Eastwood, to suggest he is not an figure of good. It was certainly shot to make him look demonic. I think it was a misguided choice, tho'.SpoilerShowThe whole movie implies that Eastwood is a metaphysical avenging angel. Hence the odd, ghostly atmosphere of the thing. Eastwood even cast the part of the sheriff with an actor that looks very similar to him, which adds to the ambiguity.
bamwc2 wrote:Mr Sausage wrote:RE: High Plains Drifter
SpoilerShowThe whole movie implies that Eastwood is a metaphysical avenging angel. Hence the odd, ghostly atmosphere of the thing. Eastwood even cast the part of the sheriff with an actor that looks very similar to him, which adds to the ambiguity.SpoilerShowMy wife watched the film on and off with me and swore that Eastwood also played the part of the late Marshal. I told her that she was crazy. She'll be happy to hear this news.
RobertAltman wrote:I agree it's pretty clever casting. Buddy Van Horn played the Marshall. He was Eastwood's stunt double from Coogan's Bluff onwards (he previously also doubled for Gregory Peck), stunt coordinator on almost all of Eastwood's films, and director of three of the truly disposable titles in Eastwood's filmography: Any Which Way You Can, The Dead Pool and Pink Cadillac.
I loved High Plains Drifter and it's creepy atmosphere when I saw it in my early teens, but I don't think I've seen it since. Curious as to how it holds up. My impression is that many disregard it as a lesser work where Eastwood spends too much time aping Sergio Leone, in addition to being, as bamwc2 point out, less cerebral than his later westerns (except for the moronic Pale Rider). Fans of Drifter should also check out the pretty effective Django il Bastardo, starring Anthony Steffen, which I'm pretty sure Eastwood must have seen before making his own supernatural western.
knives wrote:I actually rather like Pink Cadillac even if it is total B Movie bad comedy.
RobertAltman wrote:
So you're the one!
domino harvey wrote:Well, I didn't have any interest in seeing it before that picture
I guess I didn't have to lift all of these quotes, but I thought a separate thread dedicated to Eastwood's back catalogue might be interesting. As it happens, Pink Cadillac was on TV last night, so I thought I'd give it another go. I had forgotten that Clint does wacky accents in this, so during the opening I thought perhaps this was going to be more fun than I remembered, but that was not really the case. I never understood why his "skip tracer" character felt the need to put on costumes etc to catch these crooks, as uniformed policemen were always around to help him out. Bernadette Peters was really good in this, but what little heart she brought to the picture cannot make up for the fact there are barely any laughs in it, and certainly no excitement. I prefer the orangutang pictures (it's not a monkey!)...nothing here can compete with the sight of Clint hanging from a chandelier.knives wrote:Like I said I recognize that it is not the next coming of Hawks, but its fun for its weird aims. Certainly I like it more than the monkey pictures.
Of the three movies Buddy Van Horn directed, two includes neo-nazis as villains. I'm sure there's an academic article waiting to be written on that subject. Also, two of them include early Jim Carrey cameos - in Pink Cadillac you can actually hear him utter his future catchphrase "Alrighty then".
flyonthewall2983 wrote:As with the other Horn films it's the wrong decade, but I think The Dead Pool gets a little bit of a bad rap. The Rookie is far worse in comparison. At least in the former you could just sense Clint's boredom from an acting perspective. The Rookie is boredom from a directing perspective which affects everything.
I'm with you on this though. The Rookie is moronic, but I do enjoy it, in particular the performances of Sonia Braga and Raul Julia.knives wrote:The Rookie is pretty fun in how stupid and crazy it is though.