Main article: Clint Eastwood in the 1960s
In late 1963, Eastwood's co-star on Rawhide, Eric Fleming, rejected an offer to star in an Italian-made western called A Fistful of Dollars, to be directed in a remote region of Spain by the then relatively unknown Sergio Leone.[59] Richard Harrison
suggested Eastwood to Leone because Harrison knew Eastwood could play a
cowboy convincingly. Eastwood thought the film would be an opportunity
to escape from his Rawhide image. Eastwood signed a contract for $15,000 in wages for eleven weeks' work, with a bonus of a Mercedes automobile upon completion.[60][61] Eastwood later spoke of the transition from a television western to A Fistful of Dollars: "In Rawhide
I did get awfully tired of playing the conventional white hat. The hero
who kisses old ladies and dogs and was kind to everybody. I decided it
was time to be an anti-hero."[62] Eastwood was instrumental in creating the Man with No Name
character's distinctive visual style and, although a non-smoker, Leone
insisted Eastwood smoke cigars as an essential ingredient of the "mask"
he was attempting to create for the loner character.[63]
As the Man with No Name in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
In January 1966, Eastwood met producer Dino De Laurentiis in New York City and agreed to star in a non-Western five-part anthology production named Le Streghe ("The Witches") opposite De Laurentiis' wife, actress Silvana Mangano.[66] Eastwood's nineteen-minute installment took only a few days to shoot, but his performance did not please the critics, one writing that "no other performance of his is quite so 'un-Clintlike'."[67] Two months later Eastwood began work on the third Dollars film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, again playing the mysterious Man with No Name. Lee Van Cleef returned as a ruthless fortune seeker, with Eli Wallach portraying the cunning Mexican bandit Tuco Ramirez. The storyline involved the search for a cache of Confederate gold buried in a cemetery. During the filming of a scene in which a bridge was blown up, Eastwood urged Wallach to retreat to a hilltop. "I know about these things," he said. "Stay as far away from special effects and explosives as you can."[68] Minutes later confusion among the crew over the word "Vaya!" resulted in a premature explosion that could have killed Wallach.[68]
I wanted to play it with an economy of words and create this whole feeling through attitude and movement. It was just the kind of character I had envisioned for a long time, keep to the mystery and allude to what happened in the past. It came about after the frustration of doing Rawhide for so long. I felt the less he said, the stronger he became and the more he grew in the imagination of the audience.The Dollars trilogy was not released in the United States until 1967, when A Fistful of Dollars opened in January, followed by For a Few Dollars More in May, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on December 29, 1967.[70] All the films were commercially successful, particularly The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which eventually earned $8 million in rental earnings and turned Eastwood into a major film star.[70] All three films received bad reviews, and marked the beginning of a battle for Eastwood to win American film critics' respect.[71] Judith Crist described A Fistful of Dollars as "cheapjack,"[72] while Newsweek considered For a Few Dollars More as "excruciatingly dopey."[71] Renata Adler of The New York Times said The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was "...the most expensive, pious and repellent movie in the history of its peculiar genre."[73] Time magazine drew attention to the film's wooden acting, especially on the part of Eastwood, though a few critics such as Vincent Canby and Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised Eastwood's coolness in playing the tall, lone stranger.[74] Leone's cinematography was widely acclaimed, even by critics who disparaged the acting in the film.[71]
— Eastwood, on playing the Man with No Name character[69]
Stardom brought more roles for Eastwood. He signed to star in the American revisionist western Hang 'Em High (1968), featured alongside Inger Stevens, Pat Hingle, Dennis Hopper, Ed Begley, Alan Hale, Ben Johnson, Bruce Dern, and James MacArthur,[75] playing a man who takes up a Marshal's badge and seeks revenge as a lawman after being lynched by vigilantes and left for dead.[76] The film earned Eastwood a fee of $400,000 and 25 percent of its net box-office takings.[75] Using money earned from the Dollars trilogy, accountant and Eastwood advisor Irving Leonard helped establish Eastwood's own production company, Malpaso Productions, named after Malpaso Creek on Eastwood's property in Monterey County, California. Leonard arranged for Hang 'Em High to be a joint production with United Artists;[77] when it opened in July 1968, it had the largest opening weekend in United Artists' history. Hang 'Em High was widely praised by critics, including Archer Winsten of the New York Post, who described it as, "a western of quality, courage, danger and excitement."[20]
Before the release of Hang 'Em High, Eastwood had already begun working on Coogan's Bluff, about an Arizona deputy sheriff tracking a wanted psychopathic criminal (Don Stroud) through the streets of New York City. He was reunited with Universal Studios for it after receiving an offer of $1 million—more than double his previous salary.[78] Jennings Lang arranged for Eastwood to meet Don Siegel, a Universal contract director who later became Eastwood's close friend, forming a partnership that would last more than ten years and produce five films.[79] Shooting began in November 1967, before the script had been finalized.[80] The film was controversial for its portrayal of violence.[81][82] Coogan's Bluff also became the first collaboration with Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin, who would later compose the jazzy score to several Eastwood films in the 1970s and 1980s, including the Dirty Harry films.[citation needed]
Eastwood was paid $750,000 in 1968 for the war epic Where Eagles Dare,[83] about a World War II squad parachuting into a Gestapo stronghold in the alpine mountains. Richard Burton played the squad's commander, with Eastwood as his right-hand man. Eastwood was also cast as Two-Face in the Batman television show, but the series was canceled before filming began.[84]
Eastwood then branched out to star in the only musical of his career, Paint Your Wagon (1969). Eastwood and Lee Marvin play gold miners who buy a Mormon settler's less favored wife (Jean Seberg) at an auction. Bad weather and delays plagued the production, and the film's budget eventually exceeded $20 million, which was extremely expensive for the time.[85] The film was not a critical or commercial success, although it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.[86]
1970s
Main article: Clint Eastwood in the 1970s
In 1970, Eastwood starred with Shirley MacLaine in the western Two Mules for Sister Sara,
directed by Don Siegel. The film follows an American mercenary, who
gets mixed up with a prostitute disguised as a nun, and ends up helping a
group of Juarista rebels during the reign of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico.[87][88] Eastwood once again played a mysterious stranger—unshaven, wearing a serape-like vest, and smoking a cigar.[89] Although it received moderate reviews,[90][91][92] the film is listed in The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.[93]
Later the same year, Eastwood starred as one of a group of Americans
who steal a fortune in gold from the Nazis, in the World War II film Kelly's Heroes, with Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas. Kelly's Heroes was the last film Eastwood appeared in that was not produced by his own Malpaso Productions.[94] Filming commenced in July 1969 on location in Yugoslavia and in London.[95] The film received mostly a positive reception and its anti-war sentiments were recognized.[94] In the winter of 1969–70, Eastwood and Siegel began planning his next film, The Beguiled, a tale of a wounded Union soldier, held captive by the sexually repressed matron (played by Geraldine Page) of a Southern girls' school.[96] Upon release the film received major recognition in France and is considered one of Eastwood's finest works by the French.[97]
However, it grossed less than $1 million and, according to Eastwood and
Lang, flopped due to poor publicity and the "emasculated" role of
Eastwood.[98]Eastwood's career reached a turning point in 1971.[99] Before Irving Leonard died, he and Eastwood had discussed the idea of Malpaso producing Play Misty for Me, a film that was to give Eastwood the artistic control he desired, and his debut as a director.[100] The script was about a jazz disc jockey named Dave (Eastwood), who has a casual affair with Evelyn (Jessica Walter), a listener who had been calling the radio station repeatedly at night, asking him to play her favorite song – Erroll Garner's Misty. When Dave ends their relationship, the unhinged Evelyn becomes a murderous stalker.[101] Filming commenced in Monterey in September 1970 and included footage of that year's Monterey Jazz Festival.[102] The film was highly acclaimed with critics, such as Jay Cocks in Time magazine, Andrew Sarris in the Village Voice, and Archer Winsten in the New York Post all praising the film, as well as Eastwood's directorial skills and performance.[103] Walter was nominated for a Golden Globe Best Actress Award (Drama), for her performance in the film.[citation needed]
I know what you're thinking – "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But, being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do you, punk?Dirty Harry (1971), written by Harry and Rita Fink, centers on a hard-edged New York City (later changed to San Francisco) police inspector named Harry Callahan who is determined to stop a psychotic killer by any means.[104] Dirty Harry has been described as being arguably Eastwood's most memorable character, and the film has been credited with inventing the "loose-cannon cop" genre.[105][106] Author Eric Lichtenfeld argues that Eastwood's role as Dirty Harry established the "first true archetype" of the action film genre.[107] His lines (quoted right) are regarded by firearms historians, such as Garry James and Richard Venola, as the force that catapulted the ownership of .44 Magnum revolvers to new heights in the United States; specifically the Smith & Wesson Model 29 carried by Harry Callahan.[108][109] Dirty Harry achieved huge success after its release in December 1971, earning $22 million in the United States and Canada alone.[110] It was Siegel's highest-grossing film and the start of a series of films featuring the character Harry Callahan. Although a number of critics praised Eastwood's performance as Dirty Harry, such as Jay Cocks of Time magazine who described him as "...giving his best performance so far, tense, tough, full of implicit identification with his character,"[111] the film was also widely criticized as being fascistic.[112][113][114]
— Eastwood, in Dirty Harry
Following Sean Connery's announcement that he would not play James Bond again, Eastwood was offered the role but turned it down because he believed the character should be played by an English actor.[115] He next starred in the loner Western Joe Kidd (1972), based on a character inspired by Reies Lopez Tijerina, who stormed a courthouse in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico in June 1967. During filming, Eastwood suffered symptoms of a bronchial infection and several panic attacks.[116] Joe Kidd received a mixed reception, with Roger Greenspun of The New York Times writing that it was unremarkable, with foolish symbolism and sloppy editing, although he praised Eastwood's performance.[117]
In 1973, Eastwood directed his first western, High Plains Drifter, in which he also starred. The film had a moral and supernatural theme, later emulated in Pale Rider. The plot follows a mysterious stranger (Eastwood) who arrives in a brooding Western town where the people hire him to protect them against three soon-to-be-released felons. There remains confusion during the film as to whether the stranger is the brother of the deputy, whom the felons lynched and murdered, or his ghost. Holes in the plot were filled with black humor and allegory, influenced by Leone.[118] The revisionist film received a mixed reception, but was a major box office success. A number of critics thought Eastwood's directing was "as derivative as it was expressive," with Arthur Knight of the Saturday Review remarking that Eastwood had "...absorbed the approaches of Siegel and Leone and fused them with his own paranoid vision of society."[119] John Wayne, who had declined a role in the film, sent a letter to Eastwood soon after the film's release in which he complained that, "The townspeople did not represent the true spirit of the American pioneer, the spirit that made America great."[120]
Directing William Holden in Breezy (1973)
Once filming of Breezy had finished, Warners announced that Eastwood had agreed to reprise his role as Callahan in Magnum Force (1973), a sequel to Dirty Harry, about a group of rogue young officers (among them David Soul, Robert Urich and Tim Matheson) in the San Francisco Police Department who systematically exterminate the city's worst criminals.[123] Although the film was a major success after release, grossing $58.1 million in the United States (a record for Eastwood), it was not a critical success.[124][125] The New York Times critic Nora Sayre panned the often contradictory moral themes of the film, while the paper's Frank Rich called it "the same old stuff".[125]
In 1974, Eastwood teamed up with Jeff Bridges and George Kennedy in the buddy action caper Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, a road movie about a veteran bank robber Thunderbolt (Eastwood) and a young con man drifter, Lightfoot (Bridges). On its release, in spring 1974, the film was praised for its offbeat comedy mixed with high suspense and tragedy but was only a modest success at the box office, earning $32.4 million.[126] Eastwood's acting was noted by critics, but was overshadowed by Bridges who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Eastwood reportedly fumed at the lack of Academy Award recognition for him and swore that he would never work for United Artists again.[126][127]
Eastwood's next film The Eiger Sanction (1975) was based on Trevanian's critically acclaimed spy novel of the same name. Eastwood plays Jonathan Hemlock in a role originally intended for Paul Newman, an assassin turned college art professor who decides to return to his former profession for one last "sanction" in return for a rare Pissarro painting. In the process he must climb the north face of the Eiger in Switzerland under perilous conditions. Mike Hoover taught Eastwood how to climb during several weeks of preparation at Yosemite in the summer of 1974 before filming commenced in Grindelwald, Switzerland on August 12, 1974.[128][129] Despite prior warnings about the perils of the Eiger the film crew suffered a number of accidents, including one fatality.[130][131] Despite the danger, Eastwood insisted on doing all his own climbing and stunts. Upon release in May 1975 The Eiger Sanction was a commercial failure, receiving only $23.8 million at the box office, and was poorly received by most critics.[132] Joy Gould Boyum of the Wall Street Journal dismissed the film as "brutal fantasy".[132][133] Eastwood blamed Universal Studios for the film's poor promotion and turned his back on them to make an agreement with Warner Brothers, through Frank Wells, that has lasted to the present day.[134]
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), a western inspired by Asa Carter's 1972 novel of the same name,[135] has lead character Josey Wales (Eastwood) as a pro-Confederate guerilla who refuses to surrender his arms after the American Civil War and is chased across the old southwest by a group of enforcers. The supporting cast included Locke as his love interest and Chief Dan George as an elderly Cherokee who strikes up a friendship with Wales. Director Philip Kaufman was fired by producer Bob Daley under Eastwood's command, resulting in a fine reported to be around $60,000 from the Directors Guild of America—who subsequently passed new legislation reserving the right to impose a major fine on a producer for discharging and replacing a director.[136] The film was pre-screened at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities in Idaho during a six-day conference entitled Western Movies: Myths and Images. Invited to the screening were a number of esteemed film critics, including Jay Cocks and Arthur Knight; directors such as King Vidor, William Wyler, and Howard Hawks; and a number of academics.[137] Upon release in the summer of 1976 The Outlaw Josey Wales was widely acclaimed, with many critics and viewers seeing Eastwood's role as an iconic one that related to America's ancestral past and the destiny of the nation after the American Civil War.[137] Roger Ebert compared the nature and vulnerability of Eastwood's portrayal of Josey Wales with his Man with No Name character in the Dollars westerns and praised the film's atmosphere.[138] The film would later appear in Time's "Top 10 Films of the Year".[139]
Eastwood was then offered the role of Benjamin L. Willard in Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, but declined as he did not want to spend weeks on location in the Philippines.[140][141] He also refused the part of a platoon leader in Ted Post's Vietnam War film, Go Tell the Spartans[140] and instead decided to make a third Dirty Harry film, The Enforcer. The film had Callahan partnered with a new female officer (Tyne Daly) to face a San Francisco Bay area group resembling the Symbionese Liberation Army. The film, culminating in a shootout on Alcatraz island, was considerably shorter than the previous Dirty Harry films at 95 minutes,[142] but was a major commercial success grossing $100 million worldwide to become Eastwood's highest-grossing film to date.[143]
In 1977, he directed and starred in The Gauntlet opposite Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney, and Mara Corday. Eastwood portrays a down-and-out cop assigned to escort a prostitute from Las Vegas to Phoenix to testify against the mob. Although a moderate hit with the viewing public, critics had mixed feelings about the film, with many believing it was overly violent. Ebert, in contrast, gave the film three stars and called it "... classic Clint Eastwood: fast, furious, and funny."[144] The following year, he starred in Every Which Way But Loose in an uncharacteristic offbeat comedy role. He played Philo Beddoe, a trucker and brawler who roams the American West searching for a lost love (Locke) accompanied by his brother (played by Geoffrey Lewis) and an orangutan called Clyde. The film proved surprisingly successful upon its release and became Eastwood's most commercially successful film up to that time. Panned by critics, it ranked high among the box office successes of his career and was the second-highest-grossing film of 1978.[145]
Eastwood starred in Escape from Alcatraz in 1979, the last of his films directed by Siegel. It was based on the true story of Frank Lee Morris who, along with John and Clarence Anglin, escaped from the notorious Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1962. The film was a major success; Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic praised it as "crystalline cinema"[146] and Frank Rich of Time described it as "cool, cinematic grace".[147]
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