It was the first Western directed by a legend of the genre.
Our TV movie pick for tonight (Saturday, 19 October) is High Plains Drifter, the classic 1973 Western directed by and starring Clint Eastwood.
In the film, Eastwood wanders plays a gunslinging drifter with no name who wanders into the small Old West town of Lago.
At first, he is met with incredulity and disapproval by the townspeople, but once he shows his skills with a pistol, the locals realise he may be able to help them fend off a band of criminals who have been terrorising the town.
“He agrees to help the townspeople, but does so with his own secret agenda,” the plot synopsis adds.
High Plains Drifter is the first Western that Eastwood both directed and starred in.
As such, you can feel him applying everything he learned working with incredible filmmakers Sergio Leone (on the legendary Dollars trilogy) and Don Siegel (on The Beguiled and Two Mules for Sister Sara) to his own directorial effort, while also putting his own unique twist on the genre.
It’s worth pointing out too that the poster for High Plains Drifter – which can be seen below – is incredibly cool.
High Plains Drifter is airing on ITV4 tonight at 10.30pm. It is also available to rent on Apple TV and Google Play.
Here are the other movies on TV tonight:
Bloodshot – Film4 – 9pm
Vin Diesel is the lead in this 2020 action sci-fi about a soldier who dies before being brought back to life with superpowers by an organisation that wants to use him as a weapon.
Daylight – Legend – 9pm
Sylvester Stallone stars in this ’90s disaster flick.
White Chicks – Comedy Central – 9pm
This critically panned comedy about two black FBI agents (Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans) who go undercover using whiteface as women to solve a kidnapping plot has its defenders.
Smile – Channel 4 – 9.20pm
The sequel is in cinemas now, so what better time to revisit this brilliantly tense 2022 horror?
Maverick – RTÉ2 – 9.35pm
Another Western, except this time from the ’90s with Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson.
Cool Hand Luke – TG4 – 9.50pm
The classic ’60s prison drama headlined by Paul Newman.
The Beasts – BBC Four – 10pm
This excellent thriller drama is set in the Galician countryside in Spain and follows a French couple new to the area who clash with their neighbours.
Tiger Bay – Virgin Media Three – 10.15pm
The ’50s British crime drama starring real-life father and daughter John and Hayley Mills.
Here Before – RTÉ One – 10.40pm
A bereaved mother (Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie) in Northern Ireland bonds with the daughter of her new neighbours in this 2021 psychological thriller.
The Inglorious Bastards – Legend Xtra – 10.50pm
The ’70s war flick that inspired the similarly titled Quentin Tarantino masterpiece Inglourious Basterds.
The Empty Man – Film4 – 11.10pm
An ex-cop (cult star James Badge Dale) investigating the disappearance of a teenage girl discovers a whole host of terrors in this sadly underseen 2022 horror epic.
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story – Comedy Central – 11.15pm
The parody of music biopics that we recently called ‘one of the best comedy movies of the 21st century’.
Man on Fire – Channel 4 – 11.35pm
‘Creasy’s art is death. He’s about to paint his masterpiece.’
The Blair Witch Project – BBC One – 11.50pm
The iconic lo-fi horror that launched the found footage craze.
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