FILM · 1973 · USA
High Plains Drifter
- Directed by
- Clint Eastwood
- Runtime
- 106 min
- Studio
- Malpaso Productions, Universal Pictures
143 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.
143 Interesting Facts About High Plains Drifter
Interesting Facts (29)
- #001
Shortly after High Plains Drifter was released, Clint Eastwood wrote to John Wayne proposing they make a western together. Wayne replied with an angry letter condemning the film for its violence and its revisionist portrayal of the Old West. Eastwood did not bother to answer his criticisms, and the two never worked together.
- #002
The town of Lago was built 300 miles from Hollywood. A crew of 46 technicians and ten laborers worked ten hours a day for eighteen days to build fourteen houses and a two-story hotel. They were burned down at the end of the shoot.
- #003
Other gravestones bear the names of Don Siegel (who directed five Clint Eastwood films, four of them before this one) and Brian G. Hutton (director of Where Eagles Dare (1968) and Kelly's Heroes (1970)). Patrick McGilligan's 2002 Clint Eastwood biography reports the joke behind this: "I buried my directors."
- #004
Clint Eastwood scouted locations himself, driving a pickup truck through Oregon, Nevada and California. He chose the shores of Mono Lake because he found the area highly photogenic. Additional scenes were shot at Winnemucca Lake (a dry lake) in Reno, Nevada, and in California's Inyo National Forest.
- #005
High Plains Drifter was the first western Clint Eastwood directed.
- #006
The scene in which Clint Eastwood lights a stick of dynamite with his cigar is a tribute to director Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, in which he lit dynamite and fired cannons with a cigar or cigarette. Another nod to the Man with No Name trilogy is people throwing hats off others' heads.
- #007
High Plains Drifter was shot in sequence.
- #008
High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider (1985) both open and close with the same location, camera angle and time of day.
- #009
Odd colors make the town of Lago look different in the daytime scenes. Clint Eastwood complemented this with eerie music, distinctive cinematography and a strange dream sequence, contributing to the film's supernatural atmosphere.
- #010
The film was inspired by the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old bartender in New York City who was stabbed to death outside her apartment building. According to a New York Times article, 38 people watched the murder for 30 minutes and did nothing. This led to the psychological theory known as the Bystander Effect, whereby individuals are less likely to help when they know others are present. The murder also helped spur adoption of the 911 system. The Times article was debunked in 2014: about 12 people saw part of the incident, several called for help and many called the police.
- #011
Billy Curtis (Mordecai) was embarrassed about working with Clint Eastwood, but said it was worth it to play such a great role.
- #012
In an interview for Inside the Actors Studio (1994), Clint Eastwood commented that earlier versions of the script made the Stranger the dead marshal's brother. He preferred a less explicit, more supernatural interpretation and removed the reference. The dubbed versions for Italy, Spain, France and Germany therefore retain it.
- #013
High Plains Drifter was edited in a wooden cabin on the shore of Mono Lake.
- #014
The framed photograph on the saloon wall is by Mathew Brady, famous for his photographs of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.
- #015
The Stranger resembles Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name character from the Spaghetti Westerns, and they even wear a similar hat. The character in this film has no personal name and is billed only as "The Stranger."
- #016
While at Universal Pictures, Clint Eastwood read a nine-page proposal for this film. He liked its unusual quality and wanted to direct it.
- #017
It ranks eleventh among the highest-grossing Westerns of the 1970s.
- #018
Clint Eastwood's next directed film, Breezy (1973), features a poster for this film in a movie theater.
- #019
It was shot in six weeks.
- #020
In an episode of A&E Biography, Clint Eastwood stated that his stranger character in this film is not the ghost of the Marshal killed before the film's opening, but is actually the Marshal's brother.
- #021
Painting the Western town red required 380 gallons (1,438 liters) of paint.
- #022
Controversial at the time but still a commercial success, this film is listed in the Motion Picture Guide as one of the best Westerns of the 1970s. However, some critics felt Clint Eastwood's direction was too derivative of his mentor Don Siegel and of Sergio Leone's work.
- #023
Billy Curtis played one of the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
- #024
The barbershop scene is the one Victoria Principal watches in a Los Angeles cinema in Earthquake (1974).
- #025
John Mitchum has a small role as the prison warden in this film. He played DiGeorgio in the first three Dirty Harry films and Al in The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976).
- #026
The actors and actresses began painting Lago's houses red, but professionals finished them.
- #027
This is the second film Clint Eastwood directed after his debut with Play Misty for Me (1971), and his first Western as a director.
- #028
If Clint Eastwood (the Stranger) is the ghost of the murdered sheriff (killed with a whip by three villains), the title could confirm it. Heaven is often described as a "higher plane," and a "drifter" from this "higher plain" would be a ghost. However, Mono Lake is at an elevation above 6,000 feet, making it a higher plain. Otherwise the film's title is merely a descriptor of the Stranger who comes from nowhere.
- #029
For this film, Clint Eastwood wanted an unusual look rather than a traditional Western-style appearance.
Production Story (55)
- #030
Universal Pictures wanted High Plains Drifter shot on a studio lot. Instead, Clint Eastwood had an entire town built in the desert near Mono Lake in the California Sierras. Most of the buildings were complete and three-dimensional, so interiors could be filmed on location.
- #031
High Plains Drifter came in under budget and two days ahead of schedule. Clint Eastwood is known for being an extremely efficient director.
- #032
Shortly after the film's release, Clint Eastwood wrote a letter to John Wayne proposing that they make a western together. Wayne sent back an angry reply in which he harshly criticized the film for its violence and for its unconventional interpretation of the Old West. Eastwood did not respond to the criticism, and the two never worked together.
- #033
It is the first western Clint Eastwood directed.
- #034
The film was inspired by the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, who was 28 years old. Genovese, a bartender in New York, was stabbed to death in front of her apartment building, and according to a New York Times report, 38 people watched the murder for 30 minutes without intervening. The case led to the emergence of the bystander effect theory, which holds that individuals are less likely to help when others are present, and it was instrumental in the adoption of the 911 emergency call system. The Times report was debunked in 2014; it emerged that about 12 people saw part of the incident, several shouted for help and most called the police.
- #035
In an interview on Inside the Actors Studio (1994), Clint Eastwood stated that in the first versions of the script the Stranger was the brother of the dead Sheriff. Eastwood removed this reference, preferring a less explicit and more supernatural interpretation, but the detail was retained in the dubbed versions for Italy, Spain, France and Germany.
- #036
While at Universal Pictures, Clint Eastwood read a nine-page proposal for this film, liked its unusual atmosphere and wanted to direct it.
- #037
Although controversial in its time, the film was a commercial success and was listed by the Motion Picture Guide as one of the best westerns of the 1970s. Some critics, however, felt that Eastwood's direction closely resembled the work of his mentors Don Siegel and Sergio Leone.
- #038
It is the second film Clint Eastwood made after his directorial debut with Play Misty for Me (1971), and his first directing effort in the western genre.
- #039
It is one of two instances in which a western directed by Clint Eastwood and a Dirty Harry sequel were released in the same year. This film came out in the summer of 1973, while the Dirty Harry sequel Magnum Force (1973) was released that winter. Three years later, Eastwood's western The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) reached audiences in the summer, and the Dirty Harry sequel The Enforcer (1976) in the winter.
- #040
The film was made by Clint Eastwood's own company, The Malpaso Company, so that Eastwood served as producer, director and star. As long as he can focus on his work, he is not bothered by carrying out more than one role at once.
- #041
It bears the influence of Clint Eastwood's two key collaborators, Sergio Leone and Don Siegel.
- #042
Of the four westerns Clint Eastwood directed, it is the only one not distributed by Warner Bros.; it was released by Universal Pictures.
- #043
It appears on the list "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die," edited by Steven Schneider.
- #044
Screenwriter Ernest Tidyman also wrote the film's novelization.
- #045
Dean Riesner made uncredited contributions to the screenplay.
- #046
The film came in under its planned budget and two days ahead of schedule. Clint Eastwood is known as an extremely efficient director.
- #047
The town of Lago was built 300 miles from Hollywood. A 46-person technical crew and 10 laborers worked ten hours a day for eighteen days to build fourteen houses and a two-story hotel. When shooting ended, all of these structures were burned down.
- #048
Clint Eastwood personally scouted locations by driving through Oregon, Nevada and California in his own pickup truck. He chose the shores of Mono Lake because he found them extremely photogenic. Additional scenes were shot at Winnemucca Lake (a dry lake) in Reno, Nevada, and in Inyo National Forest in California.
- #049
The town was named Lago, and was later changed to "Hell." After this change, Clint Eastwood constantly teased the cast and crew during shooting with "Go to Hell!"
- #050
For this film, Clint Eastwood wanted an unusual aesthetic far removed from his familiar Western look.
- #051
About 150,000 board-feet of lumber were used to build the town of Lago, which works out to roughly 8,000 board-feet per building. The rugged terrain, the use of wooden shingles on every building's roof and the heavy use of wood in the interiors account for this high figure.
- #052
No one speaks during the first six minutes of the film (except for a stagecoach driver spurring his horses). The first real dialogue comes in the seventh minute, when Clint Eastwood orders a beer in Lago's saloon, even though he has been on screen since the very first frame.
- #053
The lake where Lago stands is 2.5 times saltier than the nearby sea, and for this reason it attracts an unusual mix of sea creatures and birds.
- #054
The character Sheriff Jim Duncan was played by stuntman Buddy Van Horn, Clint Eastwood's longtime stunt coordinator. This choice was intended to create ambiguity over whether he and the Stranger are the same person.
- #055
Billy Curtis, in the role of Mordecai, said that despite the neck strain he suffered while working with Clint Eastwood, playing such a wonderful role was worth it.
- #056
The Stranger resembles Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name character from his Spaghetti Westerns; he even wears a similar hat. The character has no personal name in the film and is credited only as 'The Stranger'.
- #057
On A&E's Biography program, Clint Eastwood stated that his stranger character in this film is not the ghost of the Sheriff killed at the beginning of the film, but actually the Sheriff's brother.
- #058
This film is the first of seven films in which Geoffrey Lewis appeared alongside Clint Eastwood. The others are Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Every Which Way But Loose (1978), Bronco Billy (1980), Any Which Way You Can (1980), Pink Cadillac (1989) and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997).
- #059
John Mitchum appears in this film in a small role as the prison warden. He had played DiGeorgio in the first three Dirty Harry films and the character Al in The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976).
- #060
This film marked the feature-film debut of Jane Aull, Jim Gosa and Chuck Waters.
- #061
Shortly after the film's release, Clint Eastwood wrote a letter to John Wayne proposing that they make a western together. Wayne sent back an angry reply in which he harshly criticized the film for its violence and its unconventional interpretation of the Old West. Eastwood did not respond to the criticism, and the two never worked together.
- #062
The film was inspired by the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old bartender in New York who was stabbed to death outside her apartment building. According to the New York Times report, 38 people watched the murder for 30 minutes without intervening. The case gave rise to the bystander effect theory, which holds that individuals are less likely to help when others are present, and it influenced the adoption of the 911 emergency call system. The Times report was debunked in 2014; it emerged that about 12 people saw part of the incident, several shouted for help and most called the police.
- #063
In an interview on Inside the Actors Studio (1994), Clint Eastwood stated that in early versions of the script the Stranger was the brother of the dead Sheriff. Eastwood removed the reference, preferring a less explicit and more supernatural interpretation, but the detail was retained in the dubbed versions released in Italy, Spain, France and Germany.
- #064
While at Universal Pictures, Clint Eastwood read a nine-page pitch for this film, liked its unusual atmosphere and wanted to direct it.
- #065
Although controversial in its day, the film was a commercial success and was listed by the Motion Picture Guide as one of the best westerns of the 1970s. Some critics, however, felt that Eastwood's direction closely resembled the work of his mentors Don Siegel and Sergio Leone.
- #066
It is the second film Clint Eastwood directed after making his directorial debut with Play Misty for Me (1971), and his first directorial effort in the western genre.
- #067
It is one of two instances in which a western directed by Clint Eastwood and a Dirty Harry sequel were released in the same year. This film came out in the summer of 1973, while the Dirty Harry sequel Magnum Force (1973) was released that winter. Three years later, Eastwood's western The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) reached audiences in the summer and the Dirty Harry sequel The Enforcer (1976) in the winter.
- #068
The film was made by Clint Eastwood's own company, The Malpaso Company, making him producer, director and star at once. As long as he can focus on his work, he is not bothered by juggling several roles at the same time.
- #069
It bears the influence of Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, two of Clint Eastwood's key collaborators.
- #070
One of the headstones in the cemetery bears the name of master director Sergio Leone as a tribute.
- #071
The other headstones carry the names of Don Siegel, who directed Clint Eastwood in five films, and Brian G. Hutton, director of war classics. Eastwood joked about this, saying, "I buried my directors."
- #072
The scene in which Eastwood touches his cigar to a dynamite fuse is a salute to Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, just as in those films he lit dynamite and cannons with his cigar. The scene in which he shoots the hats off people's heads is likewise a nod to the "Man with No Name" trilogy.
- #073
It is the first of two westerns Clint Eastwood directed and starred in whose endings imply that his character may be a ghost. The second is Pale Rider.
- #074
The framed photograph on the saloon wall is by Mathew Brady, the famous photographer known for his images of Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War.
- #075
The gaps in the screenplay are filled with black humor and allegorical references to Sergio Leone. According to Eastwood, the film explores the idea of "what happens when they kill the sheriff and someone comes back to make the town confront its conscience; every action has a consequence."
- #076
In Breezy, Eastwood's next directorial effort, a poster for this film can be seen outside a movie theater.
- #077
The Bible verse on the church wall is Isaiah 53:3-4: "He was despised and rejected by mankind... a man of suffering, and familiar with pain..." The quotation is the work of someone with a sense of humor. The line in Isaiah 53:5, "by his wounds we are healed," refers to the flogging of Jesus and of the sheriff.
- #078
The Stranger rides a pale or ashen horse. In the Bible's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the rider of the pale horse is Death: "I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him." (Revelation 6:8)
- #079
The gunfight scene in the barbershop is the scene Victoria Principal watched in a Los Angeles movie theater in the film Earthquake.
- #080
If the Stranger is the ghost of the sheriff who was whipped to death by three outlaws, the film's title seems to confirm it. Heaven is often described as a 'high plane,' and a drifter who comes from this 'high plain' could be a ghost. Otherwise, the title merely describes the Stranger's ambiguous origins.
- #081
A popular theory about the Stranger's identity is that he is the ghost of the murdered Sheriff Jim Duncan, returned to take revenge on the indifferent townspeople. His survival after Callie shoots him at close range while he is in the bathtub supports this 'restless spirit made flesh and bone' theory, since missing from that distance is impossible and a few inches of bathwater cannot stop bullets.
- #082
Walter Barnes, who plays Sheriff Sam Shaw, says, 'Forgive and forget, that's our motto.' Yet the film's poster tagline says the opposite: 'They'll never forget the day he drifted into town.'
- #083
The film bears striking similarities to Sudden Impact, the sequel in the Dirty Harry series. Both are revenge-themed returns directed by and starring Eastwood. In both, Eastwood is beaten by three men, there is a rape scene, and three people die the first time he uses his gun. The final scenes take place at the location of the flashbacks, at night, as Eastwood kills his remaining enemies. Russ McCubbin also appears in both films.
- #084
Contrary to what the film's title implies, Lago is not technically located on a plain; it sits quite high above sea level. While typical plains are below 200 meters, Lago is ten times that height.
Behind the Scenes (18)
- #085
The character Marshal Jim Duncan was played by Buddy Van Horn, Clint Eastwood's longtime stunt coordinator, to create ambiguity over whether he and the Stranger are the same person.
- #086
The town was named Lago. The name it was changed to was "Hell." After the change, Clint Eastwood kept telling the cast and crew during the shoot to use the phrase "Go to Hell!"
- #087
Universal Pictures wanted to shoot the film on the studio lot, but Clint Eastwood had an entire town built in the middle of the desert near Mono Lake in the California Sierras. Most of the buildings were three-dimensional and fully finished, so interior scenes could be shot there as well.
- #088
The film was completed under its planned budget and two days ahead of schedule. Clint Eastwood is known as an extremely efficient director.
- #089
The town of Lago was built 300 miles from Hollywood. A crew of 46 technicians and 10 laborers worked ten hours a day for eighteen days to build fourteen houses and a two-story hotel. When shooting ended, all of these structures were burned down.
- #090
Clint Eastwood personally selected the shooting locations, traveling through Oregon, Nevada and California in a pickup truck he drove himself. He chose the shores of Mono Lake because he found them extremely photogenic. Additional scenes were shot at Winnemucca Lake (a dry lake) in Reno, Nevada, and in Inyo National Forest in California.
- #091
Strange colors make the town of Lago look constantly different in the daytime scenes. Clint Eastwood reinforced this effect with eerie music, unusual cinematography and a strange dream sequence, strengthening the film's supernatural atmosphere.
- #092
The town was named Lago, and was later renamed "Hell." After this change, during shooting Clint Eastwood constantly teased the cast and crew with "Go to hell!"
- #093
The film was edited in a wooden cabin on the shore of Mono Lake.
- #094
The film was shot in only six weeks.
- #095
380 gallons (about 1,438 liters) of paint were used to paint the western town red.
- #096
The actors began painting the houses in Lago red, but professional painters finished the job.
- #097
Although the whipping scene lasts nearly three minutes, Clint Eastwood said that if the leather of the whip used had been of better quality, he could have shot the scene in two minutes.
- #098
For this film, Clint Eastwood wanted an unusual aesthetic far from his usual western look.
- #099
About 150,000 board-feet of lumber were used to build the town of Lago, which comes to about 8,000 board-feet per building. The rugged terrain, the use of wooden shingles on the roof of every building and the heavy use of wood in the interiors are the reasons for this high figure.
- #100
No one speaks during the first six minutes of the film (except for a wagon driver spurring his horses). The first real dialogue comes in the seventh minute, when Clint Eastwood orders a beer in Lago's saloon, even though he has been on screen since the very first frame.
- #101
The lake where Lago is located is 2.5 times saltier than the nearby sea, and for this reason it attracts an unusual mix of sea creatures and birds to the area.
- #102
Most of the film was shot during the day. Only three scenes were shot at night.
Characters & Cast (20)
- #103
High Plains Drifter is the first of two westerns Clint Eastwood both starred in and directed; its ending implies that his character is probably a ghost. The second is Pale Rider (1985).
- #104
The character Sheriff Jim Duncan was played by stuntman Buddy Van Horn, Clint Eastwood's longtime stunt coordinator. The choice was meant to create ambiguity over whether he and the Stranger are the same person.
- #105
Billy Curtis, who played Mordecai, said that despite the neck strain he suffered while working with Clint Eastwood, playing such a great role was worth it.
- #106
The Stranger resembles the Man with No Name from Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti Westerns; he even wears a similar hat. The character has no personal name in the film and is credited only as 'The Stranger'.
- #107
On A&E's Biography program, Clint Eastwood stated that his stranger character in this film is not the ghost of the Sheriff killed at the beginning, but in fact the Sheriff's brother.
- #108
This film is the first of seven in which Geoffrey Lewis appeared alongside Clint Eastwood. The others are Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Every Which Way But Loose (1978), Bronco Billy (1980), Any Which Way You Can (1980), Pink Cadillac (1989) and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997).
- #109
Billy Curtis had played one of the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
- #110
John Mitchum appears in this film in a small role as the jailer. He had played DiGeorgio in the first three Dirty Harry films and Al in The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976).
- #111
This is the first rape scene in a film directed by Clint Eastwood, and he is the one who commits the act. The first rape scene in a Clint Eastwood film was in For a Few Dollars More (1965).
- #112
This is the second of five films Clint Eastwood made with William O'Connell (Barber). The others are Paint Your Wagon (1969), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Every Which Way But Loose (1978) and Any Which Way You Can (1980).
- #113
Clint Eastwood, Paul Brinegar, Robert Donner and William O'Connell had appeared together in the series Rawhide (1959).
- #114
Although Clint Eastwood appears in the final four minutes of the film, he is absent from the screen for most of the climax.
- #115
Clint Eastwood and Verna Bloom appeared together in Honkytonk Man (1982).
- #116
William O'Connell, John Quade and John Mitchum worked with Clint Eastwood on his next western, The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976).
- #117
Clint Eastwood, Geoffrey Lewis, Walter Barnes, William O'Connell, Dan Vadis and Chuck Waters came together in Every Which Way But Loose (1978).
- #118
Clint Eastwood and Walter Barnes also appeared together in Every Which Way But Loose (1978) and Bronco Billy (1980).
- #119
This film was Jack Ging's last work with Clint Eastwood. They had previously appeared together in Hang 'Em High (1968) and Play Misty for Me (1971).
- #120
John Quade and Robert Donner also appeared in The Last Hard Men (1976); John Quade played Gant and Robert Donner played Lee Roy.
- #121
Geoffrey Lewis and Reid Cruickshanks were both born in Plainfield, New Jersey.
- #122
This film was the first feature-length cinema experience for Jane Aull, Jim Gosa and Chuck Waters.
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #123
One of the gravestones in the cemetery bears the name "Sergio Leone" as a tribute.
Deeper Meaning (20)
- #124
All the gaps in the script were filled with dark humor and allegories to Sergio Leone. Clint Eastwood saw the film's allegory as "a speculation about what would happen when they killed the sheriff and someone came back and called on the town's conscience to act. There is always a price for what you do."
- #125
On one of the gravestones in the cemetery, a name is written as a tribute to master director Sergio Leone.
- #126
On the other gravestones are the names of Don Siegel, who directed five of Clint Eastwood's films, and Brian G. Hutton, director of war classics. Eastwood wryly commented on this, saying, 'I buried my directors.'
- #127
The scene where Eastwood touches his cigar to a dynamite fuse is a salute to Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, just as in those films he lit dynamite and cannons with his cigars. The scene where he shoots the hats off people's heads is also a nod to the 'Man with No Name' trilogy.
- #128
This film and the 1985 Pale Rider complement each other, opening and closing with the same location, the same camera angle and the same daylight.
- #129
It is the first of two westerns Clint Eastwood directed and starred in; its ending implies that his character may be a ghost. The second is Pale Rider.
- #130
The framed photograph on the saloon wall belongs to the famous photographer Mathew Brady, known for his photographs of Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War.
- #131
The gaps in the script are filled with black humor and allegorical references to Sergio Leone. According to Eastwood, the film deals with the idea of 'a speculation about what happens when they kill the sheriff and someone comes back and makes the town question its conscience; every action has a consequence.'
- #132
In Breezy, Eastwood's next directing effort, a poster for this film can be seen in front of a movie theater.
- #133
The Bible verse on the church wall is Isaiah 53:3-4: 'He was despised and rejected by mankind; a man of suffering, and familiar with pain...' This quotation is the work of someone with a sense of humor. The phrase 'by his wounds we are healed' in Isaiah 53:5 references the flogging of Jesus and of the sheriff.
- #134
The Stranger rides a pale or ashen horse. In the Bible's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the rider of the pale horse is Death: 'I looked, and there before me was a pale horse; its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.' (Revelation 6:8)
- #135
The gunfight scene in the barbershop is the scene Victoria Principal watched in a movie theater in Los Angeles in the film Earthquake.
- #136
If the Stranger is the ghost of the sheriff who was flogged to death by three outlaws, the film's title seems to confirm it. Heaven is often described as a 'high plane,' and a drifter who comes from this 'high plain' could be a ghost. Otherwise, the title merely describes the Stranger's uncertain origins.
- #137
A popular theory about the Stranger's identity is that he is the ghost of the murdered Sheriff Jim Duncan, returned to take revenge on the indifferent townspeople. His survival despite Callie shooting him at close range while he is in the bathtub supports this 'restless spirit made flesh' theory, since missing from that distance is impossible and a few inches of bathwater cannot stop bullets.
- #138
In Spanish, the word 'lago' means lake or body of water.
- #139
Walter Barnes, who plays Sheriff Sam Shaw, says, 'Forgive and forget, that's our motto.' Yet the tagline on the film's poster says the exact opposite: 'They'll never forget the day he drifted into town.'
- #140
The film bears surprising similarities to Sudden Impact, the sequel in the Dirty Harry series. Both are revenge-themed works built on returns, directed by and starring Eastwood. In both, Eastwood is beaten by three men, there is a rape scene, and three people die when he first uses his gun. The final scenes take place at the location of the flashbacks, at night, with Eastwood killing his remaining enemies. Russ McCubbin also appears in both films.
- #141
Although barbers in the Wild West offered bathing services, most people preferred to wash at home or in their hotel room with a basin in the mornings.
- #142
In many languages, the name of the town of Lago means 'by the lake' or 'opening onto the lake.'
- #143
Contrary to what the film's title implies, Lago is not technically located on a plain; it is at a considerable elevation above sea level. While typical plains are below 200 meters, Lago is ten times that height.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
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