80/80- Clint goes to war

Where Eagles Dare was intended to cement Clint's standing in Europe and to prove that he could do more than westerns. He was cast opposite the then much bigger star, Richard Burton. However when Clint started shooting he found his character far too wordy and so, as he had done with the Leone movies, he started cutting his dialogue until he was left with very little to say. This annoyed the director but as it gave Richard Burton more screen time, the Welsh actor defended Clint and Eastwood got his way.


However where it worked for Clint to just stand there in the surreal landscape of the Dollar movies it didn't have the same effect in this second world war movie. True Where Eagles Dare is a good, no nonsense action film but this is despite of Eastwood rather than because of him. He seems to have little to do in the film and does come across as wooden in several key scenes. Richard Burton is very much the star here and although the film was a commercial success it certainly didn't do Clint any favours.

Eastwood's next war movie was the comedic Kelly's Heroes (1970) - Clint worked alongside a top rate cast - Telly Savalas, Don Rickles and Donald Sutherland. Filming was done in England and Yugoslavia and meant that Clint was based in Europe for most of the year.

"I can't stand long locations or production schedules. Once you get moving, I see no reason to drag your feet." Clint Eastwood in a 1971 interview with Action magazine.

The shoot would drag on and on - Clint spent much of his time travelling around the European countryside on the 750CC Norton motorcycle he had purchased while filming, Where Eagles Dare.

The resulting film is these days much loved but wasn't so at the time. Clint himself has publicly said he dislikes the film which is odd given that his performance is excellent. The film opened in most markets at the same time as Two Mules for Sister Sarah which meant that effectively Clint was in competition with himself.

Kelly's Heroes would be the last film Clint would make outside of the control of Malpaso.


Clint would next go to war in 1986's Heartbreak Ridge - Eastwood was Tom Highway, a Korean war veteran in charge of a young squad of marines. In reality the battle of Heartbreak Ridge was won by the army and Clint was aware of this. The original story had seen an army squad used but in order to obtain the military equipment used in the movie the premise was changed to the Marines.

When the film was released it wasn't the recruiting advert the Department of Defence had hoped for. Robert Simms branded the film as blasphemous pornography and the Marines released a statement saying that they did not support the movie and its depiction of the corps.

The film was modestly successful at the box office though and Clint did add considerable depth to the character of Tom Highway - it's far from a classic but it's certainly not bad. Of course Clint's true war themed master-works were still to come with Flags of our Fathers and the even better, Letters from Iwo Jima.

But that as they say, is another story