Alex Moss EditorA documentary celebrating Clint Eastwood’s 35 year career and some of the films that have defined his illustrious career.
Clint Eastwood is a Hollywood legend, an icon and at 80 years
old shows no signs of letting up. Factor gains unlimited access to the
man himself and a chance to hear his thoughts on some of the films that
have helped him gross more than $2 billion at the domestic box-office alone.
Assembled
by film historian Richard Schickel, The Eastwood Factor offers up
Clint’s opinions on his films in a hugely engaging manner. It highlights
early on how actors like Jimmy Cagney and Humphrey Bogart inspired
him to follow his dream to act. It is no coincidence these two actors
became famous for their tough guy roles and it was in this persona
Eastwood made his name.
Some early footage of his television days, making appearances in
shows like Maverick, makes it clear that Eastwood had all the qualities
to turn himself into one of the hard men he so revered. That he had to
leave Hollywood heading to Italy for the Spaghetti Westerns to find
stardom highlights that here was a man not afraid to take risks.
With roles such as The Man With No Name in the Sergio Leone’s Westerns, Dirty Harry and Josey Wales
Eastwood became famous for his loner characters. Men who bucked the
conventional and went their own way. It is easy to see their reflection
in the man himself. What Factor does so well is picking out clips
showing Eastwood as the king of the one-liners. Dirty Harry has the most
etched into film history with his gravel spitting of ‘punk’ but
Schickel shows there are so many more to delight in.
Hearing Eastwood talk about his roles and choice of projects to
direct makes for a detailed look at how he is driven. Speaking about
Pale Rider Clint comments that “he preaches a lot of American ethics
that can be violent but also very gentle”. This statement perfectly
encapsulates Eastwood’s films behind the camera. Think of the brutality
of Million Dollar Baby, a film that sees bouts of graphic boxing
mixed with heartfelt emotion, and you realise that much of his body of
work finds the ‘gentle’ in the ‘violent’.
With
some genuinely intimate interviews Eastwood shows he could not be
further removed from his on screen personas. A tour of the warehouse
that contains all the costumes from all his films illustrates just how
charming a man he can be. That he is able to be self-deprecating at the same time makes him all the more identifiable.
The Eastwood Factor is a rare insight into a filmmaker that has had
huge commercial and critical success. It will be released as part of the box-set Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years, the largest ever box-set to be released for a single artist.
If you are a fan of the iconic actor director than this is nothing
short of a goldmine of filmic treats. This documentary allows you to
indulge in the man looking back at his career as narrated by his friend,
and collaborator in films like Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby and
Invictus, Morgan Freeman. If ever you needed a chance to reacquaint
yourself with Eastwood’s work than this is it.
The following films will all be included in the box set:
Titles in Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years
1. Where Eagles Dare (1968)
2. Kelly’s Heroes (1970)3. Dirty Harry (1971)
4. Magnum Force (1973)
5. The Enforcer (1976)
6. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
7. Absolute Power (1977)
8. The Gauntlet (1977)
9. Every Which Way But Loose (1978)
10. Any Which Way You Can (1980)
11. Bronco Billy (1980)
12. Honkytonk Man (1982)
13. Firefox (1982)
14. Sudden Impact (1983)
15. Tight Rope (1984)16. City Heat (1984)
17. Pale Rider (1985)
18. Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
19. Bird (Director’s Cut) (1988)
20. The Dead Pool (1988)
21. Pink Cadillac (1989)
22. The Rookie (1990)
23. White Hunter Black Heart (1990)
24. Unforgiven (1992)
25. Perfect World (1993)
26. The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
27. Midnight In The Garden Of Good and Evil (Director’s Cut) (1997)
28. True Crime (1999)
29. Space Cowboys (2000)
30. Blood Work (2002)
31. Mystic River (2003)
32. Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
33. Letters From Iwo Jima (2006)
34. Gran Torino (2009)
35. Invictus (2010)
