Clint Eastwood
Escape from Alcatraz: The final collaboration between Clint Eastwood and Don Siegel resulted in a subdued and suspenseful prison-break thriller
Escape from Alcatraz(1979) brought together Clint Eastwood and director, Don Siegel for the fifth and final time. In this low-key, slow-burn, prison-break thriller, Clint plays Frank Lee Morris, a real-life convict who escaped from the Alcatraz prison in 1962.
“If you disobey the rules of society, they send you to prison. If you disobey the rules of prison, theysend you to Alcatraz. … No one has ever escaped from Alcatraz and no one ever will..”Alcatraz Prison Warden
Isla de los Alcatraces aka Alcatraz island was so named by the Spanish explorer, Juan Manuel de Ayala (who chartered the San Francisco Bay in 1775), because he found it to be covered with pelicans. In 1848, the island was bought by United States government, and since then, it has served in various capacities: as a military fort, as a military prison, a maximum security federal prison, and today, it’s the hottest tourist destination in San Francisco. For 29 years between 1934 and 1963, Alcatraz served as Federal penitentiary to house prisoners who continuously caused trouble at other federal prisons. The jail has the history of holding some of the most notorious criminals in American history such as Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud (the “Birdman of Alcatraz”), George “Machine Ԍսո” Kelly, Bumpy Johnson etc. Over the course of these 29 years, a total of 36 prisoners made 14 escape attempts, two men trying twice; 23 were caught alive, six were shot and κıււеԁ ԁսrıոɡ their escape, two drowned, and five are listed as “missing and presumed drowned”. Thus, the penitentiary holds the enviable record of no prisoner having ever successfully escaped from its confines, that’s until Frank Lee Morris arrived in Alcatraz prison on January 20, 1960 as inmate number AZ1441. Morris is a criminal with an exceptional 1.Q. of 133, and had managed to escape from several other federal prisons. Hence, he’s been now send to the only unescapable prison in the country. Once arriving at Alcatraz, he fortunately finds himself in the company of his old cellmates from the Atlanta prison, the Anglin brothers- Clarence and John. Morris and the Anglins put into action an audacious new escape plan. Using stolen spoons they dig their way to a ventilation shaft; using mirrors they watch the corridors outside their cells for approaching guards; using makeshift mortar they hide their digging work; and using papier-mâché they make lifelike heads which they place on their pillows to make it look like they are sleeping peacefully. Come the day of escape, Morris and the Anglins, carrying the flotation gear, access the roof and avoid the searchlights. From there, they scramble down the side of the building into the prison yard, climb over a barbed-wire fence, and make their way to the shoreline of the island, where they inflate the raft. The three men depart from Alcatraz, partially submerged in the water, clinging to the raft and using their legs as the primary propelling force. The following morning the escape is discovered and a massive manhunt ensues, but the fugitives were never found, and Alcatraz Prison was closed less than a year later.
Don Siegel was known as a director of tough, cynical and forthright action-adventure films whose taut plots centered on individualistic loners. He was also no stranger to prison dramas, having directed a superior one in Riot in Cell Block 11(1954). So, it was natural that when Screenwriter Richard Tuggle prepared his well researched screenplay based on J. Campbell Bruce’s 1962 non-fiction book on Frank Morris’s’ escape from Alcatraz, he would send it to Don Siegel first. Siegel liked the screenplay and passed it on to his protégée and frequent lead actor, Clint Eastwood. Clint, who made a career out of playing individualistic loners, pounced on the chance to pay another one in Frank Morris. Thus, the film soon went into production with Paramount Pictures backing the film; and the studio spending some $500,000 to restore the Alcatraz island, including the decaying prison. Still, some interiors had to be recreated on the studio soundstages. Many of the improvements made to the island were kept intact even after the film company had left. The film is set between the arrival of Morris at Alcatraz in January 1960 and his escape in June 1962. As it was his style, Siegel strips down the plot and characters to their basics. There are no exposition, no character development, not much dialogues, not even much background scoring; everything is defined through action. It’s an extraordinary exercise in pure cinema, where every bit of information is conveyed visually, and Siegel is blessed to have a star and actor like Clint Eastwood, who, with his iconic presence and tightly-wound, economical acting style is more than capable of linking scenes with his presence & performance alone. This film is a perfect showcase for the actor-director synthesis between Clint and Siegel. It’s amazing how much Clint’s acting mirrors Siegel’s sharp, clean and economical style of filmmaking.
The film begins with the arrival of Clint’s Frank Morris in Alcatraz on a dark, rainy night. We see him stripped down, examined and lead across the prison block naked, and then locked up in his cell, with one of the prison guards echoing the ominous words “Welcome to Alcatraz.” There is thunder and lightning to add theatricality to the moment. This is the only bit of over-the-top theatricality present in the entire film. From here on, it’s a cold, clinical examination of prison life and Frank’s elaborate scheme to escape. Soon after arriving, Frank is summoned to the office of the warden (Patrick McGoohan), who curtly informs him that Alcatraz is unique within the U.S. prison system for its exceedingly high level of security and that no inmate has ever successfully escaped. Dսrıոɡ the conversation, the warden fails to notice Morris steal one of the nail clippers on the desk. The next few sequences deals with Frank getting acquainted with his fellow inmates, getting familiar with the prison premises and going through the strict rules and routines of prison life. Over the next several days, Morris makes acquaintances with a few inmates, including the eccentric Litmus (Frank Ronzio), who is fond of desserts, English (Paul Benjamin), a black inmate serving two life sentences for κıււıոɡ two white men in self-defense, and the elderly Doc (Roberts Blossom), who paints portraits and once grew chrysanthemums at Alcatraz. In these scenes, it’s not clear whether Frank is actively planning an escape, or he’s just getting through the motions of a dreary prison life. Clint’s insouciant acting style benefits these scenes immensely, and gives them a kind of ambiguity, which helps in building suspense in the audience; we anxiously wait for the exact moment when he’ll get rid of this nonchalance and jump actively into pursuing the escape that was promised in the film’s title.
This takes some time and comes about in a rather indirect way: after Frank makes an enemy of psycho-rapist Wolf (Bruce M. Fischer), who tries to harass him in the showers, and is severely beaten up by Frank. An enraged Wolf attacks Frank with a knife in the prison yard, only to be overpowered by the guards. Wolf is sent to solitary confinement and so is Frank- whose protestations of “He came for me” is ignored. Frank is severely tortured in the hole, and then later released (Though Wolf remains confined). This is the moment when we see Frank change. He wants revenge, and the best way to take revenge on such a ruthless prison system and a sadistic Warden is to escape from there. When the warden discovers that Doc has painted an ungainly caricature of him, he permanently removes Doc’s painting privileges. In response, a depressed Doc hacks off his own fingers with a hatchet from the prison workshop and is led away. Frank is tasked with disposing the hacked fingers and cleaning up the place: a harrowing experience for him. Later, ԁսrıոɡ mealtime, Morris places a chrysanthemum at the table in honor of Doc, but the warden stops by and crushes it, causing a provoked and angry Litmus to suffer a heart attack. Warden’s atrocities against his fellow inmates, resulting in their maiming or ԁеаtһ, only makes Frank more determined and ambitious in his escape plans. He had already started working with the Anglin brothers-John and Clarence Anglin (Fred Ward and Jack Thibeau), as well as another prisoner, Charley Butts (Larry Hankin) on a daring escape plan. Frank notices that the concrete around the grille in his cell is weak and can be chipped away. Over the next few months, Frank, the Anglins, and Butts dig through the walls of their cells with spoons, which they stole from the mess-hall. They also make papier-mâché dummies to act as decoys, and construct a raft out of raincoats.
As their escape plan is progressing, Wolf is released from confinement, putting Frank’s life and his plans in danger. Frank cannot afford to be thrown into the hole again, but luckily for him, English, who has become a good comrade to Frank, intercepts Wolf – on his way to once again attack Frank- and leads him away. English warns Wolf that if he ever try to attack Frank again, he and his men will beat him up. But the threat to Frank’s escape does not abate: the Warden is becoming increasingly suspicious of Frank’s activities, and even though a shakedown of Frank’s prison cell, and a personal inspection from the Warden himself fails to turn up anything unusual, the Warden insists that Frank be relocated to another cell. Now Frank has to move quickly, otherwise he would loose the opportunity to escape. He advances the date of their escape, but Butts get nervous and does not go along with the rest. Frank and the Anglin brothers manages to escape the island as they planned. The next day, the guards open the cells, only to discover the papier-mâché dummies. It’s only then they realize that the prisoners have escaped. The film then cuts to a brightly sunlit exterior, which is the only location featured apart from the Alcatraz island in the entire film- on the ‘Angel Island’, the Warden and the guards are seen engaged in a massive manhunt. On a rock, the warden finds a chrysanthemum and is told by his aide that none grow on Angel Island. So, it has to assumed that Frank deliberately placed it on the island as an ‘F U’ to the warden- reminding him that this is revenge for his sadistic treatment to both Doc and Litmus. The film ends with the Warden being summoned to Washington to give explanation for his failure to prevent the escape- an inserted text informs us that the fugitives were never found, and that Alcatraz was closed less than a year later.
For a film that takes place predominantly in a single, claustrophobic location, with a very limited number of characters, and even limited character interactions and dialogue sequences- whatever conversations there is take place only in the mess-hall or the yard- it helps to have a great set of actors. This was a the first major feature film role for Fred Ward, who makes an energetic John Anglin. Robert Blossom is unforgettable as ‘Doc’, and Bruce M. Fischer, who played a rapist in Clint’s Outlaw Josey Wales is sufficiently crazy and menacing here as well. It’s impossible to imagine any other actor pulling off Frank Morris other than Clint Eastwood- at least in the form it exists in this film. Though it’s a real-life character, it looks tailor-made for Clint’s abilities as an actor and his image as a star- a man of few words, who keeps most of his thoughts to himself, and who’s very resourceful physically; someone who could be very easily mistaken for a dumb brute, but reveals his super-intelligence in very subtle ways- the way he looks at an object, or while intensely sizing up another person. Clint is buffed-up more than usual for this role, but he’s slightly deglamorized: he has sheared of his long locks, giving his ‘Mount Rushmore’ face even more of a rough, bare, stone-faced dimension that differentiates it from the ‘Man with no Name’ and ‘Dirty Harry’ characters. The simple prisoner’s outfit he wears throughout is also a far cry from the Ponchos, serapes and designer Jackets & suits that we are used to seeing him in. In short, here he’s more minimalistic and low-key than even his usual minimalist and unshowy self.
And he has got an extraordinary actor as the film’s antagonist to play off against. I have already waxed eloquently about the uber-cool, scene-stealing artistry of Patrick McGoohan in my review of Ice Station Zebra. Only thing i want to add is that perhaps his performance here is even greater, because he’s basically playing a caricature or a stereotype- a nasty, sadistic Warden without even a name. McGoohan fills it out with his presence and performance. It’s not a showy or entertaining performance as in “Zebra”. The nastiness, cunning and sadism of the character is completely underplayed by McGoohan; the more sinister the character gets, the more low-key his performance becomes. Take his first meeting with Clint, where he does all the talking and Clint does the listening: he affects the manners and behavior of a strict, sophisticated school headmaster, casually playing with a caged-bird and clipping his nails, even as he’s saying the most threatening things to the newly-arrived prisoner. Or the sequence when he visits Doc’s cell and find his caricature painted. For a moment there, we feel that he’s genuinely enjoying looking at the grotesque version of himself in the canvas, but then his demeanor changes ever so slightly to reveal his hidden anger. But the most chilling sequence in the whole film is when the Warden visits Frank’s cell, just before Frank and his friends escape. Warden seems to be making polite conversations, but he’s really checking out Frank and the cell for anything unusual. He seems so intimidating, threatening and close to discovering Frank’s secret that Frank has to avert his eyes from the Warden to not give himself away. There’s some irony in McGoohan’s casting as the Warden, because McGoohan became famous by playing “Number Six” in the very popular TV series “The Prisoner”. In the final episode, “Fall Out”, Number Six and several other residents appear to have escaped the Village (the fictional prison where “Number Six” is held captive along with other former spies and operatives). However, his ultimate fate is not revealed. In the context of “Escape from Alcatraz”, Clint’s Frank Morris is “Number Six” and McGoohan is playing “Number Two”- the chief administrator of “The Village”.
But the real star of the film is director, Don Siegel, who creates an extremely thrilling piece of cinema with the most minimal and economical means available. Neither the claustrophobia of the location nor the ‘dryness’ of the subject matter deter him from creating a purely cinematic action-drama. There’s not a hint of the melodramatic or overdramatic in the film; no bombastic musical score, big dialogue scenes or action set-pieces here, which may disappoint a lot of the fans of previous Siegel-Eastwood collaborations. Maybe that’s why the film was only a modest box office success. It does not have the swaggering style and machismo of “Coogan’s Bluff” and “Dirty Harry“, neither the overheated sexuality and gothic terror of “The Beguiled” nor the colorful fun & romanticism of “Two Mules for Sister Sara”. The film remains cold and detached throughout. Though it’s very much a masculine drama, where tough guys bond together to overcome the odds, the film does not have the usual scenes of masculine banter or macho brio. The film has its share of action set-pieces- in fact, the climactic escape sequence is the lengthiest action set-piece that Don Siegel has ever filmed, but like the rest of the film, they’re very low key; all of them set in pitched darkness and silence- Nowhere near Clint Eastwood jumping of the bridge on to a moving bus or Walter Matthau and Don Joe Baker going head to head with planes and cars in “Charley Varrick”. Where Siege’s minimalism serves the film most is in completely avoiding any exposition regarding the characters in the film, and making us connect with them based purely on their actions within the prison . Frank and the Anglin Brothers are ruthless criminals who have indulged in every crime possible, but in the context of this film, they’re the heroes and the Warden is the villain. So, the less we know about these characters, the better it is, and it’s exactly what Siegel does. He makes us root for these prisoners to escape from the island, which in normal course we wouldn’t have if we knew their full criminal history. That’s one of his great achievements in the film.
Clint and Siegel were coming together after 8 long year – their last film was “Dirty Harry” in 1971. Though Siegel was one of Clint’s mentors in the industry- Sergio Leone being the other one- their relationship had undergone a drastic change n the interim; mainly because Clint had gone on to become one of the biggest stars in the world. Also, Clint was now an accomplished director in his own right, having already made more than a handful of films. Hence, the making of this film was fraught with tension, with Siegel and Clint constantly at each others throats to gain control of the film. They were problems even before ѕһootıոɡbegan, when Siegel nixed Clint’s idea for a coproduction; Siegel wanted to produce the film himself. So they parted ways, and Siegel seriously looked for another star for his film, but he had to later relent and make peace with Clint, after the studio, Paramount Pictures, forced him to. By the end of the ѕһootıոɡ, relations between Siegel and Clint had completely broken down, after Clint took over the direction and editing of the film himself. Siegel wanted the film to end where the guard discovers the papier-mâché dummies, but Clint wanted an optimistic ending and hence added that coda set on the ‘Angel Island’. Naturally, the film turned to be the last film Clint and Siegel would make together. Siegel would direct only two more films after this- Rough Cut and Jinxed; both of them were received poorly. He quit filmmaking after he suffered a heart attack while filming Jinxed. He ԁıеԁ in 1991 at the age of 78 from cancer. Though, their professional relationship ended in acrimony, Clint never forgot Siegel’s contribution to his career. When he made “Unforgiven” in 1992, he dedicated it to his two mentors, Sergio and Don.
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Clint Eastwood
Mystic River: Why Clint Eastwood’s Best Movie Still Holds Up Today
A filmmaker of Clint Eastwood‘s caliber is going to have a filmography full of gems. Primarily known for his work in Westerns, biopics, and military dramas, every so often, Eastwood steps outside his comfort zone and delivers in a genre that would seem completely unexpected on paper. That happened in 2003 with Mystic River, a neo-noir murder mystery drama that seems a bit forgotten or overlooked, even though it was a financial success and earned six Academy Award nominations. It represents Eastwood at his very best, breathing vivid life into complex characters as he examines a plethora of themes that range from loyalty, friendship, revenge, and, ultimately, forgiveness.
Mystic River is based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane, and it follows the lives of three childhood friends, Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn), Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon), and Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins), living in Charlestown, Boston in 1975. Dave is kidnapped by two men claiming to be police officers, and he’s sexually abused by them over a four-day period until he escapes. The traumatic event shapes the three friends, and they ultimately lead very different lives twenty-five years later.
Jimmy is an ex-con that now owns a convenience store in the neighborhood, Sean works for the Massachusetts State Police as a detective, and Dave is your everyday blue-collar worker that still lives with the trauma of being abducted and raped. Their lives are forced together once again through tragedy when Jimmy’s daughter Katie (Emmy Rossum) is found murdered, and friendship is tested when all signs point to Dave being the murderer.
Mystic River Is a Departure From Clint Eastwood’s Other Work
Warner Bros.
Eastwood tackles the material in Mystic River with a sure and confident hand. It also represents a unique departure from some of his other films. Much of the action takes place under the cover of darkness, and Eastwood is able to find beauty in that darkness. The filmmaker focuses on a character’s eyes or the gleam of a weapon, for instance, as darkness permeates most of the scene.
For the scenes that take place during the day, the filmmaker opts for tight close-ups that linger over the emotions of his impressive cast. There is something uncomfortably intimate about Mystic River, and that has much to do with the subject matter. None of this story is particularly easy to digest, and Eastwood adds to that discomfort with his choices to frame scenes in such a way that’s almost intrusive. The audience feels a growing sense of dread and tension as more of the story unfolds.
Using Lehane’s novel and Brian Helgeland’s screenplay as a blueprint, Eastwood profoundly explores generational trauma and how the sins of the past can leave a permanent mark on our present. Even though the abuse only happened to Dave, the effects of the event leave a mark on all three friends, with Dave being the primary victim and the others feeling a sense of survivor’s guilt for not being subjected to it themselves.
The ordeal forever changes their union because they’re never quite able to look at each other the same way again, as each friend deals with the trauma differently. Jimmy is stunned by the act of abuse but can’t give Dave the support he needs, which then bleeds into their present when Jimmy begins to suspect that Dave had something to do with his daughter’s murder. He doesn’t want to consider that his friend would do something like this because of the trauma he endured as a child, but as evidence mounts against him, Jimmy has to decide if friendship and loyalty overshadow his need for vigilante justice. The story is rich with so many complexities that make it some of Eastwood’s most compelling work as a filmmaker.
Eastwood also takes his time with the story and lets it unfold as it should. Mystic River is very nuanced, and he knows he’s dealing with heartbreaking subject matter that requires patience and respect. The story is grounded in so much reality that Eastwood seems keenly aware that a viewer might be an actual victim of this kind of abuse themselves, so he delicately approaches the topic and gives it the emotional weight it deserves.
He also shows the uncomfortable side of abuse where the victim, unfortunately, can be shamed because of the event. Dave becomes an outsider later in his life, even with his close friends, something that sadly comes along with this kind of trauma. Eastwood approaches all of this responsibly and provides a very balanced outlook to all the events transpiring on screen.
Mystic River has become known for its powerhouse performances, and Eastwood pulls the very best from his ensemble cast. While the scenes with the young actors are brief in the beginning, they set the tone of who these people will be twenty-five years later. Dave becomes the outcast because of the event; Jimmy lacks empathy and doesn’t trust authority, while Sean becomes the grounded one of the bunch and a police officer in an attempt to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again.
Clint Eastwood Pulls Powerhouse Performances From His Cast
Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, and Kevin Bacon do a great job conveying the unspoken tension between all three of these characters. There is a sense of loyalty, but so much has taken place over the years that it has forced them all to lead very different lives. As a group, they are uniformly excellent. You feel the history between the characters and the bonds that were broken, only to be reopened by a new traumatic event.
On their own, Penn gives the performance of a lifetime as Jimmy, and it’s not a shock that this turn finally earned him his first Academy Award for Best Actor. Penn is a dominant presence in all of his scenes, and there is a sense of uncertainty whenever he’s around because you don’t know exactly what move he will make.
That’s not to say he doesn’t display layers. All of that bravado is broken once he finds out his daughter is murdered. It’s hard to pinpoint a director’s best scene on film, but what Eastwood pulls out of Penn during the “Is that my daughter?” sequence represents some of his very best work as a filmmaker.
Robbins also received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work here, representing a much-deserved win. As Dave, Robbins is the tragic and emotional heart of the story. The viewer feels instant empathy for Dave due to what he went through as a child, but you’re also left questioning everything when it seems like Dave could be the one who murdered Katie.
Robbins keeps you on your toes throughout, making you question his innocence while also seeing the tenderness in him as he interacts with his own child, who is just about the age he was when he was abused. As for Bacon, of the three male leads, he gives the most subdued performance, but it suits the character. He’s trying to make everything right and keep it all together. It’s a subtle performance that carries its own emotional weight.
Eastwood also makes the supporting roles worthy of attention. Marcia Gay Harding, as Dave’s wife Celeste, puts in powerful work here that earned her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, while Laura Linney more than holds her own with Penn as his second wife, Annabeth. In addition, Laurence Fishburne also fills in as Sgt. Whitey Powers in another excellent part.
Mystic River is a haunting and poetic motion picture that showcases a director laying it all out on the table. Eastwood gives the audience everything he has as a director and pours it out across the screen in a film that is just as powerful twenty years after its initial release.
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood’s Most Iconic Non-Western Role Was Only Possible Because Of This Actor
SUMMARY
Clint Eastwood’s role in Dirty Harry is considered one of his most iconic, and the film is a classic in the crime genre.
Paul Newman initially turned down the role of Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry but recommended Clint Eastwood for the part.
Newman declined the role due to his liberal beliefs, and Eastwood’s portrayal of Callahan differed from Newman’s perspective, but both respected each other.
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Although Clint Eastwood first built his impressive career on Western movies like The Man with No Name franchise and The Outlaw Josey Wales, the actor’s biggest non-Western role in Dirty Harry is one of his most iconic, and it might have never happened without this one actor. Clint Eastwood began acting in the 1950s, and over several decades, became a staple in the Western genre. What makes Eastwood stand out is the fact that he has not only appeared in countless films, but has also directed them himself. Films like Unforgiven and Gran Torino have defined his career. However, Dirty Harry is by far one of Clint Eastwood’s best films.
In 1971, Clint Eastwood starred in the neo-noir action film Dirty Harry. The film, and its adjoining sequels, follow Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan, a rugged detective that is on a hunt for a psychopathic serial killer named Scorpio. The Dirty Harry franchise lasted from 1971 to 1988, and has since been considered a classic. In fact, Dirty Harry was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress because of its cultural significance. However, this film might have been vastly different if Clint Eastwood had never been in it, and scarily enough, this definitely could have happened back in 1971.
Paul Newman Rejected Dirty Harry Before Suggesting Clint Eastwood For The Role
Dirty Harry went through many production challenges before it was actually made, and one of those included casting the iconic detective. In the film’s early stages, the role was offered to actors such as John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Steve McQueen, and Burt Lancaster. However, for various reasons, including the violence that permeates the film, these actors all declined. For a time, Frank Sinatra was attached to the project, but he also eventually left the production. In reality, Clint Eastwood wasn’t even in the cards for portraying Dirty Harry, but his big break came when Paul Newman was offered and declined the role.
Paul Newman, like many amazing actors before him, was offered the role of Harry Callahan, but ultimately said no. However, what makes his refusal stand out among the rest is that he recommended another actor that could be perfect for the role: Clint Eastwood. At this time, Eastwood was in post-production for his first film Play Misty for Me, meaning his career was taking something of a turn. Also, unlike his predecessors, Eastwood joined up with Dirty Harry, just as Newman thought he would. Because of his Western roots, the violence and aggression that made up Dirty Harry didn’t bother Eastwood at all.
Why Paul Newman Turned Down Dirty Harry
Paul Newman turning down the leading role in Dirty Harry may not seem too surprising considering the host of other actors that also declined the movie, but Newman definitely had his reasons. While previous actors had condemned the movie for its incredible violence and themes of “the ends justify the means,” Newman refused to take the role because of his political beliefs. Since Harry Callahan was a renegade cop, intent on catching a serial killer no matter the cost or the rules that would be broken, Newman saw this character as too right-wing for his own liberal beliefs.
Paul Newman was an outspoken liberal during his life. He was open about his beliefs, so much so that he even made it onto Richard Nixon’s enemies list due to his opposition of the Vietnam War. Other issues that Newman spoke out for included gay rights and same-sex marriage, the decrease in production and use of nuclear weapons, and global warming. As a result of his politics, Newman quickly denied the role of Harry Callahan. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly as reported by Far Out Magazine, Clint Eastwood commented that he didn’t view Callahan in the way Newman did, but still respected him as an actor and a man.
Would Dirty Harry Have Been So Successful Without Clint Eastwood?
Ultimately, it’s hard to say whether Dirty Harry would have been successful without Clint Eastwood. Arguably, any big-time actor could have made the film succeed solely based on their fame. However, one aspect of Dirty Harry and its carousel of actors is that the movie had various scripts, all with different plots. So, if Dirty Harry had been in a different location with a different serial killer and a different lead actor, there’s a chance it wouldn’t have been nearly as successful. In the end, Dirty Harry is a signature for Clint Eastwood, and most likely, audiences are lucky that it was made the way it was.
Clint Eastwood
The story of how Clint Eastwood prevented Ron Howard from embarrassment
A star of American cinema both in front of and behind the camera, Ron Howard is often forgotten when recalling the greatest directors of modern cinema, yet his contributions to the art form remain unmatched. Working with the likes of Tom Hanks, Chris Hemsworth, Russell Crowe and John Wayne, Howard has brought such classics as Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind and Rush to the big screen.
Entering the industry in the late 1950s and 1960s, Howard started his career as an actor, making a name for himself in shows like Just Dennis and The Andy Griffith Show before his role in 1970s Happy Days would catapult him to national acclaim. His directorial debut would come at a similar time, helming 1977’s Grand Theft Auto, the ropey first movie in a filmography that would later become known for its abundance of quality.
Known for his acting talents, Howard wouldn’t become a fully-fledged director in the eyes of the general public until the 1980s, when he worked with Tom Hanks on 1984’s Splash and George Lucas for the 1988 cult favourite Willow.
With hopes of becoming the new Star Wars, Willow was instead a peculiar fantasy tale that told the story of a young farmer who is chosen to undertake the challenge to protect a magical baby from an evil queen. Starring the likes of Warwick Davis, Val Kilmer and Joanne Whalley, the film failed to make a considerable dent in pop culture at the time, largely being ridiculed by critics and audiences alike.
Screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the movie was spared humiliation by none other than Clint Eastwood, who saw the craftsmanship behind the picture, as described by Ron’s daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard.
Speaking to Daily Mail, the actor recalled: “My dad made a film called Willow when he was a young filmmaker, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival and people were booing afterwards. It was obviously so painful for him, and Clint, who he didn’t know at that time, stood up and gave him a standing ovation and then everyone else stood up because Clint did”.
Dallas Howard, who worked with Eastwood on the 2010 movie Hereafter, became very fond of Eastwood as a result, looking up to him as an exemplary Hollywood talent. “Clint puts himself out there for people,” she added, “As a director he is very cool, very relaxed, there’s no yelling ‘action’ or ‘cut’. He just says: ‘You know when you’re ready.’ I told my dad he should do that!”.
Take a look at the trailer for Howard’s 1988 fantasy flick below.
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