Happy Christmas and yearly review 2021

Happy Christmas and yearly review 2021

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.

To start with some positive news, this year we have averaged over one post per week, which is up on last year. On top of that, there have of course been hundreds of updates on many of the dedicated pages.

We began the year with reports of casting for Clint’s next project which was his adaptation of Cry Macho. We also posted a cracking photo opportunity which featured Clint judging a teen Miss Jersey contest at Palisades Amusement Park in 1962. Whilst in February we posted a couple of incredibly rare and seldom seen double crown posters for both Where Eagles Dare and Kelly’s Heroes.

In March and April we received further updates on Cry Macho including that the score would be composed by Mark Mancina and that the film would get an October 2021 release date. We also posted Where Eagles Dare: Snowballs at dawn, a selection of photos which captured both Clint and actor Darren Nesbitt taking on each other during the making of the movie.

In May we posted Clint Eastwood Dialogue with Richard Schickel, a wonderful audio interview from 1990, where Clint discusses his career with his old friend in front of a live audience. Lasting some 95 minutes, it’s a very enjoyable listen. Also at the end of the month we celebrated Clint’s 91st Birthday.

The summer got off to a very busy start. In June we began our 50th anniversary celebrations for Dirty Harry and a rather cracking photo of Clint that was new to a great many fans. We also featured an Exclusive Dirty Harry 50th Anniversary painting by our good friend, Graham Kennedy, and a vintage 1970 article on Two Mules for Sister Sara. As part of our Dirty Harry Anniversary we rounded off June with an exclusive interview with the lovely vocalist Sally Stevens who provided the film’s haunting vocal accompaniment to Lalo Schifrin’s incredible score.

In July I began the month by creating a Dirty Harry gallery using my own collection of stills. We also posted a couple of very rare Magnum Force posters. I also posted a couple of rare photos and a feature on Every which way but loose writer Jeremy Joe Kronsberg. The end of July saw our main Dirty Harry focal piece ‘Unearthing the roots of Dirty Harry’ - an original and lengthy article I wrote of how Harry came to the screen.

In August we saw the launch of Cry Macho’s advertising campaign. We also finally saw the release of the complete John Williams score for The Eiger Sanction released in a 2 CD set. And we published some very nice behind the scenes shots from Magnum Force as well as the lovely Japanese blu-ray release of Thunderbolt & Lightfoot.

September was a very busy month, I posted perhaps the most comprehensive collection of the famous Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood photos shot by Terry O’Neill - The Return of Butch Cassidy and the Kidd (see what I did there). We posted a whole host of Cry Macho material including some nice featurettes and the soundtrack release. As we were also celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Beguiled I posted the rare complete set of French lobby stills. We also featured rare artwork from Honkytonk Man by Bill Gold, a rare contact sheet from Hang ‘em high, a rare internal Unforgiven memo from 1984, some great posters, rare flyers and a whole lot more!

In October we published some great French ads from 1964-1972, some rare Spanish EP releases, a lovely piece of Paint your wagon artwork and a pretty cracking make-up test shot from A Fistful of Dollars. By November / December we also ran our 50th Anniversary tribute to Play Misty for Me with an excellent original article, and a look back at the history of Roberta Flack’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Warner Brothers were also kind enough to supply the 40 film DVD collection for a competition we ran which proved to be very popular. We also unearthed a rather nice self-published book, On the Trail of Bronco Billy - which turned out to be something of a gem! We concluded our Misty celebration by posting the complete 12 stills which made up the original French Lobby set. 

In Memoriam:

Unfortunately, 2021 also saw the passing of far too many people from the Eastwood circle of friends - producer of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Alberto Grimaldi, Magnum Force star Hal Holbrook, Play Misty’s lovely Jessica Walter, Stuntmen Chuck Hicks and Buddy Van Horn,  Arlene Golonka, Gavin MacLeod, William Smith and author Patrick Agan who was not only a personal friend, but the greatest inspiration – all of whom made the Eastwood light shine so brightly and will be missed dearly.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support - please continue to stay safe throughout these testing times.  

Darren, The Clint Eastwood Archive

Play Misty for Me: The complete French Lobby set

 

Play Misty for Me: The complete French Lobby set

In concluding our mini celebration of Play Misty for Me and its 50th Anniversary, I thought I would post the full French Lobby set. These are not scans of my original set, instead just stock examples to be used simply as a reference guide. 

Rare Dirty Harry candid shot

Rare Dirty Harry candid shot

Here’s a rather nice find by our U.S. correspondent Kevin Walsh. The picture shows Clint Eastwood (back, hands in pocket), stunt double Buddy Van Horn, (foreground in same suit) with director Don Siegel possibly to the right wearing hat, The film crew prepare to shoot a scene for DIRTY HARRY (the school bus jump) in Larkspur 1971. The final scenes were all shot here, at the railroad crossing and at the Hutchinson rock quarry and mill. 

Thanks for this gem Kevin.

On the Trail of Bronco Billy: A Book and a hidden gem.

On the Trail of Bronco Billy: A Book and a hidden gem.

Every now and then, something comes along which really catches by surprise. I have to admit, I had absolutely no idea of this beautifully self published book, how would I? As so often is the case, books such as this are simply denied the exposure and publicity to see it reaching a wider audience - and that’s not only a shame but also a terrible injustice. 

Clint Eastwood filmed Bronco Billy in Southwest Idaho in 1979. It was a big thing for Idahoans from the Treasure Valley to follow a Hollywood movie being filmed in front of them and many came out to watch and/or participate in the production. More than a thousand Idahoans were involved as extras or crew while hundreds more watched. They all have their stories and this is some of them. The book also includes insights about the shooting locations (over 20!) and newspaper articles keeping the locals apprised of the movie's progress. Author Sandy Kershner put this book together out of her love of her native state and the people who populate it, her respect for the actor/director who brought this film to Idaho, and for the character Clint Eastwood created, a frustrated 20th century man who creates his dream of being a cowboy by recapturing the past with a wild west show which he struggles to keep alive, along with his dream.

As a somewhat ‘serious’ collector, I have amassed literally 1000’s of cuttings and articles on Eastwood - a collection that stretches back as far as the 1960’s. I can fully appreciate how this might be looked upon as something of an oddity, a strange pastime - and I suppose to some extent that’s true. However, it is a fascinating area of interest, a record of certain events that would otherwise pass by and be forgotten - and as a result, reduced to just a vague memory. 

These snippets of a life and a career do however mature and become more poignant over time. Moreover,  with the passing of each decade, they provide a unique, historic and an invaluable resource, and this is exactly what Kershner has achieved here. It really is a project that should be respected and applauded. 

I’ve always hoped to put my collection to good use one day. Looking at this book has certainly provided an interesting and unique insight, and perhaps more importantly, an excellent example of how this can be realised. 

I had this book arrive as a complete surprise and as a gift from my very good friend and head of my admin team Davy Triumph. So I thank you sir, for both your kindness and your tireless help. 

Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,  Softback ‏ : ‎ 142 pages,  Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 0.34 x 10 inches,  ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 152388309X, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1523883097

On the trail of Bronco Billy is available on Amazon HERE