Clint Eastwood

Violence, loneliness and fatality are the great themes of his films. But above all redemption, in a filmmaker who precisely seems to want to redeem himself from the image he had a little over a decade ago. Back then Eastwood was known for the .44 Magnum, Dirty Harry’s pistol and his “Make my day” lines. He was starring in spin-offs likeHardcore , and all his characters were impassive, rugged types who barely moved a muscle on their faces. But then he decided to make our day sad, with stories as harsh as Harry himself, but full of truth. For critics, he has taken a turn in his career, but Eastwood’s style and recurring themes have been present in his filmography for many years.

Although at the time they were considered favorable by-products for double bills in neighborhood cinemas, the three spaghetti westerns that Clint Eastwood shot in Almería under the direction of Sergio Leone are appreciated today by select moviegoers, and honored by Tarantino and other prestigious filmmakers. . At that time, the young Clinton Eastwood, Jr., born in San Francisco (California), on May 31, 1930, had been acting as an actor for a few years. After being discharged from the army, he signed up for an acting course organized by Universal, and among other menial jobs he was recruited to co-star in the series Rawhide.. As this series gave him some fame in the United States, and the young Eastwood still earned little, he was the ideal candidate for the Italian Leone, interested in an American actor to put his name on the billboards, to recruit him to star inFor a Fistful of Dollars , a low-budget production, western-key version ofYojimbo , by Akira Kurosawa . The success of the film led to two sequels, with more media and other international actors, as Lee Van Cleef joined the saga inDeath had a price and Eli Wallach , inThe good, the bad and the ugly . Without even washing it, Eastwood wore the same poncho in all three films, which gave a new air to the genre, incorporating humor, heroic comic book characters, and gunfights typical of childhood memories of the great works of the genre.

If his meeting with Leone was crucial to Eastwood’s career, equally important was his work with the American Don Siegel . It is well known thatUnforgiven is dedicated to Sergio (Leone) and Don (Siegel). Her first meeting with Siegel wasThe human jungle , revision of his heroic nameless cowboy persona to modern times. After getting out of a musical,The legend of the city without a name , where he sang, like another of the toughest in Hollywood, Lee Marvin , would repeat with Siegel inTwo Mules and a Woman , a fairly classic western andThe seducer , also of the same genre, but more realistic. Such a promising career was about to be cut short when Eastwood contracted a neck infection while filming in Italy forKelly’s Violents . The actor was very close to death, but underwent a successful surgical operation.

In order not to depend entirely on the big studios, and to launchThey made two mistakes , in 1968 Clint Eastwood founded his own production company, which was called Malpaso, like his California ranch, Malpaso Creek, where a lagoon located in the middle of the land makes it difficult to pass. From that moment on, Eastwood co-produced all of his films through Malpaso, until in 1971, when he decided to take a good step towards directing. His behind-the-scenes debut wasChill in the night , a conventional thriller about a radio host harassed by a psychopathic listener. That year he was sweeping the billboards withDirty Harry , again directed by Siegel. From that moment on, he stars in titles that, without being memorable, have quality (Joe Kidd ,Suicide Road , Escape from Alcatraz ,On the tightrope ,The Iron Sergeant ) and the different continuations of Dirty Harry :strong harry ,Harry the Enforcer ,sudden impact ,The black list ) and directs titles that are growing in interest (Hell of cowards ,Spring Into Autumn , which was her first not starring in, License to Kill ,The outlaw ,Firefox ) until arriving at the magnificent The Midnight Adventurer , his first work of maturity, in which he also played the protagonist, a country singer sick with tuberculosis during the years of the Great Depression. equally round isThe Pale Rider , indebted to classic titles such asdeep roots . In 1988 she paid tribute to his great fondness for jazz inBird , one of his best titles, recreation of the life of saxophonist Charlie Parker, for which critics began to consider him “the last classic filmmaker.” His next masterpiece, after the mediocreThe rookie and the right oneWhite Hunter, Black Heart , was Unforgiven , a demystifying, twilight vision of the Western that was recognized by the Academy with four Oscars, including best director and best picture.

He was 62 years old at the time, but Eastwood was still so fit that he remained in the spotlight throughout the 90s and the beginning of the new millennium, with very different films. “My job is to tell stories, it doesn’t matter what it’s about or what genre or era it belongs to. I am attracted to doing new things ”, he commented. As an actor, director, or both, he has continued to mix unpretentious product (absolute power ,imminent execution ,Space Cowboys ,Debt of blood ) with great titles (In the line of fireA perfect worldThe Madison Bridges ). And of course,Million Dollar Baby , winner of four Oscars and one of the best titles of the year.