Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood in 1973, it marked his first time directing a Western. Heavily inspired by his mentors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, Eastwood took the classic "Man with No Name" archetype and plunged it into a dark, gothic, and deeply cynical deconstruction of the American frontier. 🎬 The Plot: Welcome to Hell 'High Plains Drifter' Opens on Screen - The New York Times