Tag Archives: Clint Eastwood

Scenes That I Love: Clint Eastwood in Revenge of the Creature

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 95th birthday to an American icon …. CLINT EASTWOOD!

We’ve got a lot of reviews scheduled for today but I’d like to start things up with a music video …. oh, wait, we already did one.  Okay, then I’d like to start things off with today’s scene that I love.

Everyone had to start somewhere for Clint Eastwood, that somewhere was 1955’s Revenge of the Creature.  Here he is, making his uncredited film debut as a lab technician who has discovered something odd.  Even in his very first role, Eastwood’s physicality made him stand out.  And check out that gorgeous hair!

As for the film itself, I look forward to reviewing during our annual horrorthon in October.  For now, enjoy Clint Eastwood making his film debut!

Music Video of the Day: I Talk To The Trees by Clint Eastwood (1969, dir by Joshua Logan)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Okay, it’s not so much a music video as it’s a scene from a movie but whatever.  It’s Clint Eastwood’s birthday, we’re about to post a ton of Clint Eastwood-related reviews today, and I wanted to start things out with Clint!

This scene is from 1969’s Paint Your Wagon.  You know what?  Clint’s voice wasn’t that bad in this movie.  That said, I’m glad I talked to my sister into reviewing it instead of me.  When I was in college, I took a class about musicals and there was this frat boy sitting behind me who just obsessed with Paint Your Wagon,

Happy birthday, Clint!

Enjoy!

MAVERICK (TV Series) – starring James Garner – S2, E19: “Duel at Sundown” (Guest star – Clint Eastwood)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Bret Maverick (James Garner) stops off and visits his old friend Jed Christianson (Edgar Buchanan). Jed is desperate to break up the hot and heavy romance between his beautiful and wild daughter, Carrie (Abby Dalton), and a good for nothing gunslinger named Red Hardigan (Clint Eastwood). He asks Bret to stay for a while and help break them up. Not really wanting to get involved, Bret changes his tune when he’s offered $1,000 to hang around for a week. There is one serious problem, though, and that’s the fact that Red has a reputation for being extremely fast and accurate with a gun, and he’s not afraid to use it. When Bret actually sees a demonstration of Red’s shooting skills, he knows he’s going to have to come up with a plan to drive Red away that avoids a gunfight at all costs. And that’s exactly what he does. I won’t give away exactly what he does, but it involves his brother Bart (Jack Kelly) and a notorious gunslinger named John Wesley Hardin, and it’s genius! 

As we continue to celebrate the birthday of Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood, I decided I’d watch his 1959 guest starring appearance on the TV series MAVERICK with James Garner. I recently watched Eastwood and Garner work together in the enjoyable “geezers in space” movie SPACE COWBOYS (2000), which came out about 40 years after this. With that fresh in mind, I especially enjoyed seeing them work together while they were both in their prime. “Duel at Sundown” is the first episode I’ve watched of the MAVERICK TV series, and I must say that I had a ball with it. James Garner’s effortless charisma and laid back demeanor as Bret Maverick make his character right down my alley. Nothing seems to rattle the man, and he’s as funny as hell! As of the time of this review, all five seasons of the series are streaming on PlutoTV, so I’m planning on catching some more episodes as I can. As far as the young Clint Eastwood, who was 29 when this show premiered, he definitely looks the part of a future star. Maybe I’m just being influenced by what he’s accomplished over the last 60 years, but his steely intensity, his great head of hair, and his way with the ladies are all on display. And even though his character of Red is a hot headed gunslinger who’s driven by jealousy, there are a couple of times when he flashes that million dollar smile, and you can’t help but like him. For me, it’s fun to watch these megastars in roles when they were just working actors trying to build a career. You can usually see the qualities that will make them the most popular actors in the world, but they’re still going to lose to the star of the series at the end. It’s a rite of passage. 

Overall, “Duel at Sundown” is an excellent introduction to the MAVERICK TV series for me. It’s funny and actually quite clever, as evidenced by the scheme that Bret Maverick comes up with at the end to keep from having to face Red in a gunfight. But the true highlight is seeing Garner, in one of his signature roles, working with a young Eastwood who’s destined for stardom. I highly recommend it! 

10 Films For The Weekend (5/30/25)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here are ten films that I recommend checking out this weekend.  These films are all streaming so, if you’re stuck inside due to weather or crippling depression, give them a shot!

In Honor of Clint Eastwood

Saturday will be Clint Eastwood’s 95th birthday.  Clint’s career has stretched from the 50s t0 the present day.  (Though some thought he might retire after 2024’s Juror #2, Eastwood is reportedly working on a new film.)  We’ll be posting a lot of Eastwood reviews tomorrow but I want to take the time right now to mention three of his films that will be streaming this weekend.

First off, 2024’s legal thriller, Juror #2 (which I consider to be the best film of 2024), is still streaming on Max.  Featuring excellent performances from Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette, Juror #2 is an entertaining courtroom thriller that, in its efficient and non-flashy way, shows that Eastwood is still one of the best directors work.

Clint Eastwood was 88 years old when he gave one of his best performances in 2018’s The Mule.  The Mule tells the true story of a 90 year-old widower who found a second job smuggling drugs across the country for a Mexican cartel.  Eastwood gives a likable performance as someone who is definitely not an action hero but who gets a second lease on life by working with some very dangerous people.  This film is tense, poignant, and surprisingly funny at time.  It’s on Netflix.

Also on Netflix is 2014’s American Sniper, a film that Eastwood directed.  Bradley Cooper gives a strong performance as Chris Kyle and Eastwood direction will leave you breathless.  This film was controversial when it was released.  It had only been two years since Eastwood gave his speech at the Republican Convention and, amongst the online crowd, there was still a lot of anger at him.  (Considering that the online critics often presented themselves as being film experts, it was surprising how many of them apparently did not know that Eastwood was, at the time, a lifelong Republican.  Apparently, he’s currently registered as a Libertarian.)  Personally, I don’t find American Sniper to be a political film.  Eastwood’s made a lot of films about war and he’s never been one to glorify it.  Instead, as with many of Eastwood’s films, it’s a character study of man who has to learn how to live with his actions.

Here’s Some More Action

If you’re in the mood for some non-Eastwood action, here’s some suggestions.

Rolling Thunder (1978), starring William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones, is both a revenge film and a look at the struggle of two men returning to a country that they no longer recognize.  Devane and Jones’s characters have recently returned from a Vietnamese POW camp.  When Devane’s wife and son are killed by bandits and Devane’s hand is lost in a garbage disposal, he and Jones join forces to “clean them up.”  This film is a favorite of Quentin Tarantino’s and I personally consider it to be one of the best Texas-set films ever made.  Devane has never been better and Jones deserved an Oscar for his performance as the emotionally shattered and withdrawn vet who comes to life when it time to “kill a bunch of people.”  Rolling Thunder is currently on Tubi.

Jeff says that The Delta Force (1986) is the greatest film of all time.  And while I personally don’t think that’s possible as long as Money Plane exists, I will say that there is something very emotionally satisfying about watching Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin take out a bunch of terrorists.  I dare you not to shed a tear when George Kennedy’s priest walks to the front of the plane and declares that if the terrorists are taking the Jewish passengers hostage, they’ll have to take him as well because “I’m Jewish.”  The Delta Force can be found on Tubi and Prime.

Finally, I don’t think Brad would forgive me if I left out Charles Bronson.  Breakheart Pass (1975) is an interesting and unfairly overlooked Bronson western, one that mixes a genuine murder mystery with all the action that one could hope for.  Playing a 19th century detective on a train, Bronson more than holds his own against an impressive array character actors, including Charles Durning and Ben Johnson.  It can currently be viewed on Tubi and Prime.

Odds and Ends

I read a story this week that France is planning on banning outdoor smoking.  Seriously, what is happening to that country?  How did they go from being the country of sexy ennui to the country that bans smoking?  It’s a shame.  If you want to remember France the way it was and the way it should still be, check out Jean-Luc Godard’s classic Breathless (1960), a film that still packs quite a stylistic punch.  Jean-Luc Belmondo is the ultimate existential outlaw.  Jean Seberg is the perfect femme fatale beatnik.  The ending remains haunting and unforgettable.  Belmondo would never let anyone tell him whether or not he could smoke.  The film is currently streaming on Max.

Uh-oh!  This weekend might be your last chance to see my favorite film of 2020, Money Plane, on Tubi!  (It’s currently listed in the dreaded “Leaving Soon” category.)  Ignore what the critics not named Lisa might tell you.  Money Plane is an absolute blast.  If for no other reason, see it for Kelsey Grammer’s wonderfully unhinged performance as the Rumble.  For now, Money Plane is on Tubi and Prime.

Also listed as “Leaving Soon,” is Dario Argento’s classic directorial debut, Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1970).  One of the best giallo films ever, Argento’s thriller continues to be a twisted delight, featuring excellent performance from Tony Mustante and Suzy Kendall and one death scene that literally makes me put my hands over my eyes every time I watch the movie.  This is one of the great shockers.  For now, it can be found on Tubi and Prime.

Finally, The Last Movie Star (2017) is a flawed film but it features a wonderful, late career performance from Burt Reynolds.  The Last Movie Star pays tribute to both Reynolds as an actor and a cinematic icon.  It can be found on Tubi.

Check out last week’s suggestions here!

 

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix for A Fistful of Dollars!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly watch parties.  On Twitter, I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday and I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday.  On Mastodon, I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, at 10 pm et, I will be hosting #FridayNightFlix!  The movie?  A Fistful of Dollars, starring the great Clint Eastwood!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag!  I’ll be there tweeting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

A Fistful of Dollars is available on Prime and Tubi!

See you there!

Brad’s “Song of the Day” – Merle Haggard & Clint Eastwood sing Bar Room Buddies! 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Did you know that Clint Eastwood once had a number one country hit?!! His duet “Bar Room Buddies” with country music icon Merle Haggard hit number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in July of 1980. Released as part of the soundtrack for BRONCO BILLY, the song spent a total of thirteen weeks on the chart. Clint’s not much of a singer, but it’s still a fun drinking song!

Enjoy my friends!

Bird (1988, directed by Clint Eastwood)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Forest Whitaker stars as the legendary saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker.  The film, which is structured around flashbacks and time jumps and features some of the most beautifully-done transitions that I’ve ever seen, follows Parker as he plays his saxophone, challenges the jazz purists who his own individual style, and looks for work in both America and France.  Along the way, we watch as he befriends and learns from Dizzy Gillespie (Samuel Wright), mentors a young trumpet player named Red Rodney (Michael Zelniker), and has a complex relationship with a white jazz lover named Chan Parker (Diane Venora).  Throughout his life, Charlie Parker struggles with his addiction to heroin and alcohol, occasionally getting clean to just then fall back into his habit.  To its credit, the film avoids most of the biopic cliches when it comes to portraying Parker’s addiction.  Parker accepts that he’s an addict, just as he accepts that he has a talent that is destined to revolutionize American music.

Director Clint Eastwood has always been a fan of jazz and he actually saw Charlie Parker perform when he was a young man.  His love of jazz had been present in almost every modern-era film that he has directed, staring with Play Misty For Me’s lengthy trip to the Monterey Jazz Festival.  Bird was a passion project for Eastwood, the first film that Eastwood directed without also appearing in.  (Eastwood doesn’t star in his second directorial effort, Breezy, but he does have a brief and silent cameo as a man standing on pier.)  Eastwood takes a nonlinear approach to telling the story, eschewing the traditional bopic format and instead putting the focus on Parker’s music.  Eastwood was able to get several never bef0re-released recordings of Parker performing and, when Whitaker is blowing into his saxophone in the film, we’re actually hearing Parker.  Eastwood’s direction captures the smoky atmosphere of the jazz clubs where Parker and Gillespie made their name while the nonlinear style reflects the feeling of just letting a song take you to wherever it’s going.  This is a movie about jazz that plays out like a jazz improvisation.

Forest Whitaker gives an amiable and charismatic performance as Charlie Parker, playing him as someone who has found both an escape and peace in his music, even as he physically struggles with the ravages of his drug addiction.  Whitaker won the Best Actor at Cannes for his performance in Bird.  Eastwood received the Golden Globe for Best Director.  Bird feels like it was labor of love for both of them.  Bird may not have set the box office on fire when it was originally released but it remains one of the best jazz films.

I review TIGHTROPE (1984) – starring Clint Eastwood! 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

In TIGHTROPE, a psychiatrist makes the following comment to New Orleans police detective Wes Block (Clint Eastwood) while he’s trying to catch a serial killer who’s targeting sex workers:

“There’s a darkness inside all of us, Wes; you, me, and the man down the street. Some have it under control. Others act it out. The rest of us try to walk a tightrope between the two.”

This statement definitely hits home to Wes, whose personal life has gotten rather dark. His wife has recently left him and their two daughters (Alison Eastwood and Jenny Beck), and the detective seems to be drowning himself in his work, at times in a bottle, and at other times in the arms of some of the local ladies of the night. Whenever he does try to plan something with his girls, his job always seems to get in his way. As he investigates the murders in a variety of the seediest locations in New Orleans, we learn that Wes is very much into the kinds of women who inhabit these places, and he gives into his secret desires on multiple occasions. This becomes personal when the killer, who knows that Wes is the detective in charge of the case, begins targeting and killing some of the very same women who helped ease Wes’ emotional pain, and then taunts him about it. It becomes even more personal when the killer goes after his daughters and his new “legitimate” lady friend Beryl Thibodeaux (Geneviève Bujold), a rape counselor Block has gotten to know as part of the broader investigation. As the bodies continue to pile up, will Wes be able to stop the killer in time to save the most precious people in his life?!!

TIGHTROPE is a special movie to me. I’ve mentioned this before in other reviews, but FOX-16 out of Little Rock played a lot of good movies in the mid to late 80’s when I was a teenager. Some of those movies hold a strong nostalgic value in my life because I first discovered them and my true love of movies during those years. The channel advertised and showed TIGHTROPE, and many other Eastwood films, quite often. Of course, the movie broadcast on FOX-16 was heavily edited, and I didn’t realize the true sexual complexity of detective Wes Block until I was quite a bit older. In the original DIRTY HARRY, there’s a running gag where different people ask Eastwood’s iconic character, “Why do they call you Dirty Harry?” From what we see in TIGHTROPE, if someone asked, “Why do they call you Dirty Wes,” the answer would be more than obvious as he engages in various kinky forms of sexual relations with at least three of the sex workers he hits up for information. The killer knows of his sexual activities with these women, even watching on occasion. The movie leans hard into this connection between Wes’ kinky sex that often involves handcuffs, and the kinship that the killer feels with Wes when he’s perpetrating violence on these same women. It adds an uneasy and unsettling quality to the proceedings when the killer publicly taunts his rival, who understandably doesn’t want his peers to know of his more private nocturnal activities. He can’t fool his new lady friend, the tough as nails Beryl Thibodeaux, who senses his hidden desires and accepts him for who he is, especially after spending some quality time with him and his daughters. I like Genevieve Bujold in the role and the French-Canadian actress is able to even nail the local accent on a couple of occasions. I also wanted to mention the excellent chemistry between Clint Eastwood and his real-life daughter Alison, who play father and daughter in the movie as well. Alison was only 12 years old when TIGHTROPE was released, but she gives a strong performance as the older daughter who’s still trying to come to terms with her parents’ divorce. The killer really messes up when he targets her. 

I’ll tell anyone who’s willing to listen that I love the city of New Orleans as a movie location. I personally love to visit the city and partake in its fun atmosphere and wide variety of excellent cuisine. TIGHTROPE hits many of the highlights of New Orleans in 1984… Bourbon Street, Jackson Square, the Super Dome, the Creole Queen, a warehouse full of Mardi Gras floats, the famous cemeteries, Randi Brooks in a hot tub, etc. etc. One thing about New Orleans is that its famous streets like Bourbon Street have not been cleaned up or become “family friendly” in the same way as a place like Times Square in New York City. To this day, it retains that same feeling of sexual decadence that is portrayed here in 1984. 

I personally consider TIGHTROPE to be a must-see film for fans of Clint Eastwood, as Wes Block is a wholly unique addition to his cavalcade of tough cop characters, and he makes us justifiably uncomfortable at times. Eastwood’s conflicted performance, the serial killer storyline and the fun New Orleans locations add up to a very good movie that’s aimed squarely at adults. 

Brad’s “Scene of the Day” – Eastwood shotgun blasting in BLOOD WORK! 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

My favorite movie weapon is the shotgun. There’s something I’ve always loved about watching my movie heroes shotgun blast their way to justice and glory. I award extra points for sawed off shotguns! Eastwood doesn’t get awarded the extra points for this scene in BLOOD WORK, but for 72 years old, the man still looked like a badass!

Enjoy my friends.