'Clint: A Retrospective' Reviewed by LA2DAY

There are few actors who personify the term "Icon" like the gun toting cowboy, rough cut cop Clint Eastwood has often portrayed. He's Hollywood's "Everyman". He has beaten the greedy hand of crime with brash whit, issued dead warrants with droll humor and smashed perceptions as a director. Which is why Richard Schickel has diligently edited, and Sterling Publishing has published, a retrospective piece. Rarely does an actor span so many decades, genres, and connect demographics in such a unifying way, even last year as he harnessed his Dirty Harry in Gran Torino (2008).

Introduced by Mr. Eastwood, the retrospective goes some way to explaining the insights this icon has to offer. And they are plenty. "I'm just a guy who makes movies." A quote that holds true today. Mr. Eastwood has been an actor, producer and director, and he harbors an economy all of his own. In recent years he has produced critically lauded material that has found a new audience. In Gran Torino he has resurrected the essence of Dirty Harry and fused it with high calibre narrative, the kind of story that resonates with the audience no matter the age. His decades of experience are peppered throughout the pages. His methodology and principles for movie-making are based on logic, a basis for much of his success he tributes to his mentor - "Don Siegel, always used to say analysis leads to paralysis, and I agree with him one hundred percent. Don always tried to make the process of creating a film very rational. He left nothing to chance."

Equally entertaining is the editors' choice to call a spade a spade. Never mixing the message or theme of Clint's career. From the hard hitting all out action flicks like The Gauntlet, to the more socially competent Dirty Harry movies or the spaghetti westerns of the late eighties and nineties. All are described without the legerdemain of good spin to promote sales.

A quote that might resonate with prospective movie moguls and recession hit production companies is the roll with it attitude - "the main thing the director has to do is know it when he sees it... if you do thirty takes, the big question usually is, 'Was thirty any better than one?'"

Movies like Sudden Impact (1983) outline Eastwood's opinions on making the fourth installment of Dirty Harry - "it was a time in my life when I'd try other things and then the public didn't flock to them." Sudden Impact marketed well with focus groups and eventually turned a big profit. The lesson for Eastwood appeared to be that he would harness genre in his acting roles, only later to fully thrash more sensitive themes out as a director. While movies such as Firefox and Heartbreak Ridge built on characters forged in the burning embers of Vietnam, films such as Million Dollar Baby and Invictus (2009) challenged gender and racial issues were acclaimed for their ability to incite discussion.

The documentation is thorough, each film documented with a synopsis, screen shots and caption with the movie poster. Each entry is gorgeously presented, excellently edited on full glossy pages and bound in hardback. The three epic periods of his career are represented on the cover, a war hero, a cowboy-come-outlaw and a director. He is an integral part of Hollywood and he has plenty of knowledge to bestow. With no signs of slowing down Clint is still as driven now as he was back in the Rawhide days citing - "I can't say now, more than I could have at the beginning, that the best is yet to come."

The Details

Clint is available for Sterling Publishing
$35.00 and includes a 20 minute profile DVD.

- Review by Terry Winders