Clint Eastwood has had a long and prolific career, both as an actor and as a director. Shortly after his rise to fame in the ’60s, he also stepped behind the camera.
Following his directorial debut in 1971 with the thriller Play Misty for Me, he starred in and directed his first Western, High Plains Drifter, which premiered in 1973, and starred Eastwood as The Stranger. The film also received criticism from John Wayne and further deepened their difference, as the Western icon disagreed with Eastwood’s vision of the West. 52 years later, High Plains Drifter became a hit on Netflix, wrapping up the global Top 10 for the week between May 12 and 18, per Tudum.
The Western is not available to stream on Netflix U.S., but it has hit the streaming platform across different territories around the world and quickly became a hit. It received 2.3 million views across the globe and 4.1 million hours viewed, entering the Top 10 in 17 countries.
High Plains Drifter followed Eastwood’s unnamed character as a mysterious drifter and gunfighter who metes out justice in a corrupt town. Eastwood directed from a script by Ernest Tidyman and also starred Verna Bloom, Mariana Hill, Mitchell Ryan, Jack Ging, and Stefan Gierasch.
Eastwood has been in the industry for over seven decades and has starred in and directed many films. However, High Plains Drifter also marked an important shift in his career. After his directorial debut in 1971, where he also starred in the leading role, the Western was the first film in the genre he directed and played the lead character, a trend that would define his career.
High Plains Drifter continues to be a highly influential film in the genre and one of Eastwood’s best films. It currently has a near-perfect 94% Rotten Tomatoes score from the critics, with an equally thrilling response from the audience, who gave the movie an 86% approval score on the Popcornmeter. The Western was also a commercial success, grossing $15.7 million at the domestic box office against a production budget of $5.5 million (via The Numbers).
Why Did John Wayne Criticize High Plains Drifter?
John Wayne and Clint Eastwood are some of the biggest names in the Western genre, with big impacts in different ways. However, the two actors did not get along, and they never collaborated on the big screen. When Eastwood released High Plains Drifter, their disagreements reached a new height, as Wayne believed Eastwood ruined the genre with his morally gray characters, instead of painting them in black and white to reflect good versus evil.
Since the man known as the Duke was a traditionalist, he didn’t like Eastwood’s character, who was dark and vicious instead of the typical charming and good character that defined the genre. Wayne believed his character didn’t fit the genre, and wrote Eastwood an angry letter, stating, “That isn’t what the West was all about,” highlighting that “[High Plains Drifter] wasn’t really about the people who pioneered the West.” The letter had been in response to Eastwood asking Wayne to collaborate on a project.
High Plains Drifter is available to own digitally or physically.