Blu-ray Review – High Plains Drifter

Around the early 1970s, Clint Eastwood was a major actor looking to make a transition to directing. Cutting his teeth on actioners and westerns, it would've made perfect sense for Eastwood to select a project that played to his strengths, allowing him a chance to impress the industry by taking the easy career route. Instead, the star made "Play Misty for Me," an itchy psychological thriller that showcased his gifts with modest staging, performance, and mood. Finally, in 1973, Eastwood was ready to saddle up again, with "High Plains Drifter" a return to form, assuming command of a flinty, violent western, finally able to craft his own take on a well-worn genre. Channeling the spirits of former collaborators Don Siegel and Sergio Leone, along with decades of experience on the backs of horses, Eastwood rose to the occasion, generating a refreshingly bizarre feature with an unexpected mean streak. 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. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com