Eastwood made three boring westerns during his career, in my opinion. High plains drifter, beguiled and pale rider. They were not up to his previous excellent movies like the 'dollar' films and the dirty Harry movies. They were exciting titles but lacked the storylines, and seemed to be a bit silly and unbelievable. I still think he was great in that unbeatable old tv series Rawhide.

This is a genuine attempt at combining two genres - Western and Revenge. The result is superb.

Eastwood again assumes the persona from the 'Dollars Trilogy', the man with no name not looking for trouble but never avoiding it. He appears like a tough anti-hero - doing wrong to "bad" people. Through each 'wrongdoing' we learn a bit more about the motivation for the main characters and in particular Eastwood's wanton malice. When he is in total control he paints the town red, literally, and then lets 'em have it.

A simple look at life into the Western days with Eastwood playing the role of the lone rider who seeks no trouble just a shave and hot bath, however when he kills 3 men in the blink of an eye the town then turn to him for protection due to his gunslinging skills. A great film and another great Western from Eastwood.