High Plains Drifter

High Plains Drifter (1973) is Clint Eastwood's pitch-dark western, and you can watch it online on iFILM. A nameless gunfighter rides out of the desert heat straight into the town of Lago.

Before he has tied up his horse, the stranger guns down three local toughs and rattles half the street. So the frightened townsfolk offer him an odd bargain: protect Lago from three outlaws about to walk free and come back for revenge. He agrees, but he sets his own price. He makes the town coward into sheriff, orders every building painted blood red, renames the place Hell, and slowly drags out the ugly secret Lago has worked so hard to bury. Verna Bloom and Marianna Hill play the women who sense more about their guest than anyone else.

Only his second film as director, this one bent the western toward a parable of vengeance: dust, silence and an almost supernatural chill in place of the usual heroics. People still argue about who the rider truly is. Stream High Plains Drifter (1973) online on iFILM.