High Plains Drifter ending / spoiler
The stranger is somehow related to Jim Duncan, the former sheriff. Jim was whipped to death by the town folk whose mine was on government land and had hired 3 gunmen to take him out. Just two people found that objectionable, and were spared by the end of the film. This stranger takes revenge for the town's wrong doings by making them do all sorts of ridiculous things; however he ultimately kills the 3 gunmen, whipping one of them in the same way Jim was whipped.
Submitted by Notorious ET
