Happy Birthday To Dirty Harry!
Clint Eastwood turns 95 years old today…for me, his portrayal of “Dirty Harry” Callahan is his greatest work, but we could spend the entire day arguing that! You see, it’s impossible to rate his incredible career in front of and behind the camera…there is so much to choose from!
From his early roles in TV, he became a movie star by going to Italy for a “spaghetti western”, perhaps the most iconic of them all – and then built a career that has spanned 7 decades…
I have posted many stories about Eastwood, but let’s look back at some of his greatest films as we celebrate this day!
The Man With No Name! “A Fistful Of Dollars”
His first iconic character, from the “spaghetti western” that made him a star!
As the terrific website The Guardian noted about this breakout film:
“Hitherto best known as Rowdy Yates from TV’s Rawhide, Eastwood took a risk in playing a poncho-clad anti-hero, The Man With No Name, in a low-budget Italian production with a Morricone score. The gamble paid off. Director Sergio Leone’s unauthorised remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (itself a reworking of Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest) gave birth to the spaghetti western subgenre. And a screen icon was born.”
Perhaps one of the most important westerns ever made! My blogging friend shared the film’s iconic theme song and it’s a timeless classic!
Hear the theme and get more great info here:
Eastwood starred in westerns, acton films, comedies and dramas…always mixing it up a bit – but this is one of my favorite films of his:
“Thunderbolt And Lightfoot”
Michael Cimino made his directing debut with this action film set in rural Montana. Eastwood plays a fugitive bank robber who teams up with Jeff Bridges’ cocky young drifter. The Guardian called it a “knockabout comedy rubs shoulders with brutal violence, new Hollywood-style, as a getaway goes horribly wrong and the typically 1970s ending is a heartbreaker.”
An unbelievably great “buddy” film from the early 70’s with an Oscar nominated performance by Jeff Bridges!
See more about it here!
“The Beguiled”
1971 was a watershed year for Eastwood. He starred in 3 classic films in that single year – one of which he directed! In Director Don Siegel’s unnerving southern gothic thriller (remade in 2017 by Sofia Coppola), he plays a wounded Yankee soldier trapped in an all girls’ school in rural Mississippi, where his attempts to manipulate the women’s emotions only result in him being systematically unmanned.
He collaborated again that year with Don Siegel in this next film, Clint’s directorial debut!
“Play Misty For Me”
Eastwood made his directing debut in 1971 with this tight psychological thriller. Clint plays a laidback DJ who picks the wrong fan to sleep with…Siegel plays a bartender in the film, and clearly was there to help Eastwood navigate the Director’s chair…Jessica Walters plays the fan who sleeps with him, then obsesses about him, which leads to jealousy, stalking and scissor attacks. Filmed in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where, from 1986 to 1988, Clint was mayor!
The third film from that year is my all-time favorite of his:
“Dirty Harry”
This is a flawless film. Don Siegel directed Eastwood, who plays the San Francisco Detective “Dirty Harry” Callahan, who takes every dirty job no one else wants…this film contains what is Eastwood’s most famous monologue:
What a classic moment – and the way the scenes resolves itself is more fun every time I watch it! Here is the film’s trailer:
Harry has to try and stop a psychopathic killer from striking again…any way he can. The film was quite controversial when released because it was a time of protests against police brutality, and Harry’s approach upset some audiences. Still, a brilliant thriller, and one of three GREAT films in a single year!
See much more about this triple play of classic films here!
Eastwood wasn’t afraid to turn his persona upside down, as he did this in this classic police thriller:
“Tightrope”
Eastwood made four sequels to “Dirty Harry”, and when you watch this trailer, you could think he’s playing the iconic cop again:
It’s a different kind of darkness that the Actor exudes here, however, as The Guardian noted in their review:
“Richard Tuggle gets the credit, but Eastwood allegedly ended up directing most of this underrated thriller himself. In one of his most fearlessly uningratiating performances, he subverts his own macho persona as New Orleans cop Wes Block, whose sexual kinks are uncomfortably similar to those of the serial murderer his department is hunting.”
I loved this film because he was unafraid to look beneath the surface of lust and desire, something not shown in the Dirty Harry films….here’s another great action thriller:.
“In The Line Of Fire”
The Guardian has a perfect summation of this film as well:
“Eastwood never balked at acting his age, and visibly gets short of breath as a veteran Secret Service agent, still depressed by his failure to protect JFK, who is forced into a battle of wits against John Malkovich. Smart directing from Wolfgang Petersen lifts this into almost-classic thriller territory.”
This action thriller is beautifully directed and acted…and holds up to this day!
Eastwood made a lot of westerns, like “Hang ’em High”, “High Plains Drifter” and this classic:
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The final part of Director Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” Trilogy added Eli Wallach as comic foil to the great pairing of Eastwood and veteran character Actor Lee Van Cleef, who starred together in the “Fistful Of Dollars” sequel called “For a Few Dollars More” (1965). All three Actors have a blast playing scumbags on the trail of buried treasure, set against an epic American civil war backdrop. The squinty showdown in the cemetery, choreographed to Morricone’s score, is peak cinema.
This is a masterpiece. Check out the trailer:
“Unforgiven”
Eastwood won his first Oscar for Best Picture for this 1992 western.
Eastwood stars as William Munny, a widowed pig-farmer who thinks his bounty hunting days are over (“I ain’t like that any more”) until he hears about a $1,000 reward on the heads of men who slashed a sex worker’s face. But first he has to get past Sheriff Gene Hackman.
The late, great Gene Hackman won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Eastwood won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director as well. It’s the story of violence, of aging, and coming to grips with mortality…a beautiful film.
So many films, and Eastwood continues to direct movies.
Clint had a new film last November – with a VERY controversial release – or lack of one:
What Happened To Clint Eastwood’s New Movie?
Wait, you didn’t know there WAS a new Clint Eastwood film? That’s because the studio behind it buried it!
It took a media uproar to shame Warner Brothers into releasing the film in theaters near the end of 2024…where it received terrific reviews and did great box office when people could find the film…why did they try to bury it?
I covered the story here:
Happy Birthday Clint!
So there eyou have it, an iconic Actor and terrific Director – remember he also won the Best Picture Oscar for this film as well:
“Million Dollar Baby” is just another great piece of work by Eastwood. Time to celebrate his life and his films!
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Categories: 70's Cinema, Academy Awards, Action Films, Art, Comedy Movies, Cult Movies, Film Fight Club, Film Noir, Great Films, Hollywood, Movies, Pop Culture, Revenge Movies, Talent/Celebrities
johnrieber 
Great movies, and one terrific actor.
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Very enjoyable buffet of classic Eastwood! Great stuff, John!
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I liked him in all types of films, but his western roles were always the best to me.
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I love westerns and his were classics to be sure!
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Another Gemini – I am nine days down the track with an ‘0’ BD kinda close to his – refuse to believe that 🙂 !!! I grew up going to the movies with my parents on Saturday nights . . . double features in those days and Clint Eastwood was oft on the agenda. My military lawyer father actually liked him because he normally stood up as the ‘good guy’ . . . I ‘put up’ with the films ’cause they were there ) ! Actually methinks I paid more attention to him when he went into politics in California and also as a director . . . thanks for the memories . . .
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Happy birthday to Clint! Great choices of some of his movies. I’ve loved them all each in a different way.
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My loate father would not miss a film….the same with Wayne….the only one that truly liked was Josie Wells. chuq
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A wonderful overview of Clint Eastwood amazing career. I loved Dirty Harry and his westerns.
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Thank you!
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That’s a great tribute, John. Let’s hope he makes it to 100! My favourite of his westerns is ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’, and the first ‘Dirty Harry’ film takes some beating for a non-western role.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Incredible talent! They are playing back to back Clint Eastwood movies on the Spanish channel hubby is watching today.
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