High Plains Drifter

by Ernest Tidyman

Creator of "Shaft" and screenwriter of "The French Connection", has written a brutal, bullet-paced novel of the gun-law West! Movie with Clint Eastwood of the same name based on this book.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Ernest Ralph Tidyman took his first breath on Jan. 1, 1928, the son of a veteran police reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. At age 14, he dropped out of school and, concealing his youth, won his own police-reporting gig with the rival Cleveland News. Following a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, Tidyman returned to Cleveland and worked as an editor for The Plain Dealer before moving to such dailies as the New York Post and The New York Times.

Ernest Tidyman is best known for his novels featuring the African-American detective John Shaft. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the film versions of Shaft and The French Connection. Tidyman was awarded an Academy Award for his screenplay adaptation of The French Connection.

Reviews

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ernest Tidyman wrote the script for the Eastwood movie and this is his novelization. There are differences from the film, likely written from an early version of the script. Most everything was there, but a few cosmetic changes, a different character in certain scenes(i.e., an early shootout with three gunmen happened in the saloon in the book. In the movie, the Stranger faced them down and went over to the barber shop for a shave and hot bath, the gunmen following after they restored their nerves. A few other scens in the movie weren't in the book, likely added in rewrites.

A Stranger rides into the small town of Lago, a town of frightened people. Three hoodlums were getting out of prison after a year and had promised to burn the town to the ground when they went away, killing the townspeople as well.

After the shootout, they offer the Stranger anything he wants to stay around and protect the town. He takes advantage of that, pushing the people as hard as he can. He has dreams of a man being whipped to death with a bullwhip while people stood around.

It was never said outright, but the intimation was made through his conversation and dreams that the Stranger was the restless spirit of the murdered Marshall everyone tried so hard to forget. The Eastwood character seemed to have a mad-on against almost everyone in town. Only a dwarf named Mordeacai and the wife of a store owner seemed to get any sympathy from him.

I enjoyed the book. It enhanced my recent viewing, after a number of years, of the Eastwood film.

[David Sodergren · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best film novelisations I’ve ever read. A cracking good read.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed it, has less of a supernatural feel than the film does. Though you can still read it that way if you want. I know Eastwood played it up in interviews over the years on whether it was supernatural or not giving both answers at different times. I always figure he left up to the viewer. Same in this book, the Stranger is definitely a real figure. However there are moments that can be seen with a supernatural flavor.

The stranger rides into the town of Lago. While there the town discovers his fighting ability and wants him to stay to defend the town from some released criminals. These killers have sworn to destroy the town and the town knows they are no match for them. The stranger agrees but takes pleasure in playing on their fear and playing with the killers when the time comes.

Highly recommended for fans of the film for sure, since it gives another look at the story from the screenwriter's viewpoint. Also it's just a fun ride of a book.

[Michael Sigler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not as good as the movie, and lacking the cool supernatural elements, but still a solid book.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novelization of the movie. This time by Tidyman instead of Millard. Not bad.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you just need a quick read you know you will enjoy. I saw the movie a long time ago, but this seems to be the exact same story, which is what I wanted. And no wonder author of the book was also the author of the screenplay. Use to read a lot of Louis L'Amour and this was just as good.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

simple but haunting

[Jason Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars, though it probably only deserves three or three and a half.

High Plains Drifter is hands down my favorite western movie (hence the reason for my bonus in the star rating for the book), and the film is definitely an improvement on the novelization which was based on the original screenplay. (Plus it has rather haunting theme music which still gives me goosebumps.) That's not to say this was a bad book. Clint Eastwood (director and star) just added elements that made it better. Tidyman wrote the screenplay, so it made sense for him to do the novelization too. Too bad he couldn't match Eastwood's changes.

You have no idea who the stranger is in the book, but you can infer his identity in the movie, and that's part of what makes it so awesome; I love a good ghost tale. In the book he's just some dude. We also know his motive for doing what he does, and we know why the former Marshall of Lago was killed. We know why the town kept Stacey Bridges and his two cohorts around. Basically everything makes much more sense in the movie because we're given just the barest bit of information that explains the "why" of everyone's actions. None of that takes over the story, but it's still important and makes a world of difference in the quality of the work.

The ending in the book was really abrupt. I have a feeling Tidyman came up on a hard deadline to get this out so the release would coincide with the movie, and he had to rush the showdown. It also seemed to switch the characters of Dave Drake and Morgan Allan, and that threw me off as the characters played out the scenes in my head. I thought it was me misremembering them, but nope; they were switched around. The physical descriptions for a few characters were off as well, but I'm sure casting wasn't done yet when Tidyman started working on this. My brain made the corrections, though. If you don't know the movie forwards, backwards, sideways, etc. like I do, then none of this will be a problem for you. Like I said before, this isn't a bad book at all. It's a nice, quick read, and I enjoyed it. It just could've been better if Tidyman had made the same changes Eastwood did.

[Beauregard Shagnasty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not nearly as compelling as the film because apparently the supernatural ambiguity was added later by Eastwood. this is dsappointingly conventional.

[John Hardin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but missing the supernatural aspects of the movie. Most movie tie-ins differ from the movies they're based upon, so I didn't expect this to be like the movie. Good escapist western.

[Van Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually, Phillip Rock wrote the novelization of "High Plains Drifter," but they used Tidyman's name instead of Rock's name.