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Paper Abstract: Life & career of actor/director through 1993, including [In the Line of Fire]. Paper Introduction: Clint Eastwood has become a major force in American films and has confounded many who predicted that he would never have a career in Hollywood. Long treated by critics as a one-note actor with little range, he received the nomination for the Academy Award as Best Actor of 1992. His success was made all the more impressive as he received the Academy Award for Best Director and for Best Picture in that same year. In addition, he has over the years produced, directed and/or appeared in a number of films that have achieved high grosses, and after winning the Oscars his newest film as an actor, In the Line of Fire, has become one of the major money-makers of 1993. Alan Frank notes the distinction often made between the actor and the star--the presence of the actor in a film is necessary but not usually enough in itself to ensure that people Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The film was seen asan expression of right-wing anger at crime and the supposed hobbling of thepolice, with the character of Harry Callahan serving as the policeman whodoes not understand how the system can fail so greatly in the face of acertain type of criminal. "This Old Gunslinger's Words Are His Bullets." Choices (April 1993), 52-56.Smith, Paul. . Eastwood started a sub-genre of his own, a sort ofsemi-country comedy genre exemplified by Every Which Way But Loose (1978),Bronco Billy (198 ), Any Which Way You Can (198 ), and Honkytonk Man(1982). Hedirected many of the clear genre pieces noted above, including two of theDirty Harry movies and several of the comedies. Hestayed with the show through its entire run (while lead Eric Fleming didnot), for he saw it as security even when he grew tired of doing it. When the father got a job with theContainer Corporation of America in Oakland, Clint attended OaklandTechnical High School where he met Fritz Manes, after that a lifelongfriend who would work as actor and producer in Eastwood's films. [19]"Clint Eastwood and the American Psyche--A Rare Interview,"Psychology Today (February 1993), 4 . He began to feel freer as a director toexpress himself personally, and this was apparent in the successful andcritically well-received film Bird, the story of jazz musician CharlieParker, which Eastwood directed but in which he did not appear (he hadactually done this once before less successfully with Breezy in 1973). Like Bird, it was a commercial failure.[17] In addition to his efforts as an actor, director, and producer,Eastwood continued his interest in politics in his chosen home of Carmel,California by running for and becoming mayor in 1986. Being an actor and being a star are not mutuallyexclusive, but they are also not necessarily the same thing. He made a western called Ambush at CimarronPass at 2 th Century-Fox. Tom Stern, his chief lightingtechnician, states, Clint's not particularly verbal. [17]Paul A. In Play Misty for Me,which he also directed, he was a disc jockey caught up in a suspensefulsituation as a crazed fan stalked him (and this was some time before thescope of this problem was made clear by various infamous cases such as themurder of John Lennon). His first assignment was a smallrole in the horror film Revenge of the Creature, followed by roles inTarantula, Francis in the Navy, Lady Godiva, and Never Say Goodbye. ClintEastwood is an acknowledged star. Clint Eastwood has become a major force in American films and hasconfounded many who predicted that he would never have a career inHollywood. The Korean War started soon after,but Eastwood spent his time as a swimming instructor at Fort Ord.[6] He made friends in the army with Martin Miner and David Janssen, bothaspiring actors who tried to talk Clint into joining them. He contacted Eastwood's agents in Los Angeles and hired him, freshfrom Rawhide and well-known in Europe as a result. He did go to Texas after that and worked at the BethlehemSteel Company. leone wanted an Americanfor the lead, but he also did not have the money to attract a star. [3]Iain Johnstone, The Man with No Name (New York: Morrow Quill, 1981),12. . [4]Boris Zmijewsky and Lee Pfeiffer, The Films of Clint Eastwood(Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1982), 14-15. New York: Exeter Books, 1982.Johnstone, Iain. [12]Ibid., 35. Inaddition, he has over the years produced, directed and/or appeared in anumber of films that have achieved high grosses, and after winning theOscars his newest film as an actor, In the Line of Fire, has become one ofthe major money-makers of 1993. [14]Thompson, 37. [11]Thompson, 34. Eastwood has become one of the most important of the truemovie stars working today and has shown a range as actor and director thatpromises more surprises in the future. Various reviewers thought the film to be an out-and-out apologia for fascism.[15] Eastwood would play the character of Dirty Harry Callahan four moretimes over the next twenty years, showing the popularity of the characterand the genre. The film has become one of the leading money earners for1993 and received an endorsement from President Clinton, particularlyvaluable given that the film is the story of the Secret Service that guardsthe President. [2]Ibid., 6-7. He then worked as a lifeguard in Renton, Texas, a countyjob, and was also required to give swimming instructions. The filmwas followed by two successful sequels--For a Few Dollars More in 1965 andThe Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in 1966: For whatever reason, and it would seem to be more happenstance and the circumstances of the sixties than some cleverly thought-out promotion, Eastwood rode off on a mule at the end of A Fistful of Dollars and into the sunset and cult status.[12] Eastwood returned to acting in the U.S. Bird is a long, dark film about a man drive by demons never fullyexplained. Eastwood says ofthis experience: The original screenplay had endless pages of dialogue all explaining the character's background but I wanted to play it with an economy of words and create this whole feeling through attitude and movement.[11]This would become a hallmark of Eastwood characters hereafter. Long treated by critics as a one-note actor with little range,he received the nomination for the Academy Award as Best Actor of 1992.His success was made all the more impressive as he received the AcademyAward for Best Director and for Best Picture in that same year. [5]Johnstone, 12. [2 ]Bernard Weinraub, "Even Cowboys Get Their Due," GQ (March 1993),214.----------------------- 12 He wasdrafted into being in the class play in high school, and he hated theordeal so much he stated he would never have anything to do with actingagain.[3] While attending school, Eastwood held a number of jobs to help thefamily with its financial problems, and those that interested him the mostwere outdoor jobs. Hissuccess led many to wonder if, and perhaps hope that, he would run forhigher office in the state at some time in the future.[18] Unforgiven shows Eastwood at the peak of his ability as both actorand director, and this project has been described by him as a veryimportant work and as a chance to demythify the Western and to show thatkilling is not as romantic as movies have tended to make it out to be.[19]The resulting film did exactly that and was a very big success. [7]Johnstone, 17-19. BIBLIOGRAPHY"Clint Eastwood and the American Psyche--A Rare Interview," Psychology Today (February 1993), 38-41, 75-79.Frank, Alan. [9]Ibid., 32. He worked in a lumber camp in Oregon for morethan a year. He talks with his hands so you can flounder for a while and it took me a picture and a half to understand him. By thetime Clint was fifteen, he was almost at his present height of 6-foot four-inches, and he felt alienated from other students because of his height.This was the start of his habit of being a loner and an introvert. He's completely committed to his intuition.[16]Eastwood directed himself in perhaps his most ambitious job as an actor,starring in White Hunter, Black Heart in 199 , and the results were well-received by critics if not by the public: [The film] proved he was willing to take huge and potentially embarrassing risks as an actor. [13]Paul Smith, Clint Eastwood (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota,1993), 27. Westerns werevery popular on television, and Eastwood landed the role as second-lead onRawhide. Harry Callahan is clearly an officer whooperates beyond the pale of accepted police regulations, and the evidencehe secures is thrown out because of his behavior. He served only onetwo-year term, achieving what he wanted in that time and then passing theseat to someone else. Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1982.----------------------- [1]Alan Frank, Clint Eastwood (New York: Exeter Books, 1982), 6. Witteman, "Go Ahead, Make My Career," Time (April 5, 1993),54. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1992.Weinraub, Bernard. He graduated from Oakland High School in 1948. Eastwood's directing career was showing that he was learning morewith each film so that he began to test himself in that area as well. thefamily was moving to Texas, where his father had another job, but Clint didnot want to go with them. Eastwood's conservative politics were expressed in the criticism ofthe system even as Eastwood may have seen Callahan's behavior as mistaken.In subsequent outings, however, Callahan showed he had learned nothing andwas still always successful, and Dirty Harry would become a paradigm forviolent police films with a certain rightist message: . When he leftthe army, though, he enrolled in Los Angeles City College as a businessadministration major and took part-time employment where he could find it.He finally gave in to pressure from friends and managed to become part ofthe Universal Studios apprentice program. "Go Ahead, Make My Career." Time (April 5, 1993), 54- 56.Zmijewsky, Boris and Lee Pfeiffer. By 1958, though, Eastwood was working diggingswimming pools as he had before starting his acting career.[7] Eastwood appeared in a few television roles and another movie or twobefore getting the role that solidified him as an actor. The producers did not think stars should direct and saidno.[9] Rawhide would afford Eastwood a different opportunity in that it wasimmensely popular both in the United States and overseas, and once theseries was completed, it was that fame in Europe which would lead to hisjump back to the big screen. Theshow began as a mid-season replacement in January 1959.[8] Eastwood hadhad some experience of filmmaking in the army, and during the period onRawhide he learned even more to the point where he asked if he could directan episode. The Man with No Name. The film was a chance for Eastwood to bring his lifelong loveof jazz to the fore and to express his own feelings about music. "Even Cowboys Get Their Due." GQ (March 1993), 212- 217, 286.Witteman, Paul A. [16]Thompson, 113. Many critics have treated his stardom asdependent on repeating the same character over and over again, somethingattributed to other stars over the years as well. He and Burt Reynolds attempted a 192 s-police comedy with CityHeat, which failed miserably and which was directly poorly by RichardBenjamin. A number of American actors atthe time were doing well acting in Italian films. Clint Eastwood. At thetime he increased his salary to $1 per week. the way in which the film seems to promote Callahan's excesses brought down upon it the charge that it condones a violent right-wing ideology. However, he refused to become typed so severelyand made a number of films which broke that mold. . However, he was laterdropped by Universal and went to RKO, appearing with Ginger Rogers in TheFirst Traveling Saleslady. He would thus become identified for manywith these types of films. in a film that took advantageof his spaghetti-Western image--Hang 'Em High in 1968. [6]Zmijewsky and Pfeiffer, 15-16. He was not afraid to test the limits of his police-hero image withTightrope, a film in which he was a cop truly out of control and nearlyalcoholic. was always in search of work and at various times was anaccountant or a gas station attendant, depending on what he could find.Eastwood went to a number of different schools as the family moved fromtown to town in northern California. He experimented with theWestern genre with High Plains Drifter, a mixture of Western and gothic(something he had done as an actor for Don Siegel in The Beguiled, one ofhis more uncharacteristic roles). There is anapparent tension in the film itself between rooting for Callahan and anyunderstanding that his actions are wrong, and this tension seems to extendto interpretations offered by Eastwood on the one hand and Siegel on theother. Westerns were popular, and Italian directorSergio Leone wanted to make a Western version of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo,perhaps bolstered by the success of John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven, areworking of Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai. The Films of Clint Eastwood. Hefirst asked James Coburn, but Coburn wanted more money than Leone couldafford. [18]Michael Leahy, "This Old Gunslinger's Words Are His Bullets,"Choices (April 1993), 55. He also felt that his celebrity status was helpfulto Carmel only to a certain degree and then could become a liability. The film, A Fistful ofDollars, started shooting in 1964.[1 ] Eastwood changed the nature of the movie as it started shooting,cutting down his dialogue and playing the part in a minimalist fashion thatwas different from anything that had been done before. [1 ]Frank, 22. Clint Eastwood. Coogan's Bluff was well-received by the critics,not for the least reason being that it was directed by Don Siegel, a noteddirector of action pictures with a large following. Yet, he does not see itthat way and believes it is the system that is wrong, not him. Clint Eastwood Riding High. He was amazed by his success anddecided to give acting his best effort. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1993.Thompson, Douglas. Eastwoodhas used a many crewmembers on film after film, and this has helped him asa director, especially given that his style. [8]Douglas Thompson, Clint Eastwood Riding High (Chicago: ContemporaryBooks, 1992), 27-28. The show lasted seven and one-half years and 254 episodes. Eastwood would appear over that period of time in a numberof Westerns and a number of police action dramas (including several non-Dirty Harry films of this type). It wonnumerous awards before winning the Oscar, including three awards from theLos Angeles Association of Film Critics.[2 ] In the Line of Fire showsEastwood to even better advantage as an actor and provides him with anotheropportunity to expand his roster of heroes while also adding to thecomplexity of both the heroes we see in films and the nature of thethriller genre. This was never reallytrue of Eastwood, even if his range as an actor is not as great as would betrue for some, and in recent years even critics have come to see thatEastwood is playing more diverse characters and taking greater chances inhis material: His career impressively proves that he is an actor of considerable range and abilities, with a sometimes uncanny skill at being able to predict just what cinema-goers want to see, a factor that is perhaps one of the most important and valuable requirements for screen success.[1]Frank also states that Eastwood is not merely a star but is also an actor"whose technique, while apparently simple to the point of being nearinvisible,"[2] places him in a long tradition of anti-hero actors and inthe group of actors who can dominate the screen simply by being on it. The film made $17million, and it was also the first produced by Eastwood's own company,Malpaso. In spite of the fact that the film cashes in on the Italianimage, as a Western it is much more traditional, centering on the familiarWestern conflict between the civic law and some sense of natural law, allswirling around the search for revenge.[13] Eastwood's next American filmwould set the second major character type he would make his own, thepoliceman, though in this particular instance it was a transplanted Westernsheriff in the big city. Alan Frank notes the distinction often made between the actor and thestar--the presence of the actor in a film is necessary but not usuallyenough in itself to ensure that people will see the film, while thepresence of a star attracts audiences in large numbers simply because thatperson is involved. One of the key films the two made together was anotherseries beginning for Eastwood, Dirty Harry in 1971. . [15]Smith, 9 . While the film waswell-received, the critics were less certain about Eastwood.[14]Eastwood would make four more films with Don siegel, and Siegel would alsoserve as his mentor when he started directing on his own with Play Mistyfor Me in 1971. Eastwood was born during the Depression on May 31, 193 in SanFrancisco to a middle-class family at a time when such class distinctionsmeant less--those who could find work were lucky, and the rest were not.Clinton Sr. In 1949 hedecided to return to school to major in music.[4] He had impressed histeachers in high school with his musical talents and was an accomplishedpianist and trumpet player.[5] Before he could continue his studies,however, he was drafted into the army. New York: Morrow Quill, 1981.Leahy, Michael. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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