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Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood’s Favorite Movies Of His Own

Clint Eastwood has both starred in and directed many classics across his decades-long career, but which movies are his personal favorites? Like many young actors starting out, Eastwood began with small, often uncredited roles in b-moves during the ’50s. At one point, he considered quitting acting following 1958’s Ambush At Cimarron Pass, which the actor himself once dubbed “the lousiest Western ever made.” Thankfully, he soon landed the role of Rowdy Yates in Western series Rawhide, and years later, landed the iconic part of The Man with No Name in A Fistful Of Dollars, the beginning of Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy.

In addition to becoming a movie star thanks to the Dollars’ movies and Dirty Harry, Eastwood made his directorial debut with 1971 psychological thriller Play Misty For Me. In the years that followed, Eastwood would increasingly star in and direct his own movies and is famed for his lean, hassle-free approach to filmmaking. Starting with the early 2000s, Eastwood began to increasingly step away from acting roles and focus on directing, though notable exceptions include 2008’s Gran Turino and 2021’s neo-Western Cry Macho.

Eastwood has appeared in and helmed his share of duds, but on the whole, his filmography is littered with critically acclaimed projects. In 2010, he shared with the Associated Press (via CBS News) his six personal favorites. Here are Clint Eastwood’s favorite films of his own.

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

The Outlaw Josey Wales lacks the iconic status of some of his other Westerns, but it’s a personal favorite movie for Clint Eastwood nonetheless. He also directed The Outlaw Josey Wales, which follows the titular outlaw as he seeks revenge for his murdered family amidst the American Civil War. The movie has plenty of action and one-liners, but it has a surprising amount of warmth and melancholy too. Says Eastwood “It addressed the divisiveness of war, and how it can tear at heart and soul. But it also dealt with the rejuvenation of a cynic, re-instilling his life with purpose, and with a surrogate family.”

Bird (1988)

Eastwood has been a lifelong fan of jazz and Bird was a pet project for the filmmaker. Eastwood – who turned down Superman – says behind the camera for this 1988 drama, which is a biopic of famed saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker, played by Forest Whitaker. Eastwood himself saw Parker perform in the ’40s, and Bird is a moving portrait of a talented artist who died far too young. Says Eastwood of the movie “It was a good script on the analysis of the self-destructiveness of personality: people who insist on sinking into the abyss. Success, being idolized by other musicians none of it was enough.”

Unforgiven (1992)

Another of Clint Eastwood’s favorite movies of his own, Unforgiven is arguably his most acclaimed movie as star and director. Unforgiven is a dark drama where a former gunslinger returns to his old ways and finds he can never be fully redeemed for his bloody past. Unforgiven stripped away the romanticism of the genre, with the director stating “It was a very rich story, involving loyalty to friends, family and rationalizing deeds. It was a very intelligent script.”

Mystic River (2003)

A somber thriller from 2003, Mystic River also saw Eastwood – who has a handful of franchises – stay behind the camera again. The story follows three Boston friends who were torn apart by a horrible event when they were young, and a murder sees their paths cross again in the future. Mystic River received praise for the performances by leads Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins, with Eastwood summarising the themes as “The way sometimes fate deals a bad hand, and it just keeps getting worse and worse, and there is nothing anyone can do.”

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Another Eastwood favorite is tender boxing drama Million Dollar Baby, where Eastwood stars and directs. He’s the grumpy trainer to Hilary Swank’s talented boxer, with the two forming a father-daughter bond until tragedy strikes out of nowhere. The story appealed to Eastwood because “… it was a story regarding family a search for the daughter he never had a relationship with, and the search for the father that was no longer there for her.”

Letters From Iwo Jima (2006)

Letters From Iwo Jima is another of Clint Eastwood’s favorite movies of his own and is a companion piece to Flags Of Our Fathers – which also featured Clint’s son Scott Eastwood. While the latter film focused on the American invasion, Letters From Iwo Jima explored the story from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers. The movie is one of Clint Eastwood’s most underrated works, though it was more commercially successful than Flags Of Our Fathers.

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Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood tells of the terrible fire of November 10, but he still has to work.

Clint Eastwood wasn’t going to let a wildfire keep him from getting to work.The 91-year-old actor/director told Ellen on Monday’s episode of how he drove toward a Southern California wildfire last month that was encroaching the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California, where his office has been for 40 years.

Ellen described the November 10 blaze, known as the Barham brush fire, as a ‘really bad fire that came really close to the lot,’ adding that ‘air quality was so bad that everyone evacuated’ – but not Clint!’I was coming back down to do some work at a sound stage and I saw all this smoke going,’ the screen legend said, adding he noticed the smoke plumes emanated from the Warner Bros. lot.

The Tinseltown staple continued: ‘And I’m getting closer and closer and its Warner Bros. and its smoke and I got almost up there and I thought, the whole studio’s burning down, maybe I’ll go in and see if I can retrieve something.’The filmmaker of classics such as Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River and Unforgiven said that the Warner Bros.

Studio was spared of any damage, as the blaze was contained to a nearby hill.’So we went on the sound stage and started working and we forgot about it and … everybody said, “The studio’s been evacuated! And I said, “We’re not evacuated, we’re here working!”‘

The office neighbors where Ellen works out of, and she describes Eastwood as ‘a good neighbor’ who never complains. Ellen showed that she and her staff had helped decorate Eastwood’s office with holiday decor, which Clint called ‘pretty nice.’

He added: ‘A lot better than some of the things she has done. One time she called up and said somebody made a pinata of her and said you have to go out there and take a baseball bat and beat the hell out of it.’Eastwood was on to promote his latest film Richard Jewell, which hits theaters Friday .

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Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood’s special dating history with Hollywood beauties .

Actor Clint Eastwood is one lucky guy! He’s dated a lot of gorgeous women in Hollywood, including his ex-wives Maggie Johnson and Dina Eastwood (née Ruiz). But no woman could ever make him feel as incredible as his current girlfriend, Christina Sandera, does.“He’s truly happy with her,” an insider exclusively told Closer Weekly in May 2020. “She’s fun, easygoing and his kids like her too. She’s on an even keel like he is.”

Christina came into the Gran Torino star’s life after Dina filed for divorce from Clint in October 2013. Two months after she sent in the paperwork, the reporter went on Bethenny Frankel’s former eponymous TV show to dish about her separation.“I don’t’ think we will be getting back together,” Dina said at the time. “That is why I filed for divorce. I think maybe a part of me was holding out, like ‘What are we doing here?’

Then there have been some definite signs that we’re not going to get back together so let’s move on amicably is my opinion, but I think there is a mental chokehold on you when you don’t have something in place that shows you are definitely apart.”Although the pair decided to call it quits, Dina explained she has no bad feelings towards Clint. In fact, she said he’s “probably the sweetest guy” she’s ever met. “He is a loving, kind, low-key person, so my intuition was still great on marrying a good person,” the journalist gushed.

By December 2014, Clint and Dina’s divorce was finalized. The Dirty Harry star moved on with Christina and they made their first red carpet appearance together at t he 2015 Oscars. It wasn’t long until the Academy Award winner moved his beloved into the same Carmel, California, home he used to share with Dina.“The first time I saw the place I thought it was terrific,” Clint gushed to Architectural Digest about his beautiful estate in August 2016. “Visually it was something else, and I thought it was the place I’d like to call home.”

Maggie Johnson : Maggie is Clint’s first wife. In 1953, they tied the knot and welcomed two kids together: daughter Alison Eastwood and son Kyle Eastwood. The two lovebirds stayed together for 31 years until they got divorced in 1984.//Roxanne Tunis : In 1959, Clint romanced stuntwoman Roxanne after they met on the set of the western TV show Rawhide. In June 1964, their daughter Kimber arrived in the world.

Sondra Locke : Sondra was in a relationship with Clint in the 1970s. The two actors have starred in many movies together such as The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Gauntlet and Sudden Impact. She died in November 2018 from cardiac arrest. // Jacelyn Reeves : Jacelyn and Clint had a brief fling in 1984. The duo are proud parents to their two kids — Scott Eastwood and Kathryn Eastwood.

Frances Fisher : Clint and Frances were dating from 1990 to 1995. In August 1993, they welcomed daughter Francesca Eastwood into the world. //Dina Ruiz : Clint and Dina were married from 1996 to 2014, and during that time, the couple welcomed a beautiful daughter named Morgan. After they got divorced, Dina went on to marry former basketball player Scott Fisher in 2016.///Erica Tomlinson-Fisher : Although there are no photos of Erica, the Mule star briefly dated her when he broke off his marriage to Dina, per reports. However, their love didn’t last long because Clint settled down with Christina shortly after.

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Clint Eastwood

Why Tom Hanks likens the Clint Eastwood style to entwined horses ?

Veteran actor Tom Hanks has likened Clint Eastwood’s directorial style to wrangling animals. Hanks worked with Eastwood for the first time on Sully, the story of a real-life feat of heroism in which his character, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, safely landed an endangered plane New York’s Hudson river in 2009.

Hanks told the Graham Norton Show: “You certainly don’t want one of those Eastwood looks. “He treats his actors like horses because when he did the 60s series Rawhide, the director would shout ‘Action!’ and all the horses bolted. So when he’s in charge, he says in a really quiet soft voice, ‘All right, go ahead,’ and instead of shouting ‘Cut!’ he says ‘That’s enough of that.’ It’s intimidating as hell!”

Hanks also said that the real Sullenberger made for a strong presence on set, even criticizing Eastwood for his lack of punctuality when he was 20 minutes late. “Sully was very particular about how we portrayed the procedure and the emotions,” said Hanks. “He pulled out this dog-eared, stapled and notated script that he had read. Postits, stapled index cards all over it – I’m sure his wife had even written ‘No’ across it in lipstick! We went through every page and every moment, every beat had been commented on. He had opinions.”

Hanks and Eastwood campaigned for different sides during the recent US presidential campaign. The actor – who was even mooted by documentary-maker Michael Moore as a future Democrat candidate – was a vocal supporter of Hillary Clinton, frequently speaking of his lack of faith in her rival, Donald Trump, whom he described as a “self-involved” gas bags”.

Eastwood, meanwhile, came out for Trump in August, saying the Republican was “on to something, because everybody’s secretly getting tired of political correctness”. “That’s the kiss-ass generation we’re in right now,” he said. “We’re really in a pussy generation.” Eastwood also said he thought a lot of the backlash to Trump was misplaced.

“We see people people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren’t called racist. “Everybody, the press and everybody’s going, ‘Oh, well, that’s racist’ and they’re making a big hoodoo out of it. Just fucking get over it. It’s a sad time in history.”Following Trump’s earlier , Hanks election to reassure his fellow Clinton supporters about the future. “We are going to be all right,” he told an audience in New York. “We will move forward, because if we do not move forward, what is to be said about us?”

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