Clint Eastwood

beenieman · Postby **beenieman** » 02 Mar 2006, 02:22

Isn't he great.

A classic example (think for music Black Sabbath) of where practically every professional movie critic got it wrong for so long.

They derided him as a poor actor with little expression or acting ability as the public flocked to his movies. At some point in late 80's, early 90's the critical consensus changed as the quality of his acting & directing were finally accepted - on a critical level - the public knew all along.

I watched Pale Rider last night. You don't hear about this movie much but it's one of his best. Clint plays the same character as in most of his westerns. In fact as no name is given to him it could well be the same character.

The supporting cast is excellent with Michael Moriaty, Carrie Snodgress, a young very slim Chris Penn in one of his very first movies, the gorgeous Sydney Penny (can't figure out why she's not a big star) and the very very underrated John Russell. Even the 6 deputies who don't get to speak a line between them exude menace and are all actors with lengthy CV's (I guess - I recognised several).

And I wonder if Clint is 'real'. The title and several scenes suggest he may be a ghost. His appearances/disappearances are not explained and Russell thinks he's already dead. Did Russell kill him? Does that explain the bullet wounds in his back which don't look like a person could survive?

And as usual with any movie Clint directs it's visually perfect. The scenes of the environmental damage caused by the hydraulic mining are truly horrific and the living conditions of the miners and the scabby little town - which LaHood describes in one scene as rich & prosperous while it appears to us as anything but - are fascinating, not the usual depiction of the 19th Century west.

Muskrat · Postby **Muskrat** » 02 Mar 2006, 02:51

While I'd seen and liked other Eastwood movies before, the one that made me really love the guy was "The Gauntlet."

Not one of his major films, I'll be the first to admit, but the way it takes the "Dirty Harry" persona; turns it inside out; co-stars his then-girlfriend as a hooker; and ends with every policeman in Arizona opening fire on a slow-moving bus without once hitting a tire...well, it's one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and intentionally so.

beenieman · Postby **beenieman** » 02 Mar 2006, 03:32

Muskrat wrote:While I'd seen and liked other Eastwood movies before, the one that made me really love the guy was "The Gauntlet."

Not one of his major films, I'll be the first to admit, but the way it takes the "Dirty Harry" persona; turns it inside out; co-stars his then-girlfriend as a hooker; and ends with every policeman in Arizona opening fire on a slow-moving bus without once hitting a tire...well, it's one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and intentionally so.

I've seen it a few times though it's not one of my absolute favourites. Clint directed it so that makes it great though.

And it must be the best acting Sondra Locke ever did.

I think Clint was consciously saying in this movie, in response to all the dire analysis of the Dirty Harry movies and how right wing they were that 'Hey! These are just movies'. So he deliberately made it over the top e.g. thousands of cops after the bus, to get rid of one witness who the defence could probably discredit on the witness stand and who would be unlikely to get them convicted, the bad guys commit all these crimes right in the public eye as they try to kill Locke's character. In reality if they'd suceeded in killing then the evidence they left behind in relation to her murder would be enough to put them away.

Clint was being deliberately extreme with his plot as if to say it's just a chance to make a technically fine movie with lots of shooting. As always he did what he set out to well.

I loved the scene where they just kept shooting at this house until finally the house just disintegrates. Now that was comedy, and purposely so.

And I thought this observation from someone on IMDB was spot on, wish I'd thought of it first:

What possibly could this movie have in common with Fight Club? In Fight Club, Ed Norton meets a girl that he obviously can not handle , so he reinvents himself. Same with Ben Shockley.

That's right.

beenieman · Postby **beenieman** » 02 Mar 2006, 03:42

martha wrote: Pale Rider is a great movie

Do you think he's a ghost?

beenieman · Postby **beenieman** » 02 Mar 2006, 04:48

martha wrote:Have you seen High Plains Drifter? That's another weird Eastwood character/ghost/demo/allegorical character kind of thing...

Ages & ages ago. I'm going to rent it in the next week or so. I'm going to go on a Clint kick.

The Write Profile · Postby **The Write Profile** » 02 Mar 2006, 06:24

martha wrote:My top five Clint Eastwood (as an actor) films:

1. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) .... Josey Wales
2. Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966) .... Blondie
3. Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970) .... Hogan
4. Pale Rider (1985) .... Preacher
5. The Gauntlet (1977) .... Ben Shockley

It's hard to leave Fistful of dollars and for a few dollars more off of there, also hard to leave off Unforgiven, Where Eagles Dare, Hang Em High, and Escape from Alcatraz....I really love Clint Eastwood.

Agree with all the films mentioned there (including the ones below the top 5), classics of their type each one. Interestingly, his films from Outlaw Josey Wales onward, or at least his "acclaimed ones" (see Oscar winners Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, as well as others such as Pale Rider and Mystic River) seem to be about the search for a surrogate family when the original unit gets split apart or a member dies.

There's a real search for redemption or at least reconciliation. It's very interesting, I think it accounts for the dogged singlemindedness of many of his best films. Even Dirty Harry seems to be about redemption of a sort, the washing away of filth and replacing it with something else.

But it can only be done by one person. The subtext in a lot of his films is kinda fascistic as a result (though I think...Wales is a bit more generous). And hard to take, admittedly (see Million Dollar Baby, perhaps even more than Unforgiven.) Also add "Play Misty for Me" and "High Plains Drifter," too. Actually there's a strong argument for Eastwood for being on of the most assured genre-based directors of the last 30 years. It's very rare you get someone who specialise in a restricted thematic trough.

Pretty much everything he did with Leone and Don Siegel is classic, art disguised as pulp (or vice versa, it's good either way). The Beguiled is a very strange, haunting film.

atomic loonybin · Postby **atomic loonybin** » 02 Mar 2006, 10:39

Yes, he's great. And he's also made some terrible films - Any which way but loose (where he was out acted by an Orang-utan), and those lousy potboilers he's made over the past few years - The Rookie, Absolute Power, Blood Work.... Perhaps he has to take the De Niro route: 'if I make this terrible film, that gives me the space and money to make the films I want'. I hope so, anyway.

My favourite of his fims was a complete flop - Bronco Billy.

The Prof · Postby **The Prof** » 02 Mar 2006, 10:46

and there's me thinking it was going to be a thread about.......;

Django · Postby **Django** » 02 Mar 2006, 10:50

The irony is that shortly after the critical consensus changed, the quality of his movies took a real dive: Absolute Power, True Crime, Blood Work are all pretty forgettable stuff. Even Million Dollar Baby is massively overrated, remove the A-list cast and it would be the kind of movie you'd find on Channel 5 on a weekday afternoon.

12stringbassist · Postby **12stringbassist** » 02 Mar 2006, 15:45

ALB wrote:Yes, he's great. And he's also made some terrible films - Any which way but loose (where he was out acted by an Orang-utan.

I think it shows tremendous guts for an actor / director to hand over the focus / laughs in a film to an Orang-utan!
Also considerable savvy as the film is still so well-remembered.
Even if some people see it as lightweight.
It works well as a comedy. Those bikers were brilliantly inept.

Clint is the only actor whose (almost) entire DVD output has made it onto my shelves.

Mr Maps · Postby **Mr Maps** » 02 Mar 2006, 16:55

this is a fave

I love the man with no name stuff, and Josey Wales, Play Misty For Me, don't care for the Dirty Harry stuff, hate the monkey movie stuff, Hearbreak Ridge is awesome, Paint Your Wagon is punishing, Unforgiven is his last good film, Million Dollar baby is crap.

Seems cool, I'd love to meet him but I'd be scared.

Maxwell's Golden Pickaxe · Postby **Maxwell's Golden Pickaxe** » 02 Mar 2006, 17:30

django wrote:Even Million Dollar Baby is massively overrated, remove the A-list cast and it would be the kind of movie you'd find on Channel 5 on a weekday afternoon.

aha! Someone who shares my opinion. Saccharine, Hallmark bullshit.

Matt Wilson · Postby **Matt Wilson** » 02 Mar 2006, 17:56

Someone has to give props to the Unforgiven.
My favorite of his and the best western he ever made.

Mystic River was killer too.

sloopjohnc · Postby **sloopjohnc** » 02 Mar 2006, 18:31

Muskrat wrote:While I'd seen and liked other Eastwood movies before, the one that made me really love the guy was "The Gauntlet."

Not one of his major films, I'll be the first to admit, but the way it takes the "Dirty Harry" persona; turns it inside out; co-stars his then-girlfriend as a hooker; and ends with every policeman in Arizona opening fire on a slow-moving bus without once hitting a tire...well, it's one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and intentionally so.

It is great. I watched Outlaw Josey Wales on TV this weekend. All in all, one of my top 3 of his movies, easy.

sloopjohnc · Postby **sloopjohnc** » 02 Mar 2006, 18:35

Didn't Eastwood produce and direct Bird? And he produced one of Scorcese's short films for his Blues series too.

He grew up in Oakland and used to hang out at jazz and blues clubs. I also think he's a pretty accomplished jazz pianist.

Muskrat · Postby **Muskrat** » 02 Mar 2006, 19:12

sloopjohnc wrote:Didn't Eastwood produce and direct Bird? And he produced one of Scorcese's short films for his Blues series too.

He grew up in Oakland and used to hang out at jazz and blues clubs. I also think he's a pretty accomplished jazz pianist.

Right on all points.

Also, Lennie Niehaus, who's been involved in the music for a lot of Eastwood's films, is a serious jazzbo, with credentials including several years arranging for Stan Kenton.

beenieman · Postby **beenieman** » 02 Mar 2006, 20:32

The Prof wrote:and there's me thinking it was going to be a thread about.......;

I could do that. If you get a thread rolling I'll join in.

beenieman · Postby **beenieman** » 02 Mar 2006, 20:34

django wrote:The irony is that shortly after the critical consensus changed, the quality of his movies took a real dive: Absolute Power, True Crime, Blood Work are all pretty forgettable stuff. Even Million Dollar Baby is massively overrated, remove the A-list cast and it would be the kind of movie you'd find on Channel 5 on a weekday afternoon.

Agreed on all counts. He hasn't done anything great since Unforgiven has he?

Matt Wilson · Postby **Matt Wilson** » 02 Mar 2006, 20:49

beenieman wrote:
django wrote:The irony is that shortly after the critical consensus changed, the quality of his movies took a real dive: Absolute Power, True Crime, Blood Work are all pretty forgettable stuff. Even Million Dollar Baby is massively overrated, remove the A-list cast and it would be the kind of movie you'd find on Channel 5 on a weekday afternoon.

Agreed on all counts. He hasn't done anything great since Unforgiven has he?

Mystic River.

Despite the opinions expressed on this thread I like his boxing movie too.
In the Line of Fire was entertaining as well, and his performance in Bridges of Madison County surprised a lot of people (Clint cries!)