Monday, 23 December 2019

Happy Christmas and 2019 Review

As always, I would like to begin by wishing Clint a very happy Christmas on behalf of all his fans and everyone connected with the Archive. I would also like to thank and wish a very happy Christmas to everyone who helps me to bring all of this material here and for the benefit of the fans. This year we have averaged at least one post per week, but of course there has been hundreds of updates on many of the dedicated pages.
In January we started the year off in fine form with 50 Rare Hang ‘em High photos taken by Doris Nieh. We also celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Where Eagles Dare with the screening and Q&A session at the NFT in London. It was a great chance for a good group of us to all meet up with people travelling to London from all corners of the UK.
Over February to April we reported on some incredible Eastwood related vinyl and the astonishingly high prices that they were reaching in auctions. We also published a fascinating feature with Quentin Tarantino on Don Siegel and Escape from Alcatraz. April also featured a super rare radio interview when Roy Leonard interviewed Clint on Oct 18th 1971. And we also published the first news that Richard Jewell was back on as Clint’s new project.
In May I was especially happy to publish the Magnum Force 50th Anniversary Press Still collection. It was the result of over a year’s work and in order to bring all of the 110 stills up to scratch. Nevertheless I was very pleased with the overall project. Also in May we published a large selection of rare shots from The Beguiled and paired them up with some notes I had gathered over the years – specifically by Pamelyn Ferdin and her memories of working on the film.
The summer months saw the Richard Jewell project progressing with confirmation of Sam Rockwell, Paul Walter Hauser and Ian Gomez joining the cast. Clint’s previous success The Mule was also released on Blu-ray and DVD and became one of the year’s bestselling titles. In July we published our major summer feature; You wouldn’t hit a Lady would you? Throwing Down the Gauntlet by Marneen L. Fields and John Harrison. Marneen was the stunt woman who took a major dive from the moving freight train in The Gauntlet, and has since become a most treasured friend. We also had time to fit in a nice little piece about Clint on Universal 8mm, for those who remember the format!
In September we marked the 55th Anniversary since A Fistful of Dollars made its Italian premiere in 1964. In the same month I also discovered a rare 1970 fashion shoot or as we crowned it, ‘Clint’s venture into studmuffin territory’ Hey, they’re great fun shots!
October saw the first release of a trailer for Richard Jewell, and an indication that the post production work was moving at quite a pace. In November we reported on the Richard Jewell (2019) AFI Premiere, with associated stories and reviews. We also reported on some lovely rare items that had surfaced including posters, records, the 1978 Inside Kung Fu magazine and a huge book on Ennio Morricone.

In Memoriam:
Unfortunately, 2019 saw the passing of far too many people from the Eastwood circle of friends, Verna Bloom, Paul Koslo, Kip Niven, Billy Drago, Paul Benjamin, Freddie Jones, Terry O'Neill and of course the legendary Doris Day. Friends, co-stars, associates and Carmel neighbours – all of which made the Eastwood light shine so much brighter and will be sadly missed.

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

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