What Eastwood proved, though, was that he was far more than just ‘The Man With No Name’ as he possessed a versatility that extended beyond the mere realm of the western.
Portraying ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan in five Dirty Harry movies, as well as appearing in projects as varied as Escape from Alcatraz, Heartbreak Ridge and The Bridges of Madison County, Eastwood showed himself to be an actor of genuine nuance, which is perhaps something that Wayne was not able to muster.
We also mustn’t forget that Eastwood announced himself as an excellent director, too, with the likes of Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby and Letters from Iwo Jima all top-quality considerations. In that light, Eastwood is well placed to evaluate the quality of his fellow actors and once spoke highly of one of the icons of classic Hollywood.
“Cary Grant, I was a tremendous fan of, and he was another one of those guys that had a very distinctive personality on the screen,” Eastwood once told AFI of his impressions of Grant. “He probably never got as much credit as he deserved, but he was one of the kings of doing that sort of thing, that romantic comedy.”
Grant was indeed known for his lighter kind of acting and his impeccable comic timing, and he quickly became one of Hollywood’s leading men, gaining notoriety, as Eastwood notes, for his appearances in romantic screwball comedies, including The Awful Truth and The Philadelphia Story. The Bristol-born actor went on to collaborate with Alfred Hitchcock on several occasions and had been nominated for an Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ for his prior efforts in Penny Serenade and None but the Lonely Heart.
Eastwood continued, explaining how Grant possessed a versatility unlike his rivals or contemporaries, “But he could do serious things, a Mr. Lucky noir-esque kind of thing, but he could also do the romantic comedies because he had such brilliant timing and His Girl Friday remains one of my all-time absolute favourite films.”
His Girl Friday is Howard Hawks’ 1940 screwball comedy in which Grant stars as Ralph Bellamy, a newspaper editor on the verge of losing his best reporter and ex-wife (played by Rosalind Russell) to another man. In desperation, he suggests they write one more story together and become embroiled in a murder case.
Mr. Lucky arrived three years later as a romance film directed by H.C. Potter, with Laraine Day starring alongside Grant. It tells of the relationship between a shady gambler and an affluent socialise on the eve of the United States entering World War II, and though it is indeed a romance drama, it proves Grant’s versatility as an actor in a slightly darker role.
Check out the trailers for Clint Eastwood’s favourite Cary Grant movie below.

SUMMARY

 Clint Eastwood’s favorite John Ford movie is How Green Was My Valley, showcasing his appreciation for Ford’s work beyond Westerns.
 How Green Was My Valley‘s influence on Eastwood as an actor can be seen in his ability to make unsentimental characters charismatic and easy to root for.
 Ford’s influence on Eastwood as a director can be seen in the themes and plot choices of his films, such as the exploration of family, community, and masculinity.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

While Clint Eastwood’s most-loved John Ford movie might not be a Western, it is still no surprise that this classic topped the list of the director’s favorites. Ford was a legend in the Western genre, and Eastwood even called the filmmaker one of his favorite directors. Eastwood became a major mainstream star shortly after Ford’s career came to a close, meaning that the pair never got to work together. However, Eastwood did praise Ford as a “pioneer” when he won the inaugural John Ford Award, admitting he grew up on the director’s work (via Irish America).

Since Eastwood and Ford are both seen as two of the greatest Western directors of all time, viewers might assume that Eastwood was referring specifically to Ford’s many great Westerns with these comments. However, that was not quite the case. Although Ford made many classic Westerns, such as The Searchers, Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, he named a non-Western as his favorite movie from the influential Ford. Even more surprisingly, the movie Eastwood referenced is not often listed as Ford’s best non-Western, like 1940’s adaptation of Grapes of Wrath or The Quiet Man.
Clint Eastwood’s Favorite John Ford Movie Is How Green Was My Valley – Is It Ford’s Best?

Eastwood named How Green Was My Valley as one of his favorite movies in an interview with AFI. This was a striking decision, as the 1941 library adaptation was not considered Ford’s best work, especially compared to the director’s more famous offerings. While Ford’s The Searchers was a massive influence on Eastwood’s revisionist Western Unforgiven, How Green Was My Valley is a very different sort of story for the filmmaker. For one thing, the valley of the title is in Wales. How Green Was My Valley is a rare Ford movie that is set entirely in the United Kingdom, but despite this, the movie won over a young Eastwood.

His love for this lesser-known Ford movie proves that Eastwood’s interests run beyond stories of gun-slinging cowboys and the Wild West.

The story of a working-class mining family in a small Welsh village, How Green Was My Valley is told from the perspective of their youngest child. Based on the novel of the same name by author Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley is a nostalgic drama that doesn’t sugarcoat the realities of blue-collar life in the Victorian era. Instead, it manages to find both humor and pathos in the difficult circumstances that its heroes face. While Eastwood’s many Western movies made him famous, his love for this lesser-known Ford movie proves that the director’s interests run beyond stories of gun-slinging cowboys and the Wild West.

How Green Was My Valley & John Ford’s Influence On Clint Eastwood’s Career

For Eastwood as an actor, How Green Was My Valley is an obvious influence. Ford’s adaptation makes characters who live in harsh, unsentimental conditions feel charismatic and easy to root for, something that Eastwood has managed countless times throughout his career. In How Green Was My Valley, Ford never frets about making the audience love his characters, and Eastwood’s infamously aloof, taciturn screen persona is borrowed from this successful approach. As a director, How Green Was My Valley’s influence on Eastwood is harder to track. However, some of the filmmaker’s work betrays a fondness for Ford’s movie in terms of plot and themes.
In Gran Turismo, Eastwood follows the story of a family who faced hard times but never lost their spirit. In Eastwood’s latest Western, Cry Macho, the director tackles the story of a flawed father figure trying to teach a kid how to be a man, only to realize he doesn’t know how to do this himself. Both are themes that one can find in How Green Was My Valley, where Ford uses the clan’s hardships and successes to illustrate broader ideas about family, community, masculinity, and what people owe each other. However, Ford’s influence on Eastwood’s career extends past his favorite movie from the director, as evidenced by his output.

Ford’s filmography is echoed throughout the work of Eastwood as both a director and actor. Ford’s tough but sensitive Western heroes provided a blueprint for the many antiheroes that Eastwood played over the decades, while the director’s masterful blending of poignant drama, tension, and comic relief is seen throughout Eastwood’s oeuvre. Meanwhile, although Eastwood’s work is often credited with blurring the lines between good and evil and upsetting the easy morality of earlier Western movies, Ford was instrumental in bringing moral ambiguity to the genre after the child-friendly era of B-westerns. Thus, Ford’s influence on Clint Eastwood extends past his many classic Westerns, as he also made his favorite movie.

With appearances in some of the most memorable movies of the Old West throughout the latter half of the 20th century, Eastwood remains one of American cinema’s brightest and most enduring stars, becoming a genuinely titanic figure in the movie industry.
With efforts in Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy and further appearances in five Dirty Harry movies, Eastwood is a true hero of acting. However, one ought not to forget his wildly significant contributions to cinema as a director, too, with several acclaimed productions coming in the form of Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby and Letters from Iwo Jima, to name but a few.
Still, with all the acclaim that has come his way over the years as both a director and an actor, Eastwood has never stopped short of offering his praise for those who deserve it most. The film icon once spoke of his admiration for the classic Hollywood acting hero Cary Grant, known for his efforts in the comedy movies of the 1930s and 1940s.
“Cary Grant, I was a tremendous fan of, and he was another one of those guys that had a very distinctive personality on the screen,” Eastwood once told AFI of memories of Grant’s performances on screen. “He probably never got as much credit as he deserved, but he was one of the kings of doing that sort of thing, that romantic comedy.”
Eastwood then explained how Grant could go beyond the realms of his expectations, noting, “But he could do serious things, a Mr. Lucky noir-esque kind of thing, but he could also do the romantic comedies because he had such brilliant timing.” It was at that point that Eastwood revealed one of his favourite movies of all time.
The selection is something of a surprising inclusion, especially considering the kind of films that Eastwood himself has become associated with throughout his career, playing tough guys and western heroes. But one of his favourite movies of all time is proof that there lies a soft part of Eastwood underneath his tough exterior.
“His Girl Friday remains one of my all-time absolute favourite films,” Eastwood noted. The movie is Howard Hawks’ 1940 screwball comedy starring Grant as newspaper editor Walter Burns, who is on the verge of losing his best reporter and ex-wife, Hildy Johnson (played by Rosalind Russell), to another man.
There’s truly quick-fire, witty dialogue throughout the film and the chemistry between Russell and Grant is genuinely palpable. Adapted from the play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, His Girl Friday also serves as a fascinating insight into the fast-paced world of newspaper journalism, with the narrative unfolding over a single day.
In an attempt to keep his wife and ace writer, Walters suggests that both he and Hilda take on one last story and become invested in the case of a local murderer. One might not expect a screwball comedy with Cary Grant to be one of Clint Eastwood’s favourite movies of all time, but the western film icon has proven to surprise once again.