Had anyone said to me in the 1970s that Clint Eastwood would in time become one of the finest and most important American directors in modern cinema, I would have laughed — quite loudly — in their collective faces.
The star of “Dirty Harry” and “Every Which But Loose?” The guy who shares the screen with apes? Are you kidding??? Yet here we are, 37 years after he first pulled that 44-Magnum (“The most powerful hand gun in the world”), and things have changed. He has won four Academy Awards — two as director, two as producer. He has been nominated for each on two other occasions and has two Best Actor nominations to his credit as well. He has twice been honored by the Directors Guild of America for and won countless critics awards.
Eastwood is indeed among the filmmaking elite. And with the upcoming releases of “Changeling” and “Gran Torino,” he looks primed to flirt with the film awards season yet again.
While researching my book “Clint Eastwood: Evolution of a Filmmaker,” my respect and admiration for the man has grown considerably. Obviously there was a great deal of admiration to start, otherwise I wouldn’t even begin a bhook on the subject. But leanring more and more about Eastwood and his work has, understandably, taken things up a level.
Eastwood challenges himself each time he makes a film. His choices to act in films such as “Any Which Way You Can” were driven by the fact that he knew the studio would then finance a personal project such as “Bronco Billy.” What really astounds me, though, is his growth as an actor through the years.