senses of cinema

Filed under Great Directors in Issue 28

Clint Eastwood

by Deborah Allison

Deborah Allison is a London-based cinema programmer. She holds a doctorate in FilmStudies from the University of East Anglia and her writing has appeared in more than a dozenbooks and journals including Film Criticism, Film Quarterly, Film International, Screen,Scope and The Schirmer Encyclopaedia of Film.

b. Clinton Eastwood Jrb. May 31, 1930, San Francisco, California, USA

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Over the past three decades Clint Eastwood has been responsible for directing a varied rangeof films that have garnered both popular and critical acclaim. Moreover, through theformation of his own production company, he has exercised a considerable control over astring of other projects. Probably best known as an actor, he has appeared in 55 films to dateand has regularly held the title of number one US box office star. His persona as a laconicanti-establishment icon was cemented early in his career, through his starring roles in AFistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964), For a Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone, 1965) and TheGood the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966). By the early 1970s he was already seekingout more challenging parts in films such as The Beguiled (Don Siegel, 1971) that allowed himto extend his star persona, maintaining some of its most popular features whilst shying awayfrom a relegation to stereotype.

Eastwood started directing just a few years after making his name as a movie star, althoughhis presence as an actor in the majority of these early projects tended to eclipse his directorialachievements. Nevertheless, by the mid-1970s he was already starting to be recognised as a

talented director with a consistent and idiosyncratic style. This critical recognition wasenhanced by his movement away from genre pictures, as he showed instead an increasingpredilection for less commercial projects such as Bird (1988) and White Hunter, Black Heart(1990). His position as one of Americas most respected directors was cemented by his receiptof an Oscar for directing Unforgiven (1992), which received widespread critical approbationas well as achieving his highest box office as either a director or a star.

Less acknowledged than Eastwoods work as an actor and director is his role as a successfulproducer, overshadowed perhaps by his other roles, since to date he has produced only onefilm that he did not appear in or direct: The Stars Fell on Henrietta (James Keach, 1995).Nonetheless, an evaluation of Eastwoods work as a director is hard to separate entirely fromhis position as a producer of many of those films. Whether Eastwood accepted a producercredit or not, each of them was made under the umbrella of Malpaso, the production companythat Eastwood formed in 1968, which has helped him to satisfy his drive to govern everycreative aspect of the films with which he has been involved. This control has ranged fromselecting and developing scripts to the approval of casting and choice of crew, including thedirector where he has not assumed this role himself.

Eastwood first entered the film industry in the mid-1950s, appearing as a bit part actor inseveral undistinguished films. His big break as an actor came in 1957 when he took on the roleof Rowdy Yates in the TV series Rawhide, in which he appeared throughout its seven year runthat commenced with the first broadcast in January 1958. It was during this period that hedeveloped an interest in directing. Having taken the opportunity to learn the business byobserving the extensive team of directors working on the series, he was lined up to direct anepisode himself, but the plug was pulled by the CBS network after a directorial botch job by anactor working on another series (1). The Dollars Westerns he starred in for Sergio Leone werefilmed during Rawhides summer breaks, and gave Eastwood the opportunity to observe thework of a director who proved influential on both his star image and directorial style. The USrelease of these films was delayed for reasons of copyright A Fistful of Dollars wasessentially an unauthorised remake of Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961) but their appearancein the USA in 196768 established his domestic reputation as a film star of note.

Eastwoods first starring role in America was in Hang em High (Ted Post, 1968), a Westernthat derived its style explicitly from the Leone films. The director was selected personally by

Eastwood, who had worked with Post on episodes of Rawhide. This coproduction betweenMalpaso and United Artists was just the first of Eastwoods many filmic collaborations withex-Rawhide crew. His next film, Coogans Bluff (Don Siegel, 1968), represented a significantmoment in the movement towards his subsequent career as a director. It was the first of fivefilms directed by Don Siegel in which he was to appear, and these collaborations helped toshape the development of Eastwoods own directorial style and practice. His debut as adirector came with Play Misty for Me (1971), in which he gave Siegel his first acting role, as away of thanking the director for sponsoring his application for membership of the DirectorsGuild. After Play Misty, he continued to appear in films directed by others, in addition topursuing a string of directorial projects himself. As he became more secure in his owncapabilities, Eastwood tended to hire only directors who would defer to his wishes. Thistendency was compounded by his disagreements with Philip Kaufman, the original director hefired from the set of The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). Later he was to wrest directorial controlof Tightrope (1984) away from Richard Tuggle, although Tuggles name remained on thecredits as, by then, the Directors Guild had instated the Eastwood rule which prohibitedactors from firing directors and taking over themselves (2). In more recent years his careerhas been characterised by a growing tendency to direct and it is now a full decade since he hasperformed for another director in In the Line of Fire (Wolfgang Peterson, 1993). Although hecontinues to combine the roles of director, producer and star, most recently appearing inBlood Work (2002), he increasingly eschews starring roles in favour of directorial work, andhis latest release, Mystic River (2003), is the fourth film for which he has remained entirelybehind the camera.

One of the most characteristic features of Eastwoods films as a director is a stylistic economyborne out of the production process. This is symptomatic of the ethos of the MalpasoCompany, which has itself been shaped by the history of Eastwoods career prior to hisemergence as a director. His experiences working in television had schooled him in working totight budgets and deadlines, and his involvement in the Dollars westerns had shown him thateconomical modes of production could be translated into successful feature films. He alsoadopted many of the working practices of his mentor Don Siegel, praising in particular theorganised way in which [Siegel] prepares for production and his economy in shooting (3).Robert Daley, a producer for Malpaso, describes a company policy whereby only accuratelyand tightly budgeted screenplays would be bought. Pre-sold packages would be avoided, aswould screenplays which involved too much spectacle and special effects. Location filmingwould be favoured over studio work (4).

In addition to these features, Malpaso films are characterised by the collaborative nature oftheir production. That auteur crap is exactly that, Eastwood has stated. Its an ensemble:fifty, forty, twenty or however big your crew is guys all working together (5). When I

went into directing, he says, I brought to it the philosophy that a director needs a lean,creative, hand-picked crew large enough to do the job but small enough so that everyone hasa sense of participation and constant involvement (6). Although keeping few on permanentsalary, Malpaso productions have often used the same cast and crew in many projects. Someof these, such as director Ted Post, first worked with Eastwood on Rawhide. Others werebequeathed him by Don Siegel, such as the stunt man Buddy Van Horn, who wouldsubsequently direct Eastwood in Any Which Way You Can (1980), The Dead Pool (1988) andPink Cadillac (1989), and the cinematographer Bruce Surtees, The Prince of Darkness,whose own distinctive style has made an enormous contribution to the look of Eastwoodsdirectorial works. Ferris Webster, Eastwoods regular editor until the early 1980s, when therole was assumed by his assistant Joel Cox, first worked with him on Joe Kidd (John Sturges,1972). This was also Eastwoods first contact with James Fargo, who was one of Eastwoodsregular assistant directors and took the directors chair himself for The Enforcer (1976) andEvery Which Way But Loose (1978). Readings of Malpaso as a family endeavour were laterliteralised in Eastwoods casting of his own children in several films, including Kyle inHonkytonk Man (1982), Alison in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) andFrancesca in True Crime (1999). He was also notorious for providing girlfriends with actingroles, seen especially in the series of collaborations with long-time partner Sondra Locke,which resulted in The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Gauntlet (1977), Bronco Billy (1980) andSudden Impact (1983), as well as two further films in which he starred but did not direct,Every Which Way But Loose and Any Which Way You Can.

If economical production values are a pivotal feature of the films Clint Eastwood has directed,there are also many other shared properties that characterise his work as a director, some ofthem stylistic, others based upon a proclivity towards certain themes and characters. Everypicture takes on its own style, claims Eastwood. I get into the film and then I get the look ofit as it comes, rather than having a constant style that goes through each film, putting a markon it (7). His visual style has indeed shown variations, tailored to create the appropriatetenor for each work, and also evincing some signs of a linear development across his career.His first film, Play Misty For Me, established many of the features that critics came to read ascharacteristic of his style, such as hand-held camerawork, tracking shots, aerial photography,and low camera placement when filming actors. The juddering hand-held camera provedespecially effective for moments that combined physical and emotional tension, such as thespontaneously violent outbursts of Evelyn Draper (Jessica Walter), the one-night-stand-from-hell who assumes the persona of a crazed stalker wreaking devastation on the life of Carmeldisc jockey Dave Garland (Eastwood). Like Siegel, Eastwood has always been effective in hisfilming of violent action scenes, preferring to move the camera into the heart of the skirmish,capturing its intensity with a furious montage of fragmented bodies and barely-glimpsedweaponry.

Play Misty also heralded Eastwoods ongoing predilection for a style of location shooting inwhich the landscape itself became an important player in the film. Set in his hometown ofCarmel, California, the opening sequence shows Dave driving along the coast that featuresrepeatedly through the film. The lengthy romantic scene with his girlfriend Tobie (DonnaMills) also takes place out of doors, traversing beaches, woodlands and meadows to theaccompaniment of Roberta Flacks now classic song, The First Time I Saw Your Face.Eastwood has attributed his penchant for working in realistic, authentic backgrounds to hisexperiences of location shooting in Europe, especially, one assumes, on the Leone Westerns(8).

Eastwoods next film as a director, High Plains Drifter (1973), showed significant changes inthe way that location shooting was used. Although shot out of doors, the set of a Western townwas constructed specifically for the picture (and burned down for the end of it). This film doesnot attempt the naturalism to which Play Misty aspired, opting instead for schematicstylisation and what several critics have seen as operatic exaggeration. In this respect, morethan any of Eastwoods other directorial works it manifests the influence of Leone. By the timehe directed his next Western, The Outlaw Josey Wales, three years later, he had already shedmost of the Leone mannerisms and, bar occasional moments of stylistic flourish, opted for amore self-effacing style.

Josey Wales represents another defining moment in the development of Eastwoodsdirectorial style. Although it was not the first of his films to use Bruce Surtees ascinematographer, it was the first in which he fully harnessed Surtees capability to assemble atablature out of richly textured shades of darkness, faces shadowed by backlighting even inthe height of day. Eastwood conceived of the lighting effects as playing as much a part in themovie as the natural landscape, shifting its tonalities in accord with the development of thenarrative and characters. Surtees dusky cinematography came to dominate the visual style ofEastwoods films as a director, persisting years after the role of cinematographer was passedon to Surtees former camera operator Jack Green who acted in this capacity on every filmfrom Heartbreak Ridge (1986) through to True Crime. Reviewing Heartbreak Ridge, RichardCombs found fault with the ubiquity of this style, arguing that, Eastwoods recent films haveclosed around him with a stylistic heaviness, a sombreness [acquiring] a peculiarlypenumbral look, even in broad daylight, suggestive of a twilight of the gods (9). Thisappearance is evidenced especially in some of the later character-focused pieces such as Bird,where the faces of an almost entirely black cast are sometimes barely visible in the shadowyenclaves of the night-time sets, and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which iscomposed almost wholly in shades of brown.

The mise en scne is not the only distinctive formal attribute of Eastwoods directorial work.Perhaps more than anything the tone of his films is characterised by the tempo of the editing.If elements of his shooting style, such as the rapid cutting of action sequences, owe a greatdeal to Don Siegel, the dominant pace tends towards all the lazy grace of the characters forwhich Eastwood is best known as an actor. It is rare for Eastwood to bring in a film under twohours long, with Bird stretching to 161 minutes and Midnight in the Garden not far behind.Eastwood characterises his style as a combination of pace and an eye for composition,although in recent years many critics have expressed concern that pace is exactly whatEastwoods films now lack (10). Certainly his more recent thrillers, such as True Crime and

Blood Work, proceed with a more languorous gait than did earlier films such as The Gauntlet,or even the critically panned Firefox (1982). Interpreted by several reviewers as a throwbackto a far older style of filmmaking, Blood Work inspired critic Kenneth Turan to muse, Youdont know whether to admire the films stately nature and call it classicism or be exasperatedby a noticeable lack of pace (11).

Other defining features of Eastwoods work hinge upon the repetition and variation of themesand characters. Some of these are borne out of the ways in which he has consciouslydeveloped and subverted his own already-existing star image, a persona he has used withsome considerable irony when directing himself. Others, such as his preoccupation withAmerican cultural identity, have been read by some critics as arising from elements of his ownautobiography, as well as from his cinematic upbringing in the intrinsically American genresof the Western and the urban cop film.

Whatever its origin, it is hard to ignore an obsession with characters that fight to achieve, invarious ways, the American Dream of material success coupled with self-actualisation,occasionally failing but generally succeeding against all the odds. One of Eastwoods mostimportant and celebrated starring roles, as the eponymous Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, 1971),crystallised a persona where Harry is represented as crusading for the rights and values of thecommon man, in the face of a corrupt bureaucratic system on the one hand and on the other apsychotic killer preying on victims emblematic of societal fragility.

In Eastwoods own directorial work the theme of the triumphant underdog is perhaps mostclearly expressed in The Gauntlet. There he plays long-time cop Ben Shockley who is given thetask of bringing trial witness Gus Mally (Sondra Locke) from Las Vegas to Phoenix, where sheis due to testify in a high profile trial. With both the mob and the police attempting to killthem, and a betting line running odds of 100-1 against their arrival, Shockley struggles toaccept that his own police force is corrupt. Mally finally makes him understand that thereason he was chosen for the assignment has nothing to do with his regular boast of I get thejob done, bellowing at him:

They dont want the job done! They sent you because youre a bum. If they waste you,nobody not a fucking soul is going to give a rats ass! Youre a nobody, Shockley. Anothing. Youre just a faded number on a rusty badge, and youve been set up by yourown people to take the fall with me. Wake up, for chrissake! At least that way, when thebullets hit you, youll know where they came from!

In this film, as elsewhere, the Eastwood character combines a drive to make a usefulcontribution to society whilst proving to himself, if not others, that he has a personal worth.Through this character the director explores both the personal weaknesses that underlie thefacade of control and the inner resources that pull him through the blackest moments. In his

next directorial project, Bronco Billy, Eastwood cast himself as an ex-shoe salesman whoreinvents himself as the fastest gun in the West, a fancily kitted-out cowboy who toursround with his very own Wild West show. One of the messages the film offered was that youcan be whoever you want to be. Eastwoods work, and his star persona, are intimatelyinvolved with his national culture, writes Edward Gallafent. He dramatises the fantasies ofrepresentative Americans (or considers the conditions in which these fantasies are able toexist) (12). It is arguable whether any of Eastwoods films have epitomised this project soprecisely as Bronco Billy.

Honkytonk Man was to provide the dark side of this vision, as the drunkard Red Stovall(Eastwood) journeys across Depression era America in order to perform his country andwestern music at the Grand Ole Opry, dying of tuberculosis whilst in the very act of cutting therecord that will make his name. The film exemplifies Richard Schickels argument that, Inmany of his best films he has explored the various ways that a man can fail to do what a mansgot to do, showing how through his sexual arrogance, self-absorption, self-destructiveness,pride, perversity and even stupidity, he can fail, or come perilously close to failing, thisprimary obligation of the screen hero (13). Honkytonk Man made little impact on the boxoffice, achieving one of Eastwoods lowest draws to date and yet it stands, along with BroncoBilly, as one of the directors personal favourites.

Eastwoods exploration of such themes has not been limited to a development of his own starimage. In later years he was to direct other leading actors, as well as himself, in complex andchallenging roles that are haunted by the ghost of Red Stovall. In 1988 he filmed Bird, whichwas based on the life of jazz musician Charlie Parker. In it he explores the ways in whichParker (played by Forest Whitaker), both a dazzling artist and long-term junkie, wasdestroyed by his own demons and the very addiction that helped to fuel his unparalleledcreativity. This film provided the opportunity for Eastwood to explore both the conditionsunder which the artist functions and to further his own long-time relationship with anotherform of indigenously American music.

The theme of the artist as maverick assumed a particular resonance with his next directorialproject, White Hunter, Black Heart. Based on Peter Viertels roman clef about the makingof The African Queen (John Huston, 1951), it starred Eastwood as director John Wilson(Huston disguised in name only). Set on location in Africa, it showed the way that Wilsonsobsession with hunting and killing an elephant came close to demolishing the whole filmproject as well as Wilson himself. Paul Smith writes that:

Eastwoods turn here is primarily back to old Hollywood, to its tradition and historyas they are displayed in the figure of Huston, a grand old master of the sort thatEastwood has been encouraged now to deem himself. That is not to say that the film isautobiographical in any sense, but it does draw on the established image of Huston asauteur to consolidate that of Eastwood as auteur it addresses directly some of theissues that arise around the question of the auteurs freedom and his responsibilitytoward his work and his audience (14).

Furthermore, Richard Schickels description of the film as a clear-cut and devastatingcomment on the hollowness of macho posturing highlights its role as a remarkable inquiryinto the ways in which men try to create a personal meaningfulness for themselves in a societyin which they fail to fit (15). A Perfect World (1993) took this theme further. It centred onButch Haynes (Kevin Costner), an escaped convict who finds personal redemption through hisrelationship with a young boy he has taken on the run with him. A film of innocence andexperience, it shows how Butch guides Phillip (T. J. Lowther) in his first steps to becoming aman, but sacrifices his own life in doing so.

In putting under scrutiny the macho images of his leading characters, Eastwoods films as adirector also evince a movement towards a remarkable moral complexity. If High PlainsDrifter, his second directorial work, positioned its lead character in a mythic role that showedlittle sign of authentic human frailty, his other films have moved away from the archetype firstadopted as an actor in the Dollars westerns. The moral complexity of the lead charactersfrequently stems from a dialogue between their actions and those of others, especially figuresof authority. Authority figures, be they politicians, high ranking army officials, police chiefs orother imperators, are often presented as unambiguously corrupt, and yet it is implied that theinstitutions they represent are the adulterated result of utilitarian efforts. This calls intoquestion whether it is more moral for Eastwoods protagonists to combat the systemsthemselves or work within them in order to point the way forward towards their eventualredemption.

If the leading roles are the focal points of issues of masculinity, morality and personalfreedoms, it must nonetheless be acknowledged that one of the features of Eastwoodsdirectorial work, and Malpaso productions more generally, is the strength of the supportingcast. Strong female characters feature regularly, perhaps best epitomised by Sondra Lockesroles in The Gauntlet and Sudden Impact. The latter is the fourth film of the Dirty Harryfranchise, and the first that Eastwood directed himself. In it, Jennifer Spencer (Locke)engages in the systematic assassination of a gang that raped her and her sister. Unlike theearlier Dirty Harry films, the movie is structured with a great sensitivity to the killers cause,so that Harry (Eastwood) ultimately condones and assists with her project. The minorcharacters that populate the films also add a richness to their fabric, and familiar faces oftenrecur. The presence of Geoffrey Lewis, for instance, graced three films directed by Eastwood,and a further three in which Eastwood starred, a relationship spanning from High PlainsDrifter in 1972 to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in 1997.

The dominant movement in Eastwoods career as a director has been towards a focus oncharacters and interpersonal relationships, deepening an investigative project begun manyyears before. This is partly rooted in his exploration of acting roles suited to his own ageingself, and yet he has not entirely pulled away from roles that centre significantly upon physicalaction. Nevertheless, if Space Cowboys (2000) was Eastwoods successful gesture towards

attracting a new generation of younger film viewers, the commercial success of The Bridges ofMadison County (1995) demonstrated that in todays youth-oriented market, an audience canstill be found for old-fashioned classically constructed dramas focused upon mature themesand characters. His increasing appeal to older cinemagoers can be seen as symptomatic of hisgrowing desire to adopt the persona of respected auteur. Whilst his films of recent years havemade few gestures towards contemporary filmmaking fashions, the positioning of his workwithin an older Hollywood tradition confers what now seems a startling singularity. Anyperceptions of anachronism should give scant cause for concern when, as Geoff Andrew haswritten of the forthcoming Mystic River, the sheer classical elegance of Eastwoods directionis a delight to behold (16).

FilmographyAs director:

Play Misty For Me (1971) also actor

High Plains Drifter (1973) also actor

Breezy (1973)

The Eiger Sanction (1975) also actor

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) also actor

The Gauntlet (1977) also actor

Bronco Billy (1980) also actor

Firefox (1982) also actor and producer

Honkytonk Man (1982) also actor and producer

Sudden Impact (1983) also actor and producer

Tightrope (1984) also actor and producer; n.b. Richard Tuggle is the credited director

Pale Rider (1985); also actor and producer

Vanessa in the Garden (1985) 25 minute episode of TV series Amazing Stories

Heartbreak Ridge (1986) also actor and producer

Bird (1988) also producer

White Hunter, Black Heart (1990) also actor and producer

The Rookie (1990) also actor

Unforgiven (1992) also actor, producer and composer

A Perfect World (1993) also actor, producer and composer

The Bridges of Madison County (1995) also actor, producer and composer

Absolute Power (1997) also actor, producer and composer

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) also producer

True Crime (1999) also actor and producer

Space Cowboys (2000) also actor, producer and composer

Blood Work (2002) also actor and producer

Mystic River (2003) also producer and composer

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

As actor only:

Revenge of the Creature (Jack Arnold, 1955)

Francis in the Navy (Arthur Lubin, 1955)

Lady Godiva (Arthur Lubin, 1955)

Tarantula! (Jack Arnold, 1955)

Never Say Goodbye (Jerry Hopper, 1956)

Away All Boats (Joseph Pevney, 1956)

The First Travelling Saleslady (Arthur Lubin, 1956)

Star in the Dust (Charles Haas, 1956)

Escapade in Japan (Arthur Lubin, 1957)

Lafayette Escadrille (William A. Wellmann, 1958)

Ambush at Cimarron Pass (Jodie Copeland, 1958)

Per un pugno di dollari (A Fistful of Dollars) (Sergio Leone, 1964)

Per qualche dollaro in pi (For a Few Dollars More) (Sergio Leone, 1965)

Il buono, it britto, il cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) (Sergio Leone, 1966)

Le streghe (The Witches) (Vittorio de Sica, 1967)

Hang em High (Ted Post, 1968)

Coogans Bluff (Don Siegel, 1968)

Where Eagles Dare (Brian G. Hutton, 1968)

Paint Your Wagon (Joshua Logan, 1969)

Kellys Heroes (Brian G. Hutton, 1970)

Two Mules for Sister Sara (Don Siegel, 1970)

The Beguiled (Don Siegel, 1971)

Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, 1971)

Joe Kidd (John Sturges, 1972)

Magnum Force (Ted Post, 1973)

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (Michael Cimino, 1974)

The Enforcer (James Fargo, 1976)

Every Which Way But Loose (James Fargo, 1978)

Escape From Alcatraz (Don Siegel, 1979)

Any Which Way You Can (Buddy Van Horn, 1980)

City Heat (Richard Benjamin, 1984)

The Dead Pool (Buddy Van Horn, 1988)

Pink Cadillac (Buddy Van Horn, 1989)

In The Line of Fire (Wolfgang Peterson, 1993)

Other credits:

Thelonius Monk: Straight No Chaser (Charlotte Zwerin, 1988) executive producer

The Stars Fell on Henrietta (James Keach, 1995) producer

BibliographyPatrick Agan, Clint Eastwood: The Man Behind the Myth, London, Robert Hale, 1975.

Gerald Cole and Peter Williams, Clint Eastwood, London, W H Allen, 1983.

Peter Douglas, Clint Eastwood: Movin On, London, W H Allen & Co, 1975.

David Downing and Gary Herman, Clint Eastwood: All-American Anti-Hero, London/NewYork/Cologne/Sydney, Omnibus Press, 1977.

Christopher Frayling, Clint Eastwood, London, Virgin Publishing, 1992.

Edward Gallafent, Clint Eastwood: Actor and Director, London, Studio Vista, 1994.

Franois Gurif, Clint Eastwood, London, Roger Houghton, 1986.

Robert E. Kapsis and Kathie Coblentz (eds), Clint Eastwood: Interviews, Jackson, UniversityPress of Mississippi, 1999.

Bob McCabe, Clint Eastwood: Quote Unquote, Bristol, Parragon Book Service, 1996.

Patrick McGilligan, Clint: The Life and Legend, London, Harper Collins, 1999.

Michael Munn, Clint Eastwood: Hollywoods Loner, London, Robson Books, 1992.

Daniel OBrien, Clint Eastwood: Film-Maker, London, BT Batsford, 1996.

Richard Schickel, Clint Eastwood: A Biography, London, Jonathan Cape, 1996.

Don Siegel, A Siegel Film, London, Faber & Faber, 1993.

Paul Smith, Clint Eastwood: A Cultural Production, Minneapolis, University of MinnesotaPress, 1993.

Robert Tanitch, Clint Eastwood, London, Studio Vista, 1995.

Mark Whitman, The Films of Clint Eastwood, New York, Beaufort Books, 1982.

A detailed bibliography can be found in Richard Schickels official biography of Eastwood.

Articles in Senses of CinemaWe all have it coming, Kid: Clint Eastwood and the Dying of the Light by TimGroves

Andromeda Heights by Christopher Huber

It Came from the Mystic by Carloss James Chamberlin

On Hells Hero Coming to Breakfast: Clint Eastwood and The Outlaw JoseyWales by Karli Lukas

Web ResourcesClint Eastwood.netHigh quality tribute site with lots of useful information and links

Starpulse.comContains links to a wide range of other sites.

Clint EastwoodIncludes box office data and links.

FIlm Directors Articles on the InternetSeveral online articles can be found here.

Clint Eastwood The Photograph GalleryA large selection of Eastwood images.

Click here to search for Clint Eastwood DVDs, videos and books at

Endnotes1. Christopher Frayling, Clint Eastwood, London, Virgin Publishing, 1992, p. 51.

2. Richard Schickel, Clint Eastwood: A Biography, London, Jonathan Cape, 1996, p. 391.

3. Peter Douglas, Clint Eastwood: Movin On, London, W H Allen & Co, 1975, p. 116.

4. Frayling, p. 84.

5. Frayling, p. 82.

6. Douglas, p. 111.

7. Robert E. Kapsis and Kathie Coblentz (eds), Clint Eastwood: Interviews, Jackson, University

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Press of Mississippi, 1999, p. 54.

8. Douglas, p. 112.

9. Frayling, p. 126.

10. Kapsis & Coblentz, p, 90.

11. Kenneth Turan, Classic Clint: Blood, Sweat and Golden Years, LA Times, August 9, 2002,http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-kenny9aug09.story accessed June 28,2003.

12. Edward Gallafent, Clint Eastwood: Actor and Director, London, Studio Vista, 1994, p. 8.

13. Schickel, p. 496.

14. Paul Smith, Clint Eastwood: A Cultural Production, Minneapolis, University of MinnesotaPress, 1993, p. 261.

15. Schickel, p. 446.

16. Geoff Andrew on Mystic River in Cannes 2003: not so terrible, Sight and Sound, July 2003, p.16.

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