A stranger (Clint Eastwood) rides into Lago, kills three ruffians who give him a hard time and drags pretty Callie Travers (Marianna Hill) into a barn to rape her after she insults him.
And, just like that, the town leaders in Largo think they’ve found the answer to their problem: a man who can handle the three convicts who have sworn to get revenge on Largo after they’re released from prison. Well, those three, led by Stacey Bridges (Geoffrey Lewis), are about to be released.
In exchange for his help, the Stranger is given free rein in the town. That means all the new handmade boots, all the whiskey, all the anything he wants — women included — for free. The townsfolk even knuckle under when he appoints a dwarf named Mordecai as the town’s new sheriff and mayor.
The Stranger’s increasingly bizarre requests have the townsfolks at odds over how to react. He orders everyone out of the hotel so it can be for his personal use. He orders the townsmen to form a home guard of sorts. He orders the town painted red. He changes the name on the sign leading into town from Largo to Hell.
This, after all, is a town with a secret. Years earlier, a marshal named Jim Duncan discovered that the mine that fueled the town’s growth was on government land. Fearing he would shut it down, town leaders had that marshal whipped to death in the middle of the street.
Mordecai remembers that night very well. As it turns out, so does The Stranger.
Review:
This is the second film Eastwood directed and comes closest among his post-Leone Westerns to recapturing the flair of those films. The Stranger without a name is back. And central to the film is a tormented character looking for revenge.
There’s debate over who the Eastwood character really was, because he refuses to give a name when asked. But the hints in the film, especially at the end, are pretty clear.
Hotel owners’ wife Sarah Bedding mentions to The Stranger that the former marshal Duncan was buried in an unmarked grave. “They say the dead don’t rest without a marker of some kind,” she tells the stranger. At the end of the film, Mordecai is putting the name Jim Duncan on a tombstone. “I never did know your name,” he says to The Stranger, who is about to ride off. The Stranger’s response: “Yeah, you do.” And go back and check The Stranger’s reaction when a whip cracks as he first rides into Largo.
Spaghetti fans will likely spot a couple of familiar faces in this. Marianna Hill’s other biggest film role was probably in the Spaghetti-inspired film “El Condor,” starring Lee Van Cleef and Jim Brown. And Walter Barnes, who plays the sheriff here, appeared in at least a half dozen European Westerns, including “The Big Gundown,” also starring Van Cleef.
Speaking of the cast, Mordecai is played by Bill Curtis. Yep, the same Billy Curtis who starred in “Terror of Tiny Town,” an all-midget Western, about 30 years earlier.
Directed by:
Clint Eastwood
Cast:
Clint Eastwood … The Stranger
Verna Bloom … Sarah Belding
Marianna Hill … Callie Travers
Mitch Ryan … Dave Drake
Jack Ging … Morgan Allen
Stefan Gierasch … Mayor Hobart
Ted Hartley … Lewis Belding
Billy Curtis … Mordecai
Geoffrey Lewis … Stacey Bridges
Walter Barnes … Sheriff Shaw
Scott Walker … Bill Borders
Paul Brinegar … Lutie Naylor
Richard Bull … Asa Goodwin
Robert Donner … Preacher
John Hillerman … Bootmaker
Runtime: 105 min.
Memorable lines:
Townsman: “Flea-bitten range bums usually don’t stop in Lago. Life here’s a little too quick for ’em. Maybe you think you’re fast enough to keep us with us. Huh?”
The Stranger: “A lot faster than you’ll ever live to be.”
The Stranger, after the woman he “took” in the barn starts shooting at him the next day: “Wonder what took her so long to get mad?”
Mordecai: “Maybe because you didn’t go back for more.”
Callie: “Isn’t forcible rape in broad daylight a misdemeanor in this town?”
Sheriff Shaw: “This is a God-fearing town. These are God-fearing people.”
The Stranger: “You like them. You save them.”
Stacey Bridges, upon being released from prison with his two colleagues: “What about our horses? We had three good animals.”
Prison warden: “What do you think you’ve been eating for the last six months.”
Townsman: “I hope you’re not going to blame us for Morgan Allen’s stupidity. Because the rest of us have an agreement with you.”
The Stranger: “Well, right now I don’t feel very agreeable.”
Townsman: “Well, maybe a little bonus will make you a little more appreciative.”
The Stranger: “How little?”
Townsman: “Five-hundred a head.”
The Stranger: “Five-hundred an ear?”
Townsman: “Done.”
Townsman: “I’ll paint if you want me to, but when we get done, this place is gonna look like hell.”
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