Clint’s soft spot for Paint Your Wagon…

Clint’s soft spot for Paint Your Wagon…

It’s no secret that Clint has in the past been somewhat critical of his 1969 musical Paint Your Wagon. 

To be fair, his criticism was generally aimed towards the production process, a long dragged out shoot has never been Clint’s favoured method of working, instead choosing to work quickly and efficiently - it became his policy and one in which he still follows to this day. Important lessons were learnt while working on a big production such as Paint Your Wagon and Clint didn’t really want to experience that again. However, it appears that Clint may have had a soft spot for the movie after all. Whilst going through my files I recently discovered this letter dated January 5th, 1971 which shows that Clint requested a loan of a 16mm print of the movie from Paramount. Hey, I can’t argue with his choice, Paint Your Wagon has always worked for me as a great Christmas / New Year movie – I only hope it was an IB Technicolor Scope print! I’ve read that these Paint Your Wagon 16mm features were probably printed in 1970 and near the end of the dye transfer Technicolor imbibition process. 

Perhaps Clint just wanted to bag one before they all disappeared! 

              

Mediascene Magazine Article November - December 1973

Mediascene Magazine Article November - December 1973

Here is a very rare 1 page original article from 1973 called EASTWOOD MAN OF VIOLENCE, which appeared in the U.S. magazine MEDIASCENE. Whilst we have featured the magazine cover here on the Archive before (in the Magazine Covers section), we have never actually seen the written piece. This particular issue featured a great cover shot of Clint from Magnum Force, his latest film which was due for release during the Christmas period of ’73. Rather strangely, there was no author credited for the written piece, so we have to assume it is by a staff writer. It’s a rare chance to see and read the article, and we have to thank our U.S. correspondent Kevin Walsh who has made a great effort to photograph the oversized page. Everything is readable, simply by using the right click option to open and enlarge. Thank you Kevin, this makes for a great addition to the Archive. 

The incredibly rare Dirty Harry UK Double Crown poster

The incredibly rare Dirty Harry UK Double Crown poster

A couple of weeks ago an old dealer friend of mine contacted me with a rather fantastic photo. I have to admit, it had me really scratching my head. I had never before seen this incredibly rare Dirty Harry UK double crown poster (approx. 20” x 30”). The seller Patrick asked me about it as he was researching it, and kindly wanted me to have an image for the Archive to hold and for the site’s readership (thank you kindly Patrick).

Patrick knows that I am always keen to try and digitally restore a poster or a photo in order for it to be presented in the condition that it would had been seen back in the day – and with a poster as rare as this one, there aren’t really too many examples about on the internet – in this particular instance, none at all!

So working on that basis, I set out to restore it for the Archive and present it alongside the original poster that Patrick is selling. It turned out to be a real pleasure working on it and bringing it back to its vivid, former glory.  The poster is now up for auction and I hope it does really well for him. Full details are available HERE

My kindest thanks to Patrick for making sure we could secure it for the Archive, we are all very much appreciative.  

Below: The digitally restored version of the UK Double Crown Poster

Below: Patrick's rare original poster 

In the Line of Fire Rare Original 1993 Storyboards

In the Line of Fire Rare Original 1993 Storyboards

Here’s something you don’t see too often – storyboards from a Clint Eastwood movie. To be quite honest, I don’t believe I have ever heard Clint speak of story boarding any of his movies – it just doesn’t seem to fit in with his way of directing or film making in general – but I may be wrong?  Of course, it makes perfect sense in this instance as In the Line of Fire wasn’t an Eastwood directed movie but instead made by Wolfgang Petersen. Many fans feel that the short break from directing (and instead focusing on his acting) worked well for Eastwood and the film remains a firm favourite among his body of work.

These lovely crafted storyboards were drawn by Carl Aldana - who would later serve as Peterson’s art director on the equally excellent Air Force One (1997). Each of these drawings measure approximately 14" x 8”, with several of them being signed by the artist. These drawings, as expected, do not come cheap, but the seller has also opened them up to offers – do you feel lucky? 

I would image they’d look terrific framed, and if you wanted to buy me one while you’re there – 

I will make you a promise that I’ll find an adequate piece of wall space to display it! 

Joking aside, they can be found easily enough on Ebay.  

 

Rare 1965 German A Fistful of Dollars 7” Single - First Pressing

Rare 1965 German A Fistful of Dollars 7” Single - First Pressing

The deeper you get into collecting Eastwood related vinyl, the harder the task becomes in trying to secure something new. But as a friend recently said to me, ‘it’s all about the hunt’. 

So I was delighted to recently secure another addition to the 7” collection, this time in the shape of the first German issue of Ennio Morricone’s A Fistful of Dollars from 1965. Its German release title (Für Eine Handvoll Dollar / Vorspann-Musik) has seen a few re-releases over the years, usually on the Orange RCA Victor label. However, the first issue (Cat No RCA Victor – 47-9615) was of course on the more classic Black Victor label and came complete in a picture sleeve. 

A great deal of the appeal is naturally in these record sleeves, and to be fair, this particular picture sleeve is nothing too exciting to shout about. The design is the same to both the front and the reverse and features a b/w long shot of Joe taken during the film’s climax with Ramon. Whilst I say it’s ‘nothing too exciting’ - we have to remember of course that this is from 1965, and the fact that it was blessed with a picture sleeve at all is something to really be grateful for. 

I’ve always liked it, and always wanted it. I was very lucky to find one in such wonderful condition, although the sleeve is paper stock, it has survived without a tear or even a seam split - which is important when it comes to collecting.  

So a big thank you to Joachim in S.-Holstein, Germany for sorting me out with this beauty. 

Below: A rather crackly version of the A and B side of the single release

             

Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #27

Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #27

I don’t usually upload ‘Photo Opportunity’ posts so close together, but when another cracking (and rare) still of both Clint and Don working on Dirty Harry surfaces within a few days - well, ‘sacrifices have to be made mister’. It’s a little harder to try and pinpoint where this was actually taken. Clint is completely out of costume, but I have seen photos of him in similar garb whilst on location for the climax of Dirty Harry - they are certainly outside of the city. However, it’s another super shot, of that we can be sure… 

The Enforcer Rare Set of 16 Mexican Lobby Cards

The Enforcer Rare Set of 16 Mexican Lobby Cards

Like a great deal of other Lobby Card sets from around the world, most standard sets feature 8 cards. This does vary from time to time, sometimes France would issue 6, sometimes they would issue 2 sets of 6 (a set A & B), the UK was pretty much consistent with 8; although sometimes a set of 12 would be issued. But overall, 8 is often the most commonly found set, and this also includes Mexican sets. The Lobby cards from Mexican were often also larger than the North American format. So a set of 16 Mexican cards is rather unusual to find. I thought I’d take this opportunity to post a wonderful and rather rare Mexican set of 16 from Clint’s third Dirty Harry outing, The Enforcer (1976). I have had to reconstruct a couple of them from different sources as finding a set of 16 together really doesn’t come along very often. But overall, I think they are acceptable, and it’s just nice to see them all together – whilst also providing a useful guide.  

Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #26

Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #26 

Clint and Don on San Francisco Street, Universal Studios Hollywood during the Bank Robbery scene in Dirty Harry. I say ‘San Francisco Street’ here, although it has also been called ‘New York street’ In fact, when I was there back in the 1990’s I’m sure the Universal tour guide referred to it as ‘anytime street’ as the backlot location could be dressed to fit most periods or indeed most cities. But it was certainly Universal where this most famous of sequences was filmed – actually many will know that this sequence also reveals a cinema marquee in the background as Harry walks into the diner for a hot dog lunch before spotting the Bank Robbery ‘in progress’ across the street. And naturally, the film being shown on that mock theatre marquee… Universal’s Play Misty for Me.  

This shot of director Don Siegel and Clint is a new one to us! It recently surfaced and was spotted by our own Davy Triumph. The photo catches star and director in discussion in between shots and is a really nice image.  

We can support that accuracy of this shot, location and sequence by use of the Dirty Harry Lobby card (No 8) (below) where in the image and to the right of Clint, the same planter pot can be seen on the sidewalk of the set. 

Magnum Force: Shipyard shots

Magnum Force: Shipyard shots

I’ve noticed lately that there have been some more fantastic 35mm transparencies surface which were taken during the shipyard sequence for the climax of Magnum Force. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad shot from these photos, they’ve all been superb. I certainly wouldn’t mind hard 10” x 8” copies of these, and several more that have emerged (slowly) over the years. Cracking shots.  

Below: This magnificent photo surfaced on the internet around October 2022, it really doesn't get much better than this, it has to be one of the best shots I've ever seen from Magnum Force and certainly from the shipyard photo shoot.

Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #25

Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #25

Here’s a wonderful new photo that recently surfaced. I say ‘new’, as it was certainly new to me and 2 of our admin team Davy Triumph and Kevin Wilkinson who actually discovered it on exactly the same evening. It’s a photo that had us deliberating for a while too. Yes, it is obviously ‘the man with no name’ character, but from where? It was Kevin’s detective work which finally came through and settled the argument. We could be forgiven though, as initially it was a bit of a tough one. It was actually taken on the set of For a Few Dollars More (1965) and taken on the set of the old prophet’s home, which violently (and memorably) shook as ‘the damn trains’ passed by. You may remember the scene begins with a reverse shot, Manco is seated with his hat balanced on his foot. So we don’t get much of a front shot of Manco seated. So it’s nice to see this photo which someone had the good sense to take at the time. It was the background which really provides the evidence, the prophet’s wash bowl can clearly be seen in the photo, and the partial screen capture (I’ve posted below) is from the same scene, and generally confirms the source.

It never fails to amaze us that over 55 years later, previously unseen photos continuously seem to surface - which is fantastic of course! I just wonder what other gems are out there and just waiting to see the light of day!