Wow, 90!! Besides his obvious hits, and fan favorites what are some others that you really liked ? Absolute Power In the Line of Fire The Mule
Great post. I would add that westerns were in steep decline while Clint’s career was peaking which I suspect is why he started in relatively few. He was in my estimation the last western star. and a shout out for the often ignored Joe Kidd. Great fun that one
Watching Joe Kidd right now. Have never seen this Oh and anytime I watch a Clint Eastwood film I get a little angry that I can't look that cool/good
It’s a solid film. Lots of drama behind the scenes and Sturges & Eastwood didn’t like each other very much.
Huge respect to Clint for remaining relevant from the 1960s until today while retaining high quality of material.
Despite of his other work, especially as a director, I still think that his most memorable contribution is being in the best Western of all time: The Good The Bad & the Ugly.
Acting any good? He’s usually overshadowed by better actors in his movies, but acting chops ? Guess „Unforgiven.
He's a rather stiff actor but a great on screen persona. I can't imagine most delivering some of his more famous lines as cooly as he did.
Sturges was drunk much of the time. Reportedly, the AD did the bulk of the work. I wouldn’t be surprised if Eastwood also stepped in and directed scenes. There’s,additional info out there documenting the issues on set. It impacted much of his later film career.
The script was rewritten. Originally, it was pitched as a J0hn Wayne-Clint Eastwood western. Eastwood wanted to do it but Wayne couldn’t stand the persona or films that Eastwood made believing his take was too revisionist. He felt that Eastwood’s anti-hero was too much. He also evidently felt that Eastwood’s films were unpatriotic. A pity as it was a miss Ed opportunity. the main problem was Sturges though. Michael Caine later complained about working with him saying that The Eagle Has Landed could have been a better film but Sturges was drinking too much, going through the motions and was sometimes not on set to direct scenes.
He had offered Cimino the chance to direct after the rewrite he did for him on Magnum Force and enjoyed working with him. Cimino pitched the script idea, Eastwood liked it. He agreed to let Cimino direct as well..Eastwood, unlike others, was a man of his word.
Always thought it was a great pity Melville didn't drag him to France and cast him in one of his crime films. My favourite Eastwoods by far are Josey Wales, Unforgiven, Dirty Harry, Misty, The Good etc, Flags, Iwo Jima, Mystic River, Bird, Perfect World, Thunderbolt, Alcatraz and Changeling - but I'd hate to be without Tightrope, his other Leone films, Drifter, Honky-Tonk Man, In the Line of Fire, Pale Rider, The Beguiled and Magnum Force. And Kelly's Heroes is a laugh!
