80/80 - That Kael woman

There's a scene in the final Dirty Harry movie, The Dead Pool in which a female film critic is brutally slain. Clint was thinking of Pauline Kael, his harshest critic - It was Kale who, when critiquing the first Dirty Harry (1971) film, accused Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood of making a "fascist" and "racist" film. The critic in this film is made up to resemble Kale as she appeared during this film's release as an in-joke.

Pauline Kael was a critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991.

'Dirty Harry is a remarkably single minded attack on liberal values, with each prejudicial detail in place. When you're making a film with Clint Eastwood you want things to be simple, and the basic concept of good versus evil is as simple as you can get. This film is more primitive than most, more primitive and dreamlike; fascist medievalism." - On Dirty Harry.

"Clint Eastwood isn't offensive; he isn't an actor, so one could hardly call him a bad actor. One would have to do something before he could be considered an actor at all." On Magnum Force.

Harsh words indeed - but then Kael also lambasted The Outlaw Josey Wales, so perhaps she wasn't the best person to be judging these movies. However that didn't stop her detesting The Enforcer though giving Tyne Daley some grudging praise.

"Daley's performance is very warm and makes Eastwood's holy cool seem more aberrant than ever."

These days the Oscar winning actor can laugh off these old review, but Eastwood was known to get upset by Kale's reviews,

bemoaning to friend that she didn't understand what he was doing. And it's true - Josey Wales in particular is a beautiful elegiac movie with bags of heart, but Kael just saw an over violent western with no humour. Maybe she slipped into the wrong screening by mistake.

"The opposite of sophisticated movie-making. Clint seems to be trying to blast through his own lack of courage as an actor." On Tightrope.

The critic in her famous speech at a festival in 1976 link Eastwood to what she called, The Veitnamization of American movies. Later that year Dr Ronald Lowell presented an article in the Los Angeles Times in which he attacked Kael and actually said she thought the opposite of what she actually said. And Clint also fired back, stating that Kael used cynical times to label him simplistic. 'She found an avenue that was going to make her a star,' Eastwood said in an interview. 'I was just one of many subjects who helped her along the way.'

"Excruciatingly bad. Clint is a perfectly atrocious director." On Bird

"A psychopathic version of the old Saturday Morning Serials." On Sudden Impact.

Even after retirement Kael continued to hit out at Eastwood, saying that the Museum of Modern Art should be ashamed for showing retrospectives in his honour. She also said critics had been hogwashed on The Unforgiven and that it was another western where you were a pacifist until you had to start shooting. After that not much more was heard from the critic who had now fully retired but she would continue to bemoan the state of cinema privately until her death in 2001.

80/80-Man of the Eastwest

Clint Eastwood is probably second only to John Wayne in name association with the western genre - some of his best film have been within the genre. In fact some of his westerns rank among the best the genre can offer.

A Fistful of Dollars, made while Clint was still appearing in the long running Rawhide TV show, may not be the best of the three Dollar films but it changed the genre and, being the first, was the most influential. All of Eastwood's subsequent westerns owe much to this movie and it can be argued that in every western he made he was playing a version of the character he invented here. What was William Munny but an aged Man with no Name! Hogan from Two Mules for Sister Sarah was the mysterious stranger right down to the clothing he wore, Josey Wales was his bastard son. And even to some extent Dirty Harry was the mysterious stranger transported to modern times and given a cooler gun.

That's not to lessen Clint as an actor - on the contrary the character he created, and yes he did create him despite what Leone said, here was a revolution. At a time when western had grown tame, almost one dimensional, Clint brought in a hero who didn't confirm to the traditional conventions of the western hero. He wasn't so much the anti-hero as the anti-hero on steroids.

Clint cut down his dialogue to the bone and would just stand there, dominating the screen. He didn't in fact so much stand as lounge. When the character stands off against a group of bloodthirsty baddies, he almost looks bored, knowing the inevitable outcome. And no one on the planet could look as cool as Eastwood in those dirty Levis and that poncho.

Watching the film now it's low budget is so visible on the screen and its limitations stand out - however reinvention doesn't begin to cover what was created here. The genre and movies in general would never be the same again.

"He's going to trigger a whole new style of adventure!!!!" A Fistful of Dollars poster tagline.

The sequel, For A Few Dollars More (1965) had an increased budget and is a far better film which means basically that it's celluloid gold. The action scenes are far punchier, the storyline is tighter and has far more depth and Leone's operatic style of filming has been perfected. The film also benefits from a great turn from Lee Van Cleef. The violence was also taken to a new level and ,whilst some scenes feel sadistic, it's very stylised and at times surreal.


There is an unwritten law in cinema that sequels are never as good as the original, but there are exceptions to prove the rule - Godfather II is better than the first one, Empire Strikes Back pisses over Star Wars, but with the Leone/Eastwood westerns each film is progressively better. And The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is a masterpiece and arguably the best work each man has ever produced.

I personally rate The Good, the Bad and the Ugly above both Josey Wales and The Unforgiven. In terms of the best westerns ever made I would place it above Shane and just below The Searchers. Many people rate Once Upon a Time in the West as Leon's best film but that's the trendy choice, and although it is a superb movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly kicks it's ass.

Everything about this film is perfect - the comedy, the action, the suspense. The Civil War scenes take the movie towards the level of epic and Leone works much pathos into this sequence. The plot twists and turns and the script is intricately put together. The climax, the three way stand off, has been imitated countless times by everyone from Tarantino to Stephen Spielberg.


I watch these three movies, back to back, at least once a year and have done since I was a kid - these days I can speak the dialogue along with the characters, know every frame almost intimately. But the films still excite and surprise me - truly, classics of the art-form.

80/80-The ever changing man

The Rookie (1992) is a poor film and flopped badly at the box office, suggesting that Eastwood's best days were now firmly behind him. However the following year would see him return with the awesome, brilliant, superfandabbydozey, The Unforgiven and since then he's not put a foot wrong.

Mind you The Rookie did take $43 million while Eastwood's previous movie, White Hunter, Black Heart, only $8.4 million. This shows the often bizarre tastes of the movie goer - The Rookie is nonsense while White Hunter,Black Heart, is a superb and courageous film. In my own opinion The Rookie ranks alongside Pink Cadillac as contenders for Clint's worse movie, while White Hunter, Black Heart, would be firmly in the top ten.


It is incredible that the same man could have made such different movies back to back - many critics commented on the fact. White Hunter, Black Heart was a literal adaptation of its source novel with Eastwood striving to get inside the character while The Rookie was as shallow as a puddle on a newly laid lawn.


Both movies though were considered box office failures, especially in terms of Clint's previous films. But Clint was shrewd enough to know that he needed to return to familiar territory - he had been sitting on the script for The William Munny Killings and threw himself into the project. He would emerge with one of the best westerns ever made.

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

80/80 - A chip off the old block

The son of award-winning Hollywood actor and director, Clint Eastwood, is coming to Bristol.

Kyle Eastwood will be bringing his critically acclaimed band to the Colston Hall this summer.

Kyle is a jazz bassist, composer and bandleader and will be bringing his Trio to the city on 4 June.

Kyle Eastwood Band will be coming to Colston Hall on Friday, 4 June 2010.

For more details, including ticket prices, check out the Colston Hall website.

80/80 - Chuck Norris is Dirty Harry (well sort of!)

There was a period in the late Seventies when Clint Eastwood and Gauntlet co-writer, Dennis Shryack were working on developing a Dirty Harry script, that would show the human side of the ageing cop. The script saw the Harry character battling organised crime and losing most of the battles and would end with the character's death.

Clint was excited about the project and was looking forward to burying the Harry character once and for all. Just before the film was due to go into production Jo Haims, writer of Play Misty for Me and Breezy died of cancer. Jo was Clint's age and the star was hit hard by her death. He brooded on it for a great many months.

The new Dirty Harry movie with its theme of mortality and death didn't appeal to Clint anymore and he pulled the rug on the project.


"I think the script probably cut too close to home. Clint was feeling his mortality about himself and his favourite character." Writer, Dennis Shrayack.

The script's rights reverted back to Shrayack and it would eventually become the Chuck Norris vehicle, Code of Silence. And Clint decided to go back to the western with, what he called, a nod to Shane. That film would be the excellent Pale Rider and afterwards Clint let it be known that he was looking for another Dirty Harry vehicle.

80/80 - A man's gotta know his limitations

"Macho is probably one of the mis-used words in the language. I think most macho guys on the screen are sensitive. I think Bogart and Cagney and Wayne could all portray great sensitivity." Clint Eastwood, Cosmopolitan interview 1980

Clint already knew what his next project would be while he was filming Tightrope - Kansas City Jazz would be directed by Blake Edwards and see Clint teamed up with fellow superstar Burt Reynolds. However trouble was brewing largely because whilst Reynolds got on with director Blake Edwards, Clint couldn't stand the man. There several arguments and in Feb 1984, just before cameras were due to roll, the studio put out an announcement stating that Blake Edwards was no longer on the project. The reason given was creative differences.

Richard Benjamin was hired as director, on Clint's suggestion, and the title of the movie was changed to City Heat.

The shoot was a nightmare - Burt Reynolds was ill for much of the time and also fractured his jaw when a stunt men accidentally hit him with a real chair.In fact so ill was Reynolds that there were reports in the press that he had AIDS but this thankfully proved to be false.

Clint had been tinkering with the script, putting in slapstick scene after slapstick scene. The star thought he was improving Edward's script but many felt that he was taking away all of the subtle comedy that made the script so exciting. Clint claimed that he only made slight alterations but they were enough for Edwards to have his name removed from the scripts and the pen name Sam O. Brown substituted.

"City Heat" opened at Xmas against "Beverly Hills Cop" and new star Eddie Murphy wiped out old stars Eastwood and Reynolds . Reynolds would never be a top star again. Adding insult to injury, the ad tag line "The Heat is On!" first used by "City Heat" was shifted to "Beverly Hills Cop" when "City Heat" disappeared from theaters.

It is no surprise that the film was dismal and a rare mis-fire for Clint. It did however, thanks to the pulling power of the two stars, manage to take in $50 million. Financially it was a success but this is one of the few Eastwood films that doesn't really have a cult following.

80/80 - Left Turn Clyde

Every Which Way But Loose (1978) certainly came out of left field for Clint Eastwood but it was a huge success, as was its 1980 sequel Any Which Way You Can. Eastwood was actually advised against making the first movie - it was felt that the public wouldn't accept him in a light comedy role after all the grim westerns and Dirty Harry pics, however the films remain today two of Eastwood's highest grossing vehicles.

They're also great fun, in a leave your brain at the door kind of way. Hey what could be better than watching Clint fist fighting while his pet ape shits in a police car? This is a full out redneck comedy with Clint playing the kind of thick head his critics had always claimed him to be, but then what did the critics know?

The project arrived at Malpaso in a roundabout way - the script was originally called The Coming of Philo Beddoe and was based on a real person - a truck driver with a pet monkey who was a phenomenal fist fighter. Writer Jeremy Kronsberg peppered the script with his own songs - the script was turned down over 50 times before arriving with Clint Eastwood who saw in it a chance to broaden his range.`

In the original script Eastwood's character was aged 29, while the actor was closing in on fifty. Writer Kronsberg joked that he would do some rewriting and make the character 35.

When the first movie was released it's astonishing success took both the studio and Clint by surprise - in fact, allowing for inflation, the movie still stands as Clint's most lucrative movie ever. It cost $4.5 million to make and took an impressive $123.5 million on its initial US release.

The follow up - Any Which Way You Can was far less successful and only took $10 million at the box office, which meant the end for Philo Beddoe and the plans for a series of movies was scrapped. But the follow up is actually a better made movie than the original but it lacked the good nature and the comedy scenes were basically a retread of those in the original movie.

After that Clint shot the monkey.

80/80 - The Archive's Tribute

The word legend is bandied about to all manner of minor celebrities these days. Clint Easwood however is a true legend and this month he celebrates his 80'th birthday. Below is the Archive's tribute to the great man.

80/80 - How to grow old gracefully

80/80 - Clint's allegorical western

High Plains Drifter is a benchmark western in the Eastwood oeuvre - it was the first oater he had directed and owes more than a little to the work he did with Sergio Leone.

In the film Clint plays a cigar chewing mysterious stranger as he did in the Leone films and although the film is very violent there is black humour running through each and every frame.

The eerie set used in the film was constructed on the shores of Lake Mono near the High Sierras. And with Bruce Surtees behind the camera filming commenced in the summer of 1972. For the musical score which was intended to mirror Clint's Italian oaters without ripping off Morricone, Clint hired Dee Barton who had contributed a jazz score to Play Misty for Me.

The resulting film is a powerhouse western with the air of mystery kept till the very end - in fact it goes beyond since we don't really learn who Eastwood's character is - is he an avenging ghost? Or is he the brother of the brutally murdered sheriff? There is a nice touch in one scene where the names Sergio Leone, Don Siegel and Brian Hutton are written on gravestones. All of these are directors that Clint had worked with.

"Clint has absorbed the approaches of two of his previous directors - Leone and Siegal and fused them with his own paranoid vision of society." Arthur Knight, Saturday Evening Review.

1972 was not only a good year professionally for Clint but personally too - his daughter Alison was born on the 22nd May. However the cracks in his private life were being hinted at in fan magazines and Modern Screen magazine famously called him: The Worst Husband in Hollywood. Still Clint managed to keep his off screen affairs private and when he attended the Oscars the following year it was his wife, Maggie who stood by his side.

80/80- Are you Dirty Harry?

80/80- Magnum Vigilance

Directly following his stint behind the camera, directing the gentle romance drama Breezy Clint Eastwood was to return to Dirty Harry with the movie Vigilance - the title was eventually changed to Magnum Force in reference to the hand cannon the character used.


The idea was to make the original's right wing politics more palatable to the modern audience - the concept of a gang of rogue cops wiping out organised crime interested Clint because it seemed to suggest that there were worse cops out there than Harry. However there were problems with the original script and Clint brought in newcomer, Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter) to work on the script. And filming then started in April 1973.

The death squad cops were cast with young actors - David Soul, Robert Ulrich, Tim Matherson and David Niven's son, Kip. Ted Post was given the director's chair but the director found that Clint was no longer the same man he had worked with on Rawhide and Hang Em High. Post and Eastwood crossed swords several times during shooting and Post later blamed Eastwood for his later career stalling.

Magnum Force could not help but be derivative of the classic Dirty Harry - it played around with the character. Where Harry was a sad lonely individual in the first movie, in this film he becomes a sexy ladies man, almost James Bond with a better gun.

"The same old stuff only worse." Frank Rich, The New York Times

"Clint Eastwood isn't offensive; he isn't an actor so one couldn't call him a bad actor. He'd have to do something before we could consider him bad at it. And acting isn't required in Magnum Force." Pauline Kael,

In the end Magnum Force took $58.1 million, far more than Dirty Harry. And if it proved anything it was that Clint Eastwood had the charisma to carry a weak film. The film was Clint's biggest box-office ever and would hold the record until the next Dirty Harry came along.


Ignore the critics, though - Magnum Force rocks!


Whilst Magnum Force is not quite as good as Dirty Harry it's still a fine film - the critics were over harsh and have never understood this kind of movie in any case. True it showed a mellowing of the Harry character but then it was intended too. And the action scenes, particularly the final shoot out, are excellent. And Clint, who had realised that Harry must become a parody of the original character, does his best to turn him into some kind of super cop.

It made my day in any case.

80/80-Eastwood on Parkinson 2007

80/80 - Pop goes The Man with no Name

It's 1980 and Clint Eastwood, together with Merle Haggard is sitting at the NO 1 position in the country music charts. Merle Haggard also issued a solo version of the song, Bar Room Buddies but that only made No 2. And whilst it is true that Clint may not be much of a singer, it seemed that his box office pull extended to the record shops. The actor would also enjoy a similarly successful hit with his duet with Ray Charles, Beers to you from Any Which Way You Can.


Course Clint had previously sung on 1969's Paint Your Wagon, and he was known to be a pretty hot jazz pianist but for most fans his singing seemed a novelty - few knew of his forgotten 1959 album, Rawhide's Clint Eastwood, Cowboy Favourites or his many attempts to revive his musical career.

The album came about after Rowdy sung in Rawhide - episode 105, Incident of the Pitchwagon saw Clint climb onto a saloon stage and softly sing Beyond the Sun. During this period it was usual for leading actors to crash the top ten charts and Clint probably saw this as a chance to launch a second money-spinning career. He planned to tour the album, Cowboy Favourites, but in the end his workload on Rawhide and poor sales saw plans scuppered.

Clint didn't turn his back on his singing though and he relased For all we Know in 1961 and Rowdy, a song about his character in Rawhide, in 1963. But Clint was told by Kal Mann of Cameo Records that he would never make it big as a singer.


"I know," Clint said with a smile. 'But I'm going to make it big somehow."

Below I have reproduced the original cover notes from Cowboy Favourites:

FROM CAMEO RECORDS

The folk songs that truly represents a branch of American culture, is the western cowboy song. Ever since courageous Americans crossed the prairies, western songs have been popular. And there is no better prototype of that "cowboy" than Cameo/ Parkway's recording artist, Clint Eastwood, a "native" westerner and a "natural" performer.

ABOUT THE SONGS -- During the long watches of the dark night, as the cowboy rode around the milling herds, he sang colorful ballads and melodies. Alone with just the moon, the stars and the herd, the songs of the cowboy were often plaintiff, sad and emotionally moving.

He sang of his home, his girl, his land of dreams and his hopes for tomorrow. In the Cameo recording, Clint Eastwood presents an exciting song picture of the west - as it was. He vividly describes the life of the cowboy...he sings of their dreams, their sorrows and their joys. And, he sings this unique collection of "Cowboy Favorites" with an intimacy and style that marks him as a true show business "great."

TRACK LISTING -- On this hi-fi recording, listen to his outstanding performance as he sings: "Bouquet of Roses," "Sierra Nevada," "Don't Fence Me In," and "Are You Satisfied." Other folks classics equally outstanding are: "Santa Fe Trail," "Last Roundup," "Mexicali Rose," Tumblin' Tumbleweed," and "Twilight On The Trail." Included also are "Searchin' For Somewhere," "I Love You More," and "San Antonio Rose."

This album represents a collection of songs closely identified with the spirit of America. Here, then, Cameo/Parkway's talented vocalist Clint Eastwood, and America's most popular "cowboy favorites"...an unsurpassed combination that spells "entertainment."

...excerpt written by Cameo Records

CLINT EASTWOOD. NET has a selection of songs from this album in Realplayer files for streaming or download. HERE

80/80 - Wrap your arms around this Honytonk Man

1982's Honkytonk Man was not in box office as successful as Eastwood's more action orientated movies but in terms of acting it may represent Clint's best ever performance. A grand claim, but it's definitely up there with his best work and should be far better appreciated than it actually is. Though Eastwood fans, those that can look beyond Dirty Harry or The Man with No Name already know that it is a powerhouse

performance in a stunning depression ere drama that just drips with authenticity.

Eastwood plays Red Stovall, a failed country singer, who knows that his last chance at making the big time is coming fast. He's on the way to the Grand Ol Opry, on the way he picks up his nephew Wilt (played by Clint's son, Kyle) as well as Granpa (originally the role was to go to James Stewart but the actor was too ill to perform). Soon they pick up the Lolita like Marlene and share many adventures and mis-adventures on their drive across America - a series of adventures which include the nephew's "coming of age" in a house of ill repute, he and Uncle Red finally arrive at Nashville, only to have the tuberculosis reach a critical stage in the middle of the recording session, where Red's lines are filled in by a slide guitarist (played by Marty Robbins). Red finally succumbs while his nephew vows to tell the story of his uncle. Red's vintage touring auto, prevalent throughout the movie, finally 'dies' at the cemetery where Red is laid to rest.

The film is a masterpiece and shows Eastwood was more than just an action star, but it was a pity that his fans didn't really appreciate the movie at the time. It's made in Eastwood's usual no nonsense style which suits the depression era milieu. And the fact that Eastwood is playing a TB ravaged singer means that for once even his singing suits the movie. Check out the video embedded below:

Like Bronco Billy (another undervalued classic) fans were dismayed to see Clint in the gentle comedic drama, and stayed away in droves. More fool them - Clint's performance here is superb and the actor/director is clearly enjoying recreating the depression era, which were the years that he himself grew up. There are some wonderful western landscapes but the strongest element in this movie is character. Clint is excellent, as is Kyle (http://www.kyleeastwood.com/) who these days is an accomplished Jazz musician. Several real country music stars feature in the movie - Marty Robins most prominently.

One word - excellent.

80/80 - The man with no name

There are many versions of how Clint Eastwood ended up starring in the Spaghetti westerns that transformed his career, but what really happened is that the part was offered to Eastwood's Rawhide co-star, Eric Fleming but he turned it down. The part had already been turned down by James Coburn, Charles Brosnon, Richard Harrison and Henry Fonda. It was Irving Leonard, Eric Fleming's agent who passed on the offer to Clint.

This has been disputed by Sergio Leone but then Leone was always fanciful with the truth. After watching an episode of Rawhide, Incident of the Black Sheep, he said - "I noticed the lazy, laidback way he stole every scene from Fleming. His laziness is what came about so clearly."

Clint wasn't initially keen but his wife, Maggie saw something in the script and persuaded the star to take the role. There were rumours that Maggie wanted to get Clint away from his mistress, Roxanne Tunis and whilst this may have had something to do with it, Eastwood was highly skilled at keeping his public image pristine.

"I was tired of playing the nice green cowboy in Rawhide. I wanted something earthier." Clint told an interviewer after the films were huge international hits.


"I needed a mask more than an actor." Sergio Leone.

As every western fan knows Clint went onto make three movies with Leone, each of them better than the last, culminating with The Good and the Bad and The Ugly which must rate as one of the best westerns ever made. The films would establish Eastwood as a mega star - a standing he enjoys to this day.

However while Clint was away filming that first western, trouble was brewing in America when Roxanne Tunis, Clint's on-off mistress gave birth to a child, Kimber. The baby's father on the State of California birth certificate is given as Clinton Eastwood Jr.

Clint had to return to Rawhide after finishing work on The Magnificent Stranger (AKA A Fistful of Dollars) and would for the moment stay married to Maggie, but then Clint always lived a charmed life where his many women were concerned.

NEXT - WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN CLINT AND BEST FRIEND, BILL TOMPKINS?

80/80 - Firefox fails to fly

What's so wrong with the movie, Firefox? Whilst it may not be one of Clint's very best it's certainly not as bad as some people say. Upon its release in 1982 it wasn't a hit but its budget of $21 million was easily made back. Mind you that was the age of the VHS boom and most modestly budgeted movies would eventually make their money back.

Firefox isn't your standard Eastwood film, he's almost branching out into Star Wars territory here with this Sci-Fi Cold War Spy thriller. Eastwood directs himself - The majority of the cast is made up by British character actors. The first half of the film is a straightforward spy thriller and can be pretty nail biting at times . The second hald of the film is like a video game with some impressive visuals as the super plane cuts majestically through the skies, the enemies in pursuit.

It's one for Eastwood fans only, I guess but it does have its moments. I think the problem with the movie is that the character Eastwood plays just isn't suited to the actor, nor is the style of movie and the film does plod in places but it's not all bad and I quite enjoy it. The aerial scenes are excellent at least and although the cold war setting (good Americans Vs Bad Russians) is these days dreadfully old fashioned in this post Glasnost world is is good fun if you check your brain in at the door.

80/80 - The first American born Eastwood

The first American born with the surname Eastwood was Lewis Eastwood who made his appearance in 1746. His parents had come to the New World from England where the Eastwood's were property owners with roots stretching back to Ireland.

Lewis had five children - one of these children was Asa who was Clint Eastwood's great, great, great grandfather. In 1817 Asa became the first Eastwood to answer the call of the wilderness after his various business interests had failed. He scooped up his family and set out for Onondaga County where he had purchased a 100 acre farm.

He set off with his family - three daughters, five sons and his wife. One of his sons was a five month old baby. Asa kept a journal and these exist so we have some idea of what life was like for this ancestor of the man with no name.


"We were within three miles of our destination, when night overtook us. We drove by guess, and the wagon became upset in a dirt hole. We used the wagon top for a tent and made beds on the carpet. The wolves howled at a fearsome rate, the wood being full of them."


These early hardships of the settlers was often reflected in Eastwood's films - think Pale Rider for one. And Clint is now a true American legend but his ancestry is as interesting as any of his films.

Suggested reading: Clint by Patrick McGilligan features several interesting chapters that cover Clint's entire family tree since the first Eastwood arrived in America.

80/80 - The Rowdy Years

If not for Rawhide Clint Eastwood might have faded away into obscurity, just another actor who never quite made it. The actor has stated in several interviews that when the series came along he was all but ready to quit acting.


He always thought of the show as his show and according to friends he would refer to it that way in private, but Eric Fleming was very much the star, with Eastwood initially cast as his sidekick.

As actors the two men couldn't have been more different - Where Fleming was awkward, sullen and often difficult to work with the young Eastwood was eager for as much screen time as possible. So where Fleming, who thought. the show was beneath his talents was glad to be pushed into the background, Eastwood was only too happy to take centre stage. And that's what happened after the first season when the writers started concentrating more on the Kid's character.

The show ran from 1959 - 1966 and from the start there was tension between Eastwood and Fleming - on the very first day of filming, in Arizona in 1958, there was an unscripted showdown between Eastwood and Fleming. When the two argued they went behind a wagon and sorted it out man to man. Fleming was two inches taller that Eastwood and twenty pounds heavier but Clint, reportedly put him on his arse with one blow to the jaw. It took the intervention of studio bosses to get the two actors to even speak together. Years later Eastwood denied that he had a fist fight with Fleming but studio legend has it otherwise.

The rivalry between the two actors though helped Eastwood give his character an edge and has his character grew, then so too did Fleming's character ossify. This was partly because Eastwood was becoming more and more popular with younger viewers, but largely because Fleming was growing difficult - In his book Clint: The Life and Legend, author Patrick McGilligan stated that Fleming was a torturous actor - all slow burns and rolling eyebrows. He was stiff - Charles Larson, one of the regular writers, said that he was told to make Fleming's speeches short and Charles Marquis Warren, the show's creator called Fleming a miserable human being.

As the show went on then so Eastwood's character developed - initially Rowdy had been a gawky foil to Fleming's stronger paternal role but eventually Eastwood would dominate - his character carried entire episodes to himself, Incident of the Running Man or deliver a memorable monologue in Incident of the Promised Land. Incidentally the latter episode was directed by Ted Post who Eastwood would work with several times in his film career.

Eventually though Eastwood became tired of being associated with Rowdy Yates, feeling that he was ready for more mature roles. He was after all now in his thirties and still playing this perpetual kid character. A trip to Europe to film a cheap Italian backed western was just around the corner and the rest is history.



NEXT - THE FIRST AMERICAN BORN EASTWOOD