Loading ...Egomania Case Studies: Clint Eastwood
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Has Clint’s ego mellowed with age and (at least) seven different children with four different girls?
If I asked who amongst us had never sampled a Coca Cola, the answer would be the same as if I’d asked who had never seen a Clint Eastwood movie.
While I wouldn’t call myself a diehard Clint fan, I have seen all his spaghetti westerns, his Dirty Harry movies, and most of the recent work he’s done after Unforgiven was released in 1993. Clint’s post-Unforgiven career marked a significant rise up the food chain from the majority of turkeys he appeared in throughout the 1980’s and early 1990’s. The press and his fans presently feel he can do no wrong. His latest movie, Gran Torino, the last Eastwood claims he’ll ever appear in as an actor, was the most successful opening of any Clint Eastwood movie ever. Not bad for a man pushing 80.
Gran Torino seems to have its heart in the right place. It’s about a septuagenarian Asian-hating Korean war veteran who befriends a young Hmong trying to steal his 1972 Gran Torino, but it’s not a great movie, even if Clint-lovers seem to feel differently. On IMDB, Gran Torino, as of this writing, is ranked 83rd by voters, ahead of Eastwood’s Oscar winning Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. But I’m sure even Clint himself would agree Gran Torino doesn’t deserve, on its merits, to be in IMDB’s top 250 list of all films ever made or at least higher ranked than two of his Academy Award generating films. Gran Torino’s script could’ve used a polish and the supporting actors, mostly Hmongs with no prior acting experience, are terrible. Clint handicapped himself by trying to hire real Hmongs. The pool of talented Hmong thespians who speak fluent English would fit into the backseat of my car. It’s called acting for a reason. Either the script could’ve been rewritten to involve some other Asian ethnic group for which talented actors were available or else the Hmong element could’ve remained but with others Asians playing those Hmongs. Hollywood has Koreans play Japanese or Serbs play Russians all the time.
The unconvincing acting among the youth of Gran Torino stood out all the more when the following day, I watched Slumdog Millionaire and saw the younger kids in that movie run laps around the Torino youth. Now how can this be? Clint’s been an actor for 50 years and a director for almost 40. With this much experience in front of and behind the camera, how could Clint the auteur turn in a film with such pathetic acting?
I have a theory why. Most of you aren’t going to want to hear it. It’s because he’s an overrated director. Before you chastise me for besmirching the reputation of a screen icon and legend the majority seemingly adore enough to rate his latest movie #83 of all movies ever made, hear me out first.
As I see it, Gran Torino exposes Clint’s weaknesses. Clint’s talent is in finding scripts movie reviewers gush over. If he’s handed The Bridges Over Madison County, Mystic River, or Unforgiven and hires accomplished actors like Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Sean Penn, and Gene Hackman, the actors can deliver their top class performances. Clint stays out of the way and lets the actors accomplishments win him the awards and nominations. But his one-take, minimally supervised directing approach only works when the actors already know how to act. The Torino actors knew as much about acting as I do about tap dancing, and it showed.
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7 Comments
January 7th, 2010 at 4:07 am
Clint’s personal life is his own business and doesn’t reflect on his work as an artist. I would agree that the acting in Gran Torino was naff but this added an air or realism, given the film a semi documentary feel. I think you’re just jealous that Clint gets all the birds.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
The Egomania Case Studies at Doug’s Republic are about people I consider egomaniacs, whatever their occupations. The last one was done on Saddam Hussein, whom no one would consider an artist but a butcher. One’s personal life and one’s business cannot be separated. Each has an impact on the other. Clint made for a fascinating Egomania Case Study because his behavior doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. There are plenty of celebrities who get all the birds. Why then get married at 23, like Clint did? Go rack up the totals and be a serial womanizer into old age like Warren Beatty. From what I’ve gathered, however, it seems Clint probably married his first wife Maggie because she was in a position to pay the bills before Clint was making a real living. I can’t think of any other reason he would’ve married her so young, given his behavior, unless it provided a clear benefit to him, a pattern of personal (not mutual) gain he’s pursued throughout his life. What surprised me about Clint was the sheer number of people — males and females — he burned along the way, after he became famous: cutting people out of business profits when the Clintster was already set financially, breaking his word on movie deals, manipulating directors. Clint may be your hero and make your day, but he’s an egomaniac all the same . . . and Gran Torino did suck, whether you consider a drama, comedy, or a documentary.
January 8th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Man, I respect your opinion but you are just plain wrong. And besides Clint may be no angel but I kinda’s like him like that. And think on this No Clint = No Good, bad, Ugly, No Unforgiven,no Outlaw Wales,no Play Misty for me, No Dirty Harry, no Gran Torino (BRILLIANT FILM), no In The Line of Fire, no Beguiled, No Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and no The Rookie. Okay we could do without that last one but the rest enhance my life.
January 8th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
I haven’t seen Gran Torino yet. But I will always be a fan of Eastwood films. And for every bad film he’s made there five High Plains Drifters to make up for it. And his work as a director in Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby is tops.
January 21st, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Gary, Clint’s certainly no angel. No debate about that one. I respect his work in some of the films he’s done as an actor — THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, the first three movies in the Dirty Harry franchise, even the medicore film HONKYTONK MAN, which had its heart in the right place. My gripe with him is as a director and, for the purposes of the profile, as an egomaniac. I think he’s an overrated director and an overrated person. I will say, at his best as a director, he knows how to pick good scripts, and for those scripts, hire accomplished actors who need practically no direction. In those cases, any competent craftsman could’ve turned in a noteworthy film. Nonetheless, Clint’s the one who found the projects and assembled the talent. A hack couldn’t have done that. But he’s not some sort of visionary perfectionist director, the way the press makes him out to be. He gets his projects done early and under budget because he doesn’t polish his scripts or shoot multiple takes. GRAN TORINO could’ve used A LOT of rewrites and retakes.
Somehow, readers assume I’m jealous that Clint has balled half of greater Hollywood, and thus seek to slam all his work. Not at all. Kudos to Clint for spreading his DNA to further generations, for diversifying his gene pool with a variety of females. He’s fulfilled the biological imperative. I don’t call him an egomaniac because he’s a serial impregnator. I call him an egomaniac because of the way he conducts his life.
I try, as best I can, to separate the man (= the egomaniac) from the legend (= actor/director). If the Clintster is not an egomaniac, I’m welcome to the evidence proving otherwise.
May 31st, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Doug, you are probably right.
I just read a good article about “bridges of madison County” that
mark steyn wrote on steynonline.com, to commemorate Clint’s 80th birthday; however, you also add something.
You reminded me of a recent podcast by russ Roberts (econtalk.org)
where the host mentions that he has certain biases, but one should not dismiss the evidence he cites; be sceptical yes, but don’t necessarily dismiss the evidence.
i see you have a science background and i think this article on Clint
you wrote just looks at some of the obvious evidence.
Despite the mock tone you write with…er..atleast i think it is mocking.
Nice work buddy.
PS..Eli Wallach made a comment about Clint having taken a fair while to ask him to do a cameo (in Mystic River, i think)
i mean…c’mon..Clint was good in (G,B&Ugly) but Eli acted him off the stage.
Oh, yeah…one more thing…Sergio Leone’s “Once upon a Time in the West” is my fave western and it was originally conceived(apparently) as having Clint play one of the bad guys that gets shot in the opening scene.
Needless to say, Clint didn’t want to do it.
October 3rd, 2010 at 5:57 pm
I’m not sure who wrote the fantastic article on Clint Eastwoot. However I
just wanted to let the author know that I thorougly enjoyed reading the
article and completely agree. Being 18 years of age, I just recently
discovered Clints MASSIVE catalogue of movies. Yes, they are awesome and he
is a “legend”. However when I began reading on his personal life I was so
dissappointed. Previous day, YAY! LEGEND! Following day, “C**T OF A MAN”.
Feeling both extremes was weird. I guess Hollywood chooses who are the
legend and who are’nt.
So once again, just wanted to say I loved the article. I agree with your
conclusion, if Clint wasn’t 80…he would have dumped Dina for another
woman. He ain’t going to live long…so he figured he might aswell stop.
Egomaniacs, the only thing that stops them is DEATH.
Regards,
Sarah