“Go ahead, make my day.” Today, we’re trying to make Clint Eastwood’s day by wishing him the happiest of birthdays. The iconic actor is turning 92 today.
From Western films to dramas to acting to directing, Clint Eastwood has shown an amazing level of growth during his career. He started to become popular after his role on the Western series “Rawhide.”
Starting Out with Westerns
Then, the actor was cast in his first breakout film role, “A Fistful of Dollars.” The film was an Italian-made Western filmed in a very remote part of Spain with an unknown director, Sergio Leone. The film was a massive success and created a Clint Eastwood following in Italy. As the elusive Man with No Name, Eastwood stepped into a completely new antihero-type role.
The film would soon turn into a trilogy, which would soon make Eastwood a commercial success everywhere. Today, the last film in the trilogy, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” remains one of his standout roles. According to a 2002 article with Feature Story, Eastwood has held onto the iconic poncho he wears in all three films.
“I still have that, ye ah… it’s sitting in a glass case. Never been washed,” Eastwood said.
From there, the movies rolled in and Eastwood, in all his stoic glory started to create an extensive resume.
IMDb has all of his Westerns ranked. The top two are the third and second installment of the “Dollars” trilogy. Then his No. 3 is “Unforgiven” from 1992. This movie earned Eastwood his first two Academy Awards. In the film, Eastwood plays Will Munny, a farmer that has put aside his old gunslinging days to be there for his kids. Morgan Freeman shows up and offers him a job. The two gunslinging vigilantes head out to right wrongs and avoid the town sheriff.
His fifth and sixth-ranked Westerns are “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and “High Plains Drifter.” A young man seeking revenge in Missouri and a mysterious man drifting into a small town in California to kill people connected to his past. Both films are filled with drama, revenge, gunslinging, and Eastwood as his quiet and serious self.
Clint Eastwood as a Director
While his Westerns are beyond popular, Eastwood has done far more than just gunslinging roles in the Old West. His role in “Dirty Harry,” the action-thriller movie from 1971, finds Eastwood on the search for a psychotic killer. His role as police inspector Harry Callahan is actually one of his most memorable characters to date.
Eastwood’s characters have made him an emblem for masculinity in early Hollywood. The popular actor would eventually take on directing. He has won several Academy Awards both directing and acting. Some of his films include “Unforgiven,” “The Mule,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “American Sniper,” “Mystic River,” and “Sully.”
Clint Eastwood is still working, too. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Eastwood’s new directorial feature “Cry Macho” is set to release on October 22, 2021. Eastwood will play a retired rodeo star trying to bring his former boss’s son to Texas from rural Mexico.
After seven decades in the entertainment world, Eastwood’s love for filmmaking has yet to fade. Here’s to more Clint Eastwood movies and moments in the future. The iconic actor and director even has a Gorillaz song named after him.
“Finally someone let me out of my cage / Now time for me is nothin’ ‘cos I’m counting no age.”
