Saturday 22 December 2018

Happy Christmas and 2018 Review

Firstly, and on behalf of everyone connected with the Archive – A very happy Christmas to Clint, a deserved rest seems to be the order of the day, although I doubt that the big man will not stray too far away from looking towards his next project! Perhaps a glass of wine in one hand and a script in the other – sounds like a perfectly acceptable compromise…

I would also like to thank and wish a very happy Christmas to everyone who helps me to bring all of this material here in one place and for the fans. I’m also going to give myself a minor pat on the back as 2018 has been the most prolific year with over 100 new posts. A massive amount of updates are always being added to other dedicated pages behind the front line stories and are all there to be discovered.

So 2018 was a very fulfilling year. In January I presented an original piece on Clint and his fondness of meaty motors, a story which I’m sure will continue to unveil a few more additional discoveries. Also in January our Film focus was on Thunderbolt & Lightfoot with some wonderful written contributions from our friends Paul Rowlands and Steve Saragossi. January also saw the first spouts of speculation relating to The Mule as Clint’s next project.

February also saw a really good book, Clint Eastwood's Cinema of Trauma: Essays on PTSD in the Director's Films by Charles R. Hamilton and Allen H. Redmon. The Witches (Le Streghe) 1967 also became available on Blu-ray. I also began a couple of on/off, ongoing projects - Collecting Clint in print – detailing the many books on Clint and Photo opportunities, an outlet for me to use the many thousands of photos I have on file. We also covered Clint’s film The 15:17 to Paris extensively, a film which ultimately turned out to be a little disappointing. Also in February I unearthed an original script from my collection from 1960, a show which featured Clint in a guest appearance but is not referenced in any of Clint’s bios or filmographies. We also featured David Frangioni’s Clint Eastwood: Icon Book - The Updated and Expanded Edition.

In March we did a feature on Early Eastwood photos captured by Earl Leaf. April saw the A Fistful of Dollars 2018 4K Re-release and some damn nice posters to accompany it. I also posted some rare shots of Clint at Petrovaradin fortress during the making of Kelly’s Heroes.

May saw the incredibly rare Magnum Force Christmas Teaser poster raise its head, as did Clint’s original Pink Cadillac car... in North Wales! May also saw casting begin for The Mule.

In June we reported on an incredibly rare set of 22 international lobby cards for Magnum Force and we reported that filming had begun on The Mule in Georgia. In June I also put together another original piece Destination London: In between shooting Where Eagles Dare.

In August we did a feature Clint and his connection to The Los Angeles Police Museum – with help from Bob Taylor who works at the Museum. We also unearthed actor Peter Fitzsimmons who appeared in the deleted scenes from Magnum Force. In September we featured a great collection of photos - Clint and Maggie at Marineland of the Pacific.

Whilst in October we featured the amazing digital artwork of Stanislav Klabík and we got our first glimpse of The Mule with the release of the trailer. Also in October, one of our regular Flashback features was on the National Association of Theater Owners Awards 1971 – we were given some very special material to use by two very lovely ladies - Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Kathy Conroy and Executive Assistant Cheryl Dickson.

Totally out of nowhere, November saw a whole host of new photos appear featuring Clint directing Breezy – a very rare treat for all of us. November brought some great news that Composer Lalo Schifrin was awarded a long overdue Oscar. We also saw some incredibly rare poster art surface such as the Magnum Force subway poster and the You Only Live Twice / A Fistful of Dollars UK Double Crown poster. We also did a nice mini feature on Doris Nieh: The woman who shot Dirty Harry.

In December we gave you all the coverage leading up to the release of The Mule. We also reported on the Big 50th Anniversary showing of Where Eagles Dare (to take place on Jan 26th 2019) – an event for which almost a dozen of us will be meeting up for on London’s Southbank. It should be a great event boys and gals and I’m looking forward to seeing you all. I should also thank the lovely and ever helpful Liz Parkinson from the BFI for helping make this happen for us.

Of course, 2018 also saw us say farewell to some much loved and admired members of the Eastwood family circle - Dave Toschi, the original Dirty Harry, actor Bradford Dillman, artist and poster designer Bill Gold, screen icon and long-time friend Burt Reynolds and former partner and regular co-star Sondra Locke. 
This journey simply wouldn’t have been the same without you all.  

Thank you to everyone and for your continued support
Darren, The Clint Eastwood Archive

No comments: