Eastwood. Eastwood’s filmography is stronger than he is as a stylistic director. Still—at slot #79 here—we have a director with 4 films in the top 500 with similarities in the visual design and persistent narrative themes. It’s tough to reconcile just how different his films from a color palette standpoint in the 20thcentury look from his films in the 21st century but I think this is a good spot for him. In both eras he made beautiful films (Unforgiven is incredibly striking and his color/lighting scheme in the early 2000’s is impressive). He has a ton of archiveable films (17)– especially for a modern director.
Best film: Unforgiven. If you made a list of the 20 best shots in Clint’s oeuvre as a director 6 of them would be from Unforgiven (Clint’s conversation under the tree here), as well as the beating of Richard Harris by Hackman (both superb in the film) and the final showdown.
total archiveable films: 17
top 100 films: 0
top 500 films: 4 (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, The Outlaw Josey Wales)
top 100 films of the decade: 5 (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Letters From Iwo Jima)
most overrated: The Bridges of Madison County. The TSPDT consensus has this as Eastwood’s 4th best film as director—I’m at #8.
most underrated: Mystic River is still nowhere to be found in the TSPDT top 1000 after 15+ years now. I have it at #310. This was the first film of Eastwood’s new visual style (lighting, décor, costume—basically mise-en-scene in general) and string of films in the 2000’s (6 archiveable films in the decade) and a haunting ending that will stick in your head for weeks.
gem I want to spotlight: Pale Rider. It’s Eastwood’s update on Shane. It’s Eastwood, so it’s darker—much more nihilistic—but a worthy update of the George Stevens’ film.
stylistic innovations/traits: Because he has been such a consistent box office success he’s largely had creative control over his films for about 50 years at Warners. Remarkable. In that time he’s put together one of the more fascinating examinations of masculinity in cinema. His films are also meditations on individualism and violence. Eastwood needs to be praised for his late renaissance. He was 74 when Mystic River came out. That’s the first of 8 archiveable films for Eastwood in the 21st century (all age 70+ and counting). He’s also known for his own iconic film star image, jazzy scores (many of which he wrote and scored), and made some of the best of the desaturated color (greys, washed out blues, greens) films of the 2000’s (like say Fincher or Soderbergh I can tell Eastwood’s films (some great, some good, some ok) in less than a minute from the mise-en-scene color palette and lighting mix)).
top 10
- Unforgiven
- Million Dollar Baby
- Mystic River
- The Outlaw Josey Wales
- Letters From Iwo Jima
- High Plains Drifter
- Pale Rider
- The Bridges of Madison County
- The Flags of Our Fathers
- Changeling
By year and grades
| 1971- Play Misty For Me | R |
| 1973- High Plains Drifter | HR |
| 1976- The Outlaw Josey Wales | MS |
| 1983- Sudden Impact | R |
| 1985- Pale Rider | |
| 1988- Bird | R |
| 1992- Unforgiven | MP |
| 1993- Perfect World | R |
| 1995- The Bridges of Madison County | R |
| 2003- Mystic River | MP |
| 2004- Million Dollar Baby | MP |
| 2006- Letters from Iwo Jima | MS |
| 2006- The Flags of Our Fathers | R |
| 2008- Changeling | R |
| 2008- Gran Torino | R |
| 2014- American Sniper | R |
| 2016- Sully | R |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
Caught High Plains Drifter for the second time a couple of weeks ago and upgraded it to a low-end Must-See, here were my notes (several revelatory things for me in this viewing):
Insanity. Eastwood is probably cinema’s go to badass, the most masculine of the masculine, and I am still blown away by how big his balls are in this project. This was really his first true shot at a big studio-backed film, and instead of playing it safe to prove he was reliable, he decided to throw all fastballs. The reincarnated ghost-protagonist concept (different here but still before Sixth Sense) with the big reveal at the very end, literally painting an entire town red, and the abrasive rape scene from the Eastwood-protagonist character within the first 10 minutes… he’s going all in doing something truly unique, conceptual and provocative
One of the highest concept westerns ever. It’s ghost-tale that ventures into a straight up horror-western at points. It’s also funny, with a very dark sense of humor too (“maybe she’s upset you didn’t come back for more”) … it’s truly a product of Eastwood’s cynicism and sense of humor
Take nothing for granted. It’s all intentional. The hotel-worker lady tells Eastwood’s character that Jim Duncan‘s body is buried in an unmarked grave, and then repeats the adage that “the dead can’t rest until their grave is marked”. And that’s what’s happens: Eastwood’s reincarnated spirit returns to the town that whipped and murdered him to get revenge & restore a tombstone for where his real body lies
The most striking example of this comes in the finale. Eastwood’s character gets the town to be entirely painted blood red, “Hell” is painted on the town welcoming-sign, and then he proceeds to light the town on fire as he delivers justice to the men that tortured and killed him. Once the revolution lands, it is clear what Clint is doing here. His “ghost” is torturing these characters in hell for their sins, in the exact same way that they tortured him. Brilliant, and it’s all built up well; “hell” is in the text atleast 3-4 times before this
It’s really this final set piece (the red painted town) that takes this film up a grade, it’s a textbook HR up until this moment, but then this big, ambitious set piece design enters and Clint captures it in many staggering shots. It’s one of my favorite set pieces in western history
A completely genius component that I did not pick up on the first viewing (prob 4 years ago at this point) is actually the bookends here. In both the first and last shot, we see our protagonist riding into the frame, but it’s shot with immensely disorienting heat waves that quite literally make him look translucent and like his “ghost” character is entering into the world in the beginning, and then disappearing into the void at the end. In this first scene there is also a horrifying ambient score — so off rip we are already tonally achieving something else not experienced before in a western… it’s avant garde stuff honesty
It’s a morally corrupt town, and Clint’s revenge does not stop at just the men that killed him. He wants to torment the entire town, he rapes the women, physically destroys the town, and spends the entire runtime (hilariously) walking all over and humiliating every man in the town
Eastwood, before this film, spent the last (nearly) decade redefining (the morally grey antihero) what a leading man character in a western could be. In this film he takes it to another level by having his lead character rape a woman at the very beginning of the film, it’s an abrasive start
Impressive montage editing used in the scenes of violence (mainly the whipping). This is a skill he improves on even further in Josey Wales but largely drops as he goes deeper into his career
Really unique setting for a western being right off the shore. He makes great use of it by putting the shoreline in the back of many frames
There’s alot of Greenwood’s TWBB score at points (before, of course) set to similiar landscape. Really this film captures a similar vibe/mood as TWBB (and even The Shining (as crazy as that sounds & as my dad pointed out to me) at several points, and it’s that uniqueness within this genre that make this stand out as such an inspired work. It’s really operating in a genre-lane unlike anything else out there (atleast that I’ve seen)
Incredibly impressive blocking at points. Eastwood was a rebel of the western genre but he’s still clearly studied in the strengths of the great western directors of old like Ford
Dark lighting was obviously a major auteur skill set that Clint deployed later into his career, but you actually see the overtop dark lighting scheme here first during the whipping scenes. As I’ve pointed out before, Dirty Harry is an underrated dark lighting achievement and I believe Clint actually developed his affinity for this type of lighting from Siegel & Dirty Harry (this film is only 2 years older than Dirty Harry so it was surely fresh on Clint’s mind)
Brilliant shot over Clint’s shoulder, where his hat starts out out-of-focus & blocking most of the frame, just for Clint to tilt his hat up revealing an immaculately staged ensemble as the camera gets pulled back into focus
Clint’s character is such a theatre kid
Eastwood understands how to build a villain up well. Those scenes are the weaker points and could be cut down a bit but it’s Clint taking his time building up the ruthlessness of the 3 gunman. He does this with the Richard Harris & Hackman character to an even far greater extent in Unforgiven
Eastwood’s usual acting style is, as you can guess, uniquely suited for playing a literal ghostly vessel. He’s great here, totally devoid and detached
A layered film that rewards atleast 1 extra viewing to see how the twist-concept is built up
Going to upgrade this to a lower end Must-See level film with 2 viewings. I think it’s a snub from Drake’s top 1000 & embarrassingly low at 5,356 on TSPDT
I think you guys are missing out on White Hunter Black Heart (1990). His most underrated movie and top 3 in my opinion (along with Unforgiven and Josey Wales).
@Joāo Pedro – I think it’s more about him finding a second style rather than coming back after a slog of weak films. The darker blue colour palette being a new focus of his.
I think Eastwood directed great films in the 70s,80s,90s and 00s. Didn’t really have an off decade up to that point
Should add the 10s. The 10s is like his 70s and 80s: not every film is a masterpiece, but “American Sniper” and “Richard Jewell” are definitely really great films.
Hello Drake. It must be a bold statement, but i honestly think that Clint never had a renaissance, because he always peeked. His filmography is much more consistent than that of Spillberg and my beloved Scorsese. Even his latest film “Juror nº2”, despite how laid back it looks, its just an excellent film and easy one of the best of the year.
I never saw Flags of Our Fathers but appreciated Letters From Iwo Jima. Considering the films were shot back to back, and it was a fruitfull era for Eastwood I’m curious why there’s a (now) one grade disparity between the two on here.
@Drake-What are the archivable films do you have for Angelina Jolie?
@Lionel- there’s not much here I don’t think. A Mighty Heart (2007), Changeling (2008) and Maria (2024)
@Drake-That’s a bit shocking. At least all 3 are the leading role.
No Girl Interrupted?
@Palmer- I’ve seen it- saw it in theater – and once since
Has anyone seen Juror #2? Is it any good?
@Malith – it’s a decent watch. Won’t blow you away but has a nice screenplay and lead performance.
@Lionel – Agree with @Harry solid and worth watching but hard to imagine raising it above a basic Recommend
@James Trapp-I like Nicholas Hoult, I will check this one out.
@Lionel – I like him too, he has been all over the place lately. Have you seen Nosferatu (2024) yet?
@James Trapp-Not yet.
@Malith – near the bottom, but I still enjoyed watching even with it having several flaws
Juror # 2 is highly enjoyable film but limited cinematically. There is a bit of a 12 Angry Men setup but twists are turns follow. I won’t reveal any spoilers but I do wish the JK Simmons character did not leave halfway through.
If it is his final work not a terrible way to go out. When I am 94 I will probably feel good if I can still do basic things like cook a meal and drive a car around the block. That Eastwood is still directing films is unbelievable.
@James Trapp-Where do you rank this among Eastwood’s filmography?
@James – It’s a nice solid recommended, certainly a good upgrade from Cry Macho. JK Simmons was very good.
Here’s an unbelievable fact. Out of all of Eastwood’s films in the 2010’s, Jersey Boys is the highest rated and the only one in the TSPDT 21st Century List. Not American Sniper, Sully, Richard Jewell etc.
My ranking of Eastwood`s films that I`ve seen:
1. Unforgiven MP
2. Million Dollar Baby MP
3. Mystic River MS
4. The Outlaw Josey Wales MS
5. Letters from Iwo Jima HR/MS
6. High Plains Drifter HR
10 Best Performances
1. Hackman- Unforgiven 5
2. Eastwood- Unforgiven 5
3. Penn- Mystic River 5
4. Swank- Million Dollar Baby 5
5. Eastwood- Million Dollar Baby 5
6. Eastwood- The outlaw Josey Wales 5
7. Robbins- Mystic River 5
8. Harris- Unforgiven 4.5
9. Freeman- Million Dollar Baby 4.5
10. Bacon- Mystic River 4.5
Watched “True Crime” and “Cry Macho” this week and its strange it isnt here.
Clint Eastwood has a new film “Juror No. 2” coming out at some point this year…..he is 93 years old
Clint is 94. But he is still quite far off Manoel de Oliveira who released a film called Gebo and the Shadow in 2012 at 104 years old
@Maltih – That is insane, Polanski was 86 when An Officer and a Spy was released in 2019. I think that is the oldest for directing a MP level film. I actually started thinking about this subject again at the end of my Kubrick Study. He was only 70 when he died of heart attack. Of course, by that point he gaps in years between films was huge. The Shining to Full Metal Jacket was 7 years and then another 12 years until Eyes Wide Shut so who knows if he would have made another film
@James-That is not even the crazier part. De Oliveira released 14 films since he turned 90. And I believe I’m Going Home which he released at 93 is in the archives. The Strange Case of Angelica he released at 102 and that I believe is in the TSPDT top 2500 all time.
TSPDT actually has a page for him here.
https://www.theyshootpictures.com/deoliveiramanoel.htm
@Drake-What do you think is the best Eastwood film of the 2010’s. American Sniper, Sully or Richard Jewell? Do you think it is his worst decade or 1980’s were worse?
Perfect World is probably my favorite Eastwood film (out of the ones he directed, of course – nothing can top For A Few Dollars More). It’s pretty straightforward and simple, but I feel like it’s the one – along with Bridges of Madison County – where he’s most in control as a formal director who’s also going for emotional stories.
Sean Penn kinda bothered me in Mystic River though. Wish I had liked that film more.
Unforgiven (1992) continues to move up my list of all time greats. Visually it’s stunning, a couple of its best shots are captured above on this page. It has top notch performances all the way around along with several all time great scenes; the “we all have it coming” scene where the Scofield Kid is forced to admit what we the audience suspected all along (he isn’t the cold blooded killer he claims to be) and the final shootout which is a standard Western Trope but feels more personal as Clint’s character avenges Ned’s (Morgan Freeman) death and Clint’s speech before and the final “deserves got nothin to do with it!”
Where does Unforgiven belong in terms of the greatest Actor/Director accomplishments?
Obviously Orson Welles in Citizen Kane is hard to top but what are some of the other best dual performances?
Now that I think of it Orson Welles has many of the greatest and frankly deserves his own list:
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Touch of Evil (1958) – my personal favorite of his
The Trial (1962) – he’s more of a supporting character here
Chimes at Midnight (1965)
@James Trapp- Renoir can’t be too far down the list in The Rules of the Game.
When a I think of Clint Eastwood as a director, the first description that comes to mind is – mediocre and it’s really shame because he showed moments of brilliance and that he is capable of being a great director. He just keeps making mediocre films, it’s so frustrating. I’m totally on board with you about Mystic River and I don’t even think you overdid it – 310 sounds about right to me. That one, Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby are all great films and he can look any director in the eye with the top 3 like that but after that there’s a huge gap (maybe Letters from Iwo Jima is above the rest). I know that bad films should’t take away from his good stuff but for me I think that’s what’s happening subconsciously. It’s just hard to look at his massive filmography with so little to show for it.
@Chief Keef- how about the Changeling? I thought that was underrated. I hear you on how many mediocre films he has made. And “per average” is a factor. But I don’t want to be too hard on someone that turns out a film every year two as long as he has roughly the same number of superb films (this happened a lot, even with great directors like John Ford or Howard Hawks) in the studio era). We’re used now to long years between films for auteurs and some of these older school guys like Eastwood and Woody Allen just don’t do it that way.
I know he has probably a better resume as an actor. Do you agree?
How much out of 10 would you rank Clint as
1) a director and
2) an actor
@Drake. Pretty much the same as you. I thought it was predictable. As a big sports fan, I enjoyed it and I thought it was inspiring by uniting the black and white people of South Africa but I don’t think it is among Eastwood’s best. The performances from Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon were good in my opinion though.
@Edward— glad we’re basically on the same page. Thanks for letting me know.
What do you think about Invictus?
@Edward. I’ve seen it 2-3 times. I’d watch again to potentially reconsider but didn’t find it to be worthy of the archives. What did you think about it? I guess I thought was it had a good moral message (i think this moved many of the critics) and I’d sign up for my sons to watch it in a social studies class in 8th grade or something– but I didn’t find enough about it from a visual or narrative standpoint to put it up there with the best 30-40 films of 2009.
@ clint– I admire Clint’s work, too. I have his filmography ranked at #63 and then I think he falls back a little because he isn’t the visual stylist someone like Sirk or Demy is. I don’t count Clint’s work solely as an actor here (so the work with Leone wouldn’t count). On this page i’m stricly talking about him as a director. I did a top 100 actors and Clint has a great slot on that list — here’s his page https://thecinemaarchives.com/2018/07/02/the-19th-best-actor-of-all-time-clint-eastwood/
i love clint to death. why doesnt he have a higher ranking with three masterpieces. dont forget his amazing work with leone as an influence by the way.