Rare Eastwood Double Bills

Rare Eastwood Double Bills

We do like a good double-bill feature – especially when it includes a bit of Eastwood. There have been many pairings in the past, double-bill features that often paired up an Eastwood film with another big movie of the day. Both films usually belonged to the same studio and it was a nice way to double up on a run after both films had enjoyed their first, initial release. 

Our friend Davy Triumph recently spotted two great examples from both Paramount and United Artists. The first teamed up Eastwood and John Wayne in two very different westerns. Tru Grit and Paint your Wagon. True grit was originally released in June, 1969 with Paint your Wagon released a few months later in October. Both of the Paramount films were likely to have been released the following year in 1970. 

The second programme came from United Artists – the studio had already put together several combos featuring the dollar movies and at one point showed all 3 movies with Eastwood’s first American western, Hang ‘em high (1968). 

This double-bill show was probably from around late 1971, as it saw Hang ‘em high paired up with the Oliver Reed and Gene Hackman western, The Hunting Party (1971). It’s a bit of a strange pairing – The Hunting Party was described as a ‘repellently violent western’ and sadistically nasty, whist Hang ‘em high was more of an ‘apple pie’ western with a vague capital punishment message. However, the pairing provided a great excuse for a great tagline in ‘Hunt ‘em! / Hang ‘em!' How could you possibly resist? 

My kind thanks to Davy Triumph.

Clint and Geneviève Bujold – early 1970 meeting

Clint and Geneviève Bujold – early 1970 meeting

Geneviève Bujold is of course familiar as the rape prevention adviser Beryl Thibodeaux in the 1984 thriller Tightrope. However, not so many people are aware that Eastwood and Bujold first crossed paths some 14 years earlier in 1970. 

Bujold was enjoying some major acclaim and international recognition after she starred as Anne Boleyn in Charles Jarrott's film Anne of the Thousand Days, with Richard Burton. Producer Hal B. Wallis cast her after seeing her in Isabel. For her performance, she received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. It was released by Universal who signed her to a three-picture contract.

Some time ago, I came across a very rough photo from the press premiere of Anne of the Thousand Days. The picture was pretty beaten up and worse of all, it had a large blue marker pen line drawn across it. However, the picture was so rare that I had to make an attempt to restore it. I was quite happy with the results, so gave it a nice clean surround and a caption to record the event. Clint was in attendance for the screening along with his then wife Maggie, so thought it should have a place here on the Archive. 

Below: I have taken this opportunity to also include a further rare shot of both Eastwood and Bujold together at the Montréal Film Festival, Canada on August 23rd 1984. 

Photo Opportunity #56 on location Two Mules for Sister Sara

Photo Opportunity #56 on location Two Mules for Sister Sara 

I can’t believe it’s December already? Our 1st of the month Photo Opportunity for December features a nice, rare shot of Clint on location in Mexico for the film Two Mules for Sister Sara. The 1970 western marked the second collaboration in the Eastwood / Don Siegel partnership. The pair had first worked together in Coogan’s Bluff (1968), then Clint made a couple of epic movies in Where Eagles Dare and the western musical Paint Your Wagon (1969). Two Mules saw Clint back in the saddle in a more conventional role.

Clint is pictured here with Budd Boetticher, a long term-resident of Mexico who was renowned for his series of Randolph Scott westerns. Boetticher wrote the original 1967 screenplay that was bought with the provision that he would direct. Boetticher had planned the film for Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr, who had played a man of action and a nun in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison. Kerr's character was a member of the Mexican aristocracy escaping the vengeance of the Mexican Revolution, with Mitchum's cowboy protecting her as he led her to safety to the United States. 

Carrol Case sold the screenplay to Martin Rackin, who had Albert Maltz, also living in Mexico, rewrite the story. Maltz's version had Clint Eastwood playing a soldier of fortune for the Juaristas and Shirley MacLaine playing a revolutionary prostitute now set during the French intervention in Mexico. The film saw Eastwood embody the tall mysterious stranger once more, unshaven, wearing a serape-like vest and smoking a cigar and the film score was composed by Ennio Morricone. Although the film had Leonesque Hispanic villains, the film was considerably less crude and more sardonic than those of Leone.

Boetticher expressed disgust that MacLaine's bawdy character obviously did not resemble a nun, as opposed to his idea of a genteel lady whose final revelation would have been more of a surprise to the audience. Though Boetticher was friends with both Eastwood and director Don Siegel, Siegel understood Boetticher's dislike of the final film. Boetticher asked Siegel how he could make an awful film like that; Siegel replied that it was a great feeling to wake up in the morning and know there was a check in the mail, and Boetticher responded that it was a better feeling to wake up in the morning and be able to look at yourself in the mirror. The film was shot over 65 days in Mexico and cost around $4 million. Despite Boetticher’s thoughts on the film, Two Mules for Sister Sara still remains a favourite among fans.