As a director, Clint Eastwood set such a high bar with High Plains Drifter that it took 19 years for him to finally surprass it. In addition to headlining some of the greatest Westerns of all time, Clint Eastwood developed a reputation as a competent filmmaker, directing some celebrated, award-winning movies over the course of his long career in Hollywood. Unsurprisingly, many of these were in the genre that launched him to stardom in the first place.
After making the transition to TV to film, Clint Eastwood became the biggest Western star of the 1960s, with his role as The Man With No Name in Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy being his claim to fame at the time. After a string of prominent roles, Clint Eastwood tried his hand at directing, taking on Play Misty For Me as his first time in the director’s chair in 1971. Two years later, he directed two more films, one of which being the now-iconic vigilante cop film Dirty Harry. The other was High Plains Drifter, which allowed Eastwood to work in a genre with which he was already deeply familiar.
High Plains Drifter Set A High Bar As The First Western Clint Eastwood Directed
High Plains Drifter Was A Phenomenal Western For Clint Eastwood
It didn’t take long at all for Clint Eastwood to make a positive impression as a director. In what was just his second time directing and first time helming a Western, Eastwood delivered a masterpiece. Although its 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes should speak for itself, High Plains Drifter was a standout entry in the genre. Garnering significant praise for its approach to Western themes and depiction of the period, the film was considered an innovative and fascinating look at the Western landscape.
Its extremely dark view of the world during this period in American history (and the people who lived through it) received some degree of criticism, including some from even John Wayne himself. Yet, it’s difficult to deny that polarizing or not, High Plains Drifter offered something fresh to the Western genre.
Taking what made Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name Westerns worked to another level, High Plains Drifter explored the darkest parts of the Wild Wild West era, but not without purpose – it used a supernatural premise (one that would normally seem out of a place in a Western) and used it to tell a truly compelling story about a mysterious gunman seemingly coming back from the dead to avenge the wrongs that were done to him. The bleak elements of High Plains Drifter elevated the story of Eastwood’s character and made it more meaningful.
Unforgiven Was The First Western Directed By Clint Eastwood To Top High Plains Drifter
It Wasn’t Easy To Top High Plains Drifter
As good as High Plains Drifter was, it was hardly the peak of his directorial career. Eastwood directed several more movies after that, with many of them managing to outshine High Plains Drifter in regards to their critical acclaim. One example of this was Heartbreak Ridge. But when it comes to Westerns he directed, High Plains Drifter had no competition until 1992. That year, Eastwood directed and starred in Unforgiven, a film which, much like High Plains Drifter, made the most of Eastwood’s ability to thrive in incredibly dark, violent stories.
Easily one of the best Westerns of the 1990s, if not one of the best in the genre as a whole, Unforgiven weaves a story that’s both bleak and gripping, as it chronicles a reformed criminal’s return to action. Its handling of the death of Morgan Freeman’s character, and the carnage and outrage it inspires from Clint Eastwood’s Will Munny culminated in an intense climax matched by few Westerns from any filmmaker.
Clint Eastwood Directed A Number Of Westerns Between High Plains Drifter & Unforgiven
He Directed Five Westerns Between 1973 & 1992
Unforgiven was Clint Eastwood’s best contribution to the genre as a director, but that’s not due to a lack of involvement with Westerns. In fact, Eastwood directed a trio of Westerns after High Plains Drifter, moving on to The Outlaw Josey Wales just three years later. In 1980, he made Bronco Billy, a modern-day Western and one of a handful of collaborations with Sandra Locke. His next Western was 1985’s Pale Rider, which memorably leaned into the supernatural side of High Plains Drifter, but with Eastwood’s ghostly protagonist playing a preacher rather than a criminal.
Admittedly, Bronco Billy is among the weakest of Clint Eastwood’s Westerns, as it never achieved the success met by so many other films of its kind in his career. Pale Rider and The Outlaw Josey Wales, on the other hand, were both worthwhile entries and are often regarded as great examples from Clint Eastwood’s body of work. Even so, they’re bookended by two superior Westerns – High Plains Drifter and Unforgiven.