Guess I’ll revive another dead thread, as I don’t know where else better to post about Eastwood.
Have been watching quite a number of films with him lately (some 7 or 8 films in the last 4 weeks, of which I’ve seen 3 in the last 4 days…), and I’m tempted to watch more, and while I’ve always been fond of his acting and directing work, I think he is slowly but surely becoming one of my favorite actors and filmmakers now. Probably the turning point was watching a pristine 35mm print of THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES at an Eastwood retrospective last year, which made me reappreciate the film (and Eastwood as an actor and director) and made me see much more in it than when I initially watched it on TV a long time ago. After that it was yet another rewatch of A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS and some Siegel films with Clint I hadn’t seen before, and now it seem there’s no stopping. So far, I’ve seen some 23 films in which he has acted and watched 12 films he directed, some of them numerous times. And most of them have been really good. Maybe I’ve avoided some of the stinkers so far, but it has come to a point, where I am actually willing to watch (or rewatch) any film just because Eastwood is in it, or because he directed it (well, maybe not THE EIGER SANCTION…), and I’m even considering getting the first season of Rawhide. I still prefer him as an actor, but his directing style really has something sublime. A special mention should also go to the cinematography of Bruce Surtees who has lensed much of my favorite Eastwood stuff and has prompted me to reassess his work.
So here’s some of my favorite Eastwood as an actor / Eastwood as a director flicks, in rough order of preference, as I currently see it… I’m excluding early films in which he had a (uncredited) bit part.
Top 10 Actor (film, not performance)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
For a Fistful of Dollars (1964)
The Beguiled (1971)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Play Misty for Me (1971)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Hang 'Em High (1968)
Pale Rider (1985)
Kelly’s Heroes (1970)
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Top 5 Director
Play Misty for Me (1971)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Pale Rider (1985)
A Perfect World (1993)
Bronco Billy (1980)
PS: I guess I need to rewatch UNFORGIVEN as soon as possible.
[quote=“Bible Joe, post:61, topic:2111”]PS: I guess I need to rewatch UNFORGIVEN as soon as possible.[/quote]You sure should, my favourite western of the 90’s, followed by TOMBSTONE.
As evidenced by my quote, my favorite scenes are Eastwood being told about Morgan Freeman’s fate, and his final confrontation with Gene Hackman in the saloon.
Yep. There’s a great monologue by The Schofield Kid about how he “Ain’t like you, Will” too just prior to Will/Kid being told about what happened to Ned, that’s up there as well. And how the girl who’s telling him about Ned is scared to look him in the eye now, because she now knows who he is, and how very dangerous he has been. Just brilliant.
-“You’d be William Munny out of Missouri. Killer of women and children.”
-“That’s right. I’ve killed women and children. I’ve killed just about everything that walked or crawled at one time or another. And I’m here to kill you, Little Bill. For what you did to Ned.”
Eastwood’s recent run of films have failed to make me desperate to see them, but the first trailer for his upcoming American Sniper trailer is absolutely fantastic: [url]American Sniper (2014) - Video Gallery - IMDb
I’ve always had a thing for sniper films also for some reason… still haven’t seen the Sniper sequels yet but did get a copy of The Lookout which El Topo reviewed recently.
This was due for release on 15th May - I have no update from Amazon UK on my order but other sites have the new release date as 19 June 2018. I believe this is the 3rd edition (2009, 2013, 2018).
[url]
