Saturday 31 August 2024

Film Icons: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach & More - 1997 interview

Film Icons: Clint Eastwood / Eli Wallach & More - 1997 Radio interview
Our U.S. correspondent Kevin Walsh contacted me this morning, pointing me towards this archival interview from 1997. Fresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It’s host Terry Gross had the opportunity to sit with Clint, Eli Wallach and our own Christopher Frayling to chat about the Dollar films and Sergio Leone. 
The 1964 spaghetti Western A Fistful of Dollars turned Clint Eastwood into a star. He had a famous squint in his closeups, but he told Terry Gross in 1997, it wasn't necessarily character driven. "They bombed me with a bunch of lights, and you're outside and it's 90 degrees, and it's hard not to squint."
We'll also hear from Eastwood's co-star in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Eli Wallach, who went on to play a bandit in several Westerns. Cultural historian Christopher Frayling tells us how the Italian director Sergio Leone broke the conventions of the Hollywood Western, and stuntman Hal Needham describes his most daring feats.
It makes for an interesting 50 mins – and well worth checking out HERE
My kind thanks to Kevin.  

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