Clint Eastwood

American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood
$25.99
Ideally a biography of a contemporary artist should evaluate three areas: The facts of a human life, the artist's practical management of his career and the success or failure of the artist's creative efforts. Eliot's book on Cary Grant had success in all three areas, and convincingly penetrated Grant's mind sufficiently to say some cogent things about how Grant approached his art as he became the quintessential movie actor. Eliot does not succeed nearly so well with Eastwood.

Eliot recites the facts of Eastwood's life, mostly garnered from the public record (except for his obsessive enumeration of Eastwood's love affairs). Eliot's chronicle of Eastwood's efforts as manager of his own career is the strongest part of the book and the least complementary to Eastwood (the words "self-centered" and "ruthless" leap to mind).

Eliot has nothing to say, however, about Eastwood's artistic achievement. His coverage of the films consists mostly of plot summaries with little analysis. Much of the critical commentary, such as it is, is quoted from various reviewers and writers ranging from putative heavyweights such as Kael, Sarris and Crist to lesser lights such as Rex Reed. Eliot's own proffered insights are not enlightening (to say that many of Eastwood's films are about angry loners and that this may be linked to Eastwood's own loner personality is not a stunning revelation).

I do not suggest that analysis of Eastwood's artistry is easy or simple. Eastwood's career has been prolific, long and varied and any analysis must consider all of its aspects (acting, directing and producing) over time. Not only has Eastwood's technical ability evolved into mastery, but the artistic stance of "Million Dollar Baby," "Mystic River," and "Gran Torino" seem, on the surface at least, utterly different from "Dirty Harry," "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Coogan's Bluff." But Eliot seems to find the body of work impenetrable.

The Man with No Name Trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)
$29.98
These are some nice classic movies to watch. There are limited features on the DVD, but that is to be expected based on the age of the movies.

Pale Rider
$12.98
Coy LaHood (played by Richard Dysart) is a man unused to people standing in his way. He is a successful hydraulic-miner, and he is going to blast a small community of pan-miners out of his way. However, when a preacher (Clint Eastwood) rides into the community, he finds that things aren't necessarily as easy as he had hoped. Can the preacher stand up to LaHood and survive? Perhaps, but the crossfire is going to be murderous!

This is another one of Clint Eastwood's great Westerns, one that I never seem to tire of. It's got an interesting plot, and a lot of great action. I liked the peak the movie gave into Californian history, showing the hydraulic mining that was so environmentally destructive it was banned during the 19th century. It's a great movie, really exciting and very entertaining. I highly recommend it!

Clint Eastwood Comedy: 4 Film Favorites
$19.94
This is a nice set that contains a good selection of some of Clint's best older movies. I am quite happy with it.