The Western film High Plains Drifter, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, was released in the United States.
Principal photography for the film High Plains Drifter took place primarily in Mono Lake and Bridgeport, California.
Clint Eastwood took on the role of director for the film High Plains Drifter, marking another directorial work in his career.
A mysterious stranger, later identified as Marshal Jim Duncan, rides into the isolated town of Lago with no explanation of his purpose.
The stranger is hired by the townspeople to protect Lago from an anticipated attack by released outlaws who seek revenge for their previous lynching.
The stranger forces the townspeople to paint the entire town red and rename it Hell, a symbolic act to prepare for the forthcoming violence and to make the town unwelcoming to the returning outlaws.
The three outlaws who were previously lynched by the townspeople arrive in Lago to exact their revenge.
Hints and implications reveal the stranger is the ghost or avenging spirit of Marshal Jim Duncan, who was murdered by the townspeople years earlier.
After justice is served and the town is forced to reckon with its past sins, the stranger rides away, leaving Lago behind.
