Happy Birthday Clint!

A big Happy Birthday on behalf of all the friends here at TCEA. We might be a day or two late, but never claimed to be perfect, even though we're pretty close! Have a great week Big Man!  ~The Clint Eastwood Archive~

Above: Clint and Leonardo DiCaprio currently working together on the upcoming film "J Edgar"

Hereafter Blu Ray / DVD combo review

Hereafter is without doubt a solid piece of filmmaking. That said, I’d probably have to describe Eastwood’s latest release as an ‘unusual’ entry when compared to his recent directorial projects. Hereafter starts off with a devastatingly realistic (in light of the recent news footage from Japan) and superbly produced tsunami sequence. However, the film is a soft and very gently paced piece of work.
Matt Damon (Invictus) gives an excellent and perfectly measured performance as a recently retired psychic, forced to quit his practice due to the stress of living with his ‘curse.’ Damon plays this difficult ‘tortured soul’ character very well.
Cécile De France plays Marie, the French journalist, author and initial non believer. Marie survives a near death experience when caught in the middle of the tsunami. For Marie, it is an experience that propels her to investigate further in a hunt for the truth. De France gives a wonderful performance throughout.
In London, twin brothers (played by Frankie and George McLaren) are separated when one is suddenly killed in a road accident. Left alone with his mother, the twin wonders where his brother has really gone and makes various attempts to make contact with him.
Hereafter is a deliberately slow paced drama which focuses on the aftermath of death and its emotional effect on the three people who struggle to find some form of closure. Eastwood examines closely the inner pain of the three principal characters and like the narrative; the story’s conclusion has a reserved and tender quality.
Hereafter will probably never be described as Eastwood’s greatest work. It is a dramatic and highly original character piece, with an engrossing subject at the heart of its well presented story. It’s a film that should be thoroughly enjoyed, so long as you are prepared to look beyond its opening (and very impressive) tsunami sequence.

Hereafter’s Sound and picture are stunning, see full spec below.
As bonus material on the blu ray disc only, Step Into the Hereafter Focus Points (HD, 42 minutes): View Hereafter's nine engaging Focus Point featurettes individually from the special features menu or as part of an unobtrusive, fairly seamless In-Movie Experience (of the "press enter to view" variety). Segments include "Tsunami! Recreating a Disaster," "Is There Life After Death," "Clint on Casting," "Delving into the Hereafter," "Twin Bonding," "French Speaking French," "Why the White Light?" "Hereafter's Locations: Casting the Silent Characters" and "The Eastwood Experience." Thankfully, Eastwood appears in each short via interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, giving the filmmaker ample opportunity to discuss and dissect the film.
Also included on the blu ray disc only, The Eastwood Factor: Extended Version (First time available in Full HD): An exceedingly extensive look at the life and career of Clint Eastwood written and directed by film critic and biographer Richard Schickel, built around Eastwood's own words, and narrated by actor and Unforgiven co-star Morgan Freeman. Classy, candid and oh-so-captivating, be sure to set aside two hours for this comprehensive documentary.

Video
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Video resolution: 1080p, Aspect ratio: 2.40:1, Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (less)
Subtitles
English SDH, French, Spanish, English SDH, French, Spanish (less)
Discs
50GB Blu-ray Disc, Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD), Digital copy (on disc), DVD copy
Playback Region free
I would again like to thank Warner Brothers in the United States for sending this latest Blu Ray combo release. Your recognition and continued support of The Clint Eastwood Archive is always very much appreciated.

Firefox writer Craig Thomas dies after cancer battle

CARDIFF-BORN thriller writer Craig Thomas has died from pneumonia, aged 68, it has been announced. The author was regarded by many as the man who invented the techno-thriller with the publication of his international bestseller Firefox, which was made into a Hollywood film starring Clint Eastwood. Mr Thomas had a successful career spanning 30 years, which featured novels such as Snow Falcon, Sea Leopard, Jade Tiger and Firefox Down. Born in the city, the former English teacher attended Cardiff High School and then went on to study at the University College Cardiff. When once asked why he was drawn in to the thriller world, he said: “Because of its evident sense of tension and danger, the deliberate structure of the plots, and perhaps the emphatic moral framework – just as many writers of detective fiction are drawn to the sense of justice their books demonstrate towards good and evil.

Below: Writer Craig Thomas died on April 4th

 

“There is an attraction in the thriller or adventure story, for both the writer and reader, in knowing which side one is supposed to be on. And thrillers are optimistic. “Their problems are soluble, and they are resolved by individuals. As Oscar Wilde said, ‘the good end happily, the bad unhappily – that is the meaning of fiction’.” He had recently finished a two-volume commentary on the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He and his wife, Jill, who was also his editor, lived for many years in Staffordshire, but had recently moved to Somerset. Jill said: “Craig meant everything to me, we were soulmates and we had a fantastic life together. He was a very loving person and a very honest person. He would say what he thought and he hated political correctness. His passion for his writing remained up until the end. Even when he was in hospital under going chemotherapy he was still scribbling away until it just got too much for him.” Mr Thomas died from pneumonia on April 4, following a short but intensive battle with acute myeloid leukaemia.

Thanks to Dave Turner for bringing this story to my attention. Our thoughts are with his family.

Eastwood on Eastwood Full Review on Michael Henry Wilson’s Exquisite Book

CAHIERS DU CINEMA produces a genuine master class

I had a feeling this book was going to be something a little bit special. Culminated from nearly 30 years of interviews, it certainly sounded like something worth holding your breath for. But Eastwood fans have been here before, and often been disappointed with the results or the inexcusable amount of general inaccuracies that have appeared in publications over the last few years. I’m pleased to report that this particular book suffers from no such problems. It is quite simply, an extraordinary piece of work which deserves to be singled out.

On first reading Wilson’s book, I was struck how easy I fell into it, almost encapsulated by it, but why? I have always approached every new book on Eastwood with an equal amount of enthusiasm, yet found myself ‘flagging’ as the same stories seemed to inherently begin to surface. It didn’t take long to establish what exactly makes this such a rewarding read; it is simply so refreshing, not only in its content, but in its delivery. What makes it particularly special of course is that it is Eastwood’s own words, from Eastwood’s own perspective. Eastwood engages in countless question and answer sessions with complete lucidity. Wilson cleverly applies a simple framework of Eastwood’s career. He allows his subject the freedom to expand upon any given subject that Wilson intelligently enquires about. The layout is fuss free, simplistic and to the point. Wilson’s questions are presented in Italic, Eastwood’s responses are not. Every page is tightly crammed, allowing only for the minimal of margin widths and header space.

For Eastwood admirers the world over, this book is certain to contain new and informative citations, and all from the man who knows best. Opening Eastwood on Eastwood is much like opening a bottle of single malt, preserved and left to mature for almost three decades. Its content is both rich and revealing. Wilson’s questions are answered with confidence and precision. Eastwood’s speaks with an undeniable ‘purity’ and honesty. His responses are intelligent and as we would come to expect from the likes of past masters such as Hitchcock or Ford. This trusted form of dialogue between Eastwood and Wilson allows Eastwood to expand on his subjects with ease. Many questions are discussed and explored.

Why did he choose to make risky projects when he could have sat back on his laurels?

How did he successfully manage to make personal pictures in a system controlled by the studios?

How did Eastwood arrive at the decision to become a director?

 
Everything in these pages makes for an incredibly insightful read. Each page is beautifully presented on quality stock paper (I was constantly thinking I had two pages stuck between my finger and thumb) and very well illustrated throughout. While this book does come with a rather hefty price tag (see below), I must also add that you certainly get a lot for your money. At 240 heavy pages, there is a lot of reading to be had. Consider perhaps, where else are you ever likely to find a book that contains so much of Eastwood’s own words..? And that’s really where my considerations would end. I’ve certainly been lucky enough to read most of the Eastwood books that have been published. But in my opinion; I would certainly rank this as one of the most important and most significant books on Eastwood to be published in a very long time.

Yes, seriously, it is that good…

Eastwood on Eastwood is published by Cahiers du cinema and available through Phaidon Click here for direct link.
Price £39.95, $59.95, euro 49.95, Can $65.00, Aus $95.00

A very special thank you to Kara Reaney and the good people at Phaidon Press for their support and contribution.

~The Clint Eastwood Archive~

Big new book on Eastwood

From Dirty Harry to his life as one of Hollywood's most critically-acclaimed Directors, Phaidon's Eastwood on Eastwood ($60) (£40) chronicles one of cinema's living legends in his own words. The book Includes over 340 colour photographs, including previously unpublished photographs from Eastwood's personal collection, a biography, a complete filmography and a dialog with critic and documentary filmmaker, Michael Henry Wilson.
The book explores Clint Eastwood's career as an actor and director in Clint Eastwood's own words. Wilson uses his interviews with Eastwood to frame his career. This is a must have for any Eastwood fan or anyone curious about the man behind the legend. Phaidon are very kindly sending The Clint Eastwood Archive a copy of this lavish looking book, so I am looking forward to telling you much more about it.
Our thanks go to Phaidon for their kind contribution.
~The Clint Eastwood Archive~

A Hollywood Icon Lays Down the Law: Wall Street Journal Interview, Jan 2011

A Big thank you to our American friend Jerry Whittington who recently sent me this interview with Clint.
The Wall Street Journal, Jan 29th 2011, Michael Judge, Carmel, Calif.
It's high noon at Mission Ranch, and the haze is just beginning to burn off the meadow. One couldn't ask for a better setting for a conversation with an actor who's played some of Hollywood's most iconic outlaws and lawmen, and who is today, at the age of 80, perhaps the most respected filmmaker in the industry.
Clint Eastwood pulls up in a silver Audi SUV. He extends his hand and says simply, "Nice to meet you." His voice is softer, more lilting than in his films, but his presence—he stands a full 6 feet 4 inches tall—is formidable. The Italian director Sergio Leone once said he had "an indolent way of moving," similar to a cat's. There's a calmness to him that puts one at ease.
"Where should we do this?" he asks, with a smile. "Somewhere quiet," I reply. "It's quiet everywhere here," he says, gesturing to the meadow and the towering eucalyptuses that border it. He should know—he owns the place. He bought the 150-year-old, 22-acre ranch in 1986, partly to save it from developers and partly out of nostalgia. When he was a young man in the Army, he tells me, he had his first "legal" beer here at the Mission Ranch bar and restaurant. That's where, nearly 60 years later, we settle into a small table with a view of the meadow and, beyond it, the white surf of Carmel Bay.
Mr. Eastwood is deep into his latest project, a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover, the controversial and secretive founder of the modern FBI. "If you're doing a biography, you try to stay as accurate as possible to reality," he says. "But you really don't know what was going on in the person's mind. You just know what was going on in the minds of people around him."
The Hoover screenplay was written by Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning writer of the 2008 film "Milk" about the life and 1978 murder of gay-rights activist and San Francisco City Councilman Harvey Milk. When I ask if the screenplay addresses reports by former FBI employees that Hoover was a cross-dresser and perhaps a closeted homosexual, Mr. Eastwood says not really. In fact, what attracted him to the screenplay was the fact that it "didn't quite go down that road."

As with all his films, Mr. Eastwood didn't rely on others to do his research. "I went back and read probably all the material that [Mr. Black] had read. . . . I went and visited with the FBI in Washington, D.C., and tried to find out as much as I could about people who had worked with Hoover."
Mr. Eastwood's main interests are the workings of a sprawling, crime-fighting bureaucracy and how a young man—Hoover was 29 when he was made director of the Bureau of Investigation in 1924—survived to serve eight presidents, from Calvin Coolidge to Richard Nixon. Hoover was, in many ways, "the most powerful guy in the country," says Mr. Eastwood, "at a time when America was by far the most powerful country" in the world.
The film spans Hoover's entire career, from the 1919-20 Palmer Raids, which saw thousands of suspected anarchists, socialists and other radicals detained or deported; to the Gangster Wars of the 1930s that resulted in the shooting deaths of such arch-criminals as John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson; to the wiretaps and secret dossiers of the 1950s and '60s on "subversives" that included leftists and Communist Party members but also political rivals, celebrities and civil-rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr.
I ask if Hoover—like Mr. Eastwood's Dirty Harry character of the '70s and '80s, or the brutal sheriff Little Bill in his Oscar-winning 1992 film, "Unforgiven"—hadn't overstepped his bounds as a lawman.
"Sometimes they do," Mr. Eastwood says. "And that's what I always loved about the 'Unforgiven' script. Little Bill is not treated as just a guy with a dark hat and a sinister villain. He was villainous only because of his excesses. He had dreams that everybody else has. He just wanted to sit on the porch of the house he was building and have a nice life and watch the sunset and smoke his pipe. And he believed in gun control in the town that he controlled. But he had also gone over into a cruel streak along the way. . . .

"You could say Hoover might be that way, too. I'm sure he had his excesses. . . . He was obviously a very detailed guy all his life, starting as a very young man. He had some great ideas—modern-day investigative techniques [like fingerprinting and forensic science]. But he also liked the glory of it all."
I ask Mr. Eastwood about the final scene in one of his earlier Dirty Harry movies, when his character throws away his badge after shooting one more "scumbag." Marshall Will Kane, played by Gary Cooper, does the same thing at the end of "High Noon" when the townspeople abandon him to face a murderous gang alone. It's a classic theme in Westerns: Does society expect too much from its lawmen, only to spurn them when they deliver?
"Society is at odds with itself," says Mr. Eastwood. "They want law and order but . . ." he pauses, perhaps thinking he sounds too much like Dirty Harry. "I was always intrigued by this guy who was frustrated by not being able to solve problems due to the obstacles put up by society itself—by the bureaucracy in society. . . . That didn't mean I was against a criminal's right to justice, to a defense, and all that sort of thing. Though a lot of people interpreted it that way because when you do those roles people go, 'Hey, that's the way the guy thinks.' That's kind of a left-handed compliment in a way, you think, 'Oh, I convinced you that much? Good!'"
Mr. Eastwood has called his 1976 Civil-War era Western "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (which tells the story of a Missouri farmer avenging the murder of his family by Union soldiers) an "antiwar" film. Does he see parallels with his more recent films, such as "Letters from Iwo Jima" (2006) that tells the story of the epic battle for that South Pacific island largely from the Japanese perspective?
When it comes to war, he says, it's hard not to think about the "poor slob" fighting for the other side. In the case of the Japanese conscripts fighting on Iwo Jima, some were as young as 14 or 15, "sent to an island and told don't plan on coming back. You're going to defend your country because of all our philosophies. . . . I mean, that's a big request, but it happens in every country. . . .
"I was drafted during the Korean War. None of us wanted to go, It was only a couple of years after World War II had ended. We said, 'Wait a second? Didn't we just get through with that?' An atomic bomb, the pacification of Japan . . . and here we are back in it again. . . . But everybody went. You objected but you went. You said, OK, this is what we're supposed to do."
Mr. Eastwood says he wasn't shipped out to Korea with the rest of his outfit due to an airplane accident. He was stationed at Fort Ord, not far from Carmel, and had hopped a Navy plane to visit his folks in Seattle. On the return trip, the plane crash-landed in the ocean near Drakes Bay, just north of San Francisco. He wasn't injured—he and the pilot swam to safety—but he was ordered to stay behind and await a Navy hearing, which never came, on the cause of the crash. "Typical of the service," he says.
"As for Josey Wales, I saw the parallels to the modern day at that time. Everybody gets tired of it, but it never ends. A war is a horrible thing, but it's also a unifier of countries. . . . Man becomes his most creative during war. Look at the amount of weaponry that was made in four short years of World War II—the amount of ships and guns and tanks and inventions and planes and P-38s and P-51s, and just the urgency and the camaraderie, and the unifying. But that's kind of a sad statement on mankind, if that's what it takes."
After 9/11, I suggest, the country was unified, but that soon faded. "Yeah it did," he says. "A couple years afterwards everybody goes, 'Oh well, OK, that's over with.' And of course you can't do that. You've got to always keep that kind of memory alive, so it doesn't happen again."
But he says he wasn't one of those guys saying the U.S. should go to Iraq and "kick ass and take names," because too often we just "stick a toe in" and risk too many lives. Still, he appreciates the sacrifices made by our military personnel: "It all comes back to the grunt. The guy who's in the trenches, the guy who's walking along the roads . . . in a country where you don't speak the language, you don't know the customs that much, and you're just sort of at the mercy of what the chain of command is up along the line."
He also appreciates the dilemmas faced by democracies when dealing with Islamist terrorism. "How many rights do you want to give to people who are trying to kill you just because you're you? You may be of a different religious sect, or you may be an agnostic, or you may be anything. But you're not one of them, so you're an inferior being. . . . Do you fight on 21st-century ideas or 17th-century, like the people who are against you?"
Closer to home, what does this onetime Carmel mayor think of the return of California Gov. Jerry Brown, who has pledged to get rid of the "smoke and mirrors" in Sacramento and balance the state's $25 billion budget deficit?





"He's got an interesting opportunity now because most fantasies in this world are based around 'If I only knew then what I know now, imagine what I could have done,'" he laughs. "But I'll tell you when I liked him—and I wasn't a registered Democrat—but I liked him when he was running for president [in 1992] on the flat tax. . . . A ton of economists, both liberal and conservative, have argued for a flat tax, but nobody's ever had the nerve to do it. . . . It would simplify things, but simplification doesn't seem to be in the human psyche."
If he wasn't a Democrat back in 1992, was he an independent? "No, I was a registered Republican," he confesses happily. "I became a Republican in 1951, the first year I could vote. Eisenhower was running [for president] and we were all in the Army. He ran on the fact that he'd go to Korea [and end the war]. I don't know if that was anything more than a show, but he went there, and the Korean War did end." He then adds with a smile, like the easy-going Eisenhower Republican he is, "But I've supported Democrats along the way."

Mr. Eastwood is a product of what he calls the "Not So Great Depression." Born on May 31, 1930, in San Francisco, his father, Clinton Eastwood Sr., was a steelworker and migrant laborer; his mother, Margaret Ruth Runner, a part-time factory worker and full-time mom. "It was a tough time. My parents and my sister and I, we all travelled around the West Coast with a trailer on the back of the car. My dad would get a job that would last three months and then he'd have to go look for another one. Once in a while he'd get one that lasted six months."
His first big break came in 1958 with the role of Rowdy Yates in the Western TV series "Rawhide." In the mid-'60s, he left Hollywood to star in the Italian-made Western "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964), the film in which he originated the "Man with No Name" character—the mysterious, avenging gunslinger he later resurrected in films he directed himself, like "High Plains Drifter" (1973) and "Pale Rider" (1985).
In 1992, his revisionist Western "Unforgiven" won four Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture, sending his career to new heights at an age when most film stars typically retire. He's since directed and sometimes also starred in "Mystic River," "Million Dollar Baby," "Invictus" and "Gran Torino," to name a few that have had critical and commercial success. "My whole life has been one big improvisation," says Mr. Eastwood. He started his own production company, Malpaso Productions, in the mid-1960s, gaining the freedom to experiment and take greater risks than other Hollywood stars of his generation.
With the Hoover movie about to start filming, I ask if he's ever come in over budget. "Not that I know of," he says. "Maybe once or twice. I usually stay on schedule. And when I was mayor here of Carmel we always had a reserve and we never spent more than we took in. . . . That's the first thing you're taught when you're a kid from the Not So Great Depression—don't spend it all in one place."

*All photos added from my own collection for illustrative purposes

The World of Poster Mock Ups

I recently made contact with a site that specialises in retro poster mock ups Silverferox. Basically, these are film posters that never existed. It's a fascinating process which provides a harmless alternative to the original official designs issued by the studios. These are designed for non-commercial use, but just for pleasure. Nevertheless, a great deal of skill goes into these designs and for that, they are very admirable.

Here are 6 designs from Dirty Harry and 1 from Magnum Force with the promise of more to come. I look forward to future posters and hope you all enjoy them too.

...and more did come, here are the latest posters (1 additional poster for Dirty Harry and the first for The Enforcer). Great stuff!

Above: Another recent find from the internet, added Feb 26th, 2014

Below: Here is a wonderful design for The Gauntlet created by my friend Philip McLean

A big thank you to Davy Triumph for his design of a UK Quad for Pink Cadillac. As Davy explains, 'it was only created through frustration that it was never given a UK release, therefore, no UK Quad which leaves a small grey area in my UK Quad collection. Here is what I believe would have been a highly probable concept for the UK Quad.' 

I couldn't agree more Davy, the poster works beautifully well. It's a genuine shame that the film didn't receive a UK release, but with the help of your concept, it certainly helps us to picture what might had been. Thank you again Davy. 

Thank you to my friend Paul Alaoui who recently sent this. Paul spotted a friend had posted this on a social networking site and believed it to be real. Of course, it is a mock up by a fan and most probably a case of wishful thinking - It's a shame Clint and Charlie Bronson never got the chance to appear on screen together - might of made for an explosive teaming. Thanks again Paul. 

Below: Here is another mock up to recently surface on the internet. My thanks to Davy Triumph for this one - who almost went into shock upon first discovering it! Looks pretty damn good though doesn't it!

Below: Another recently discovered mock up for The Enforcer, using the Sudden Impact shattered glass concept.

Below: Here's a nice mock up for Sudden Impact

Below, a nice selection of Mondo artwork produced by the talented artist Tony Stella 

I spotted this one quite recently on the web while it sticks to the general Magnum Force design this version is a lot more grittier and darker - I like it very much