Josey Wales Blu Ray release OUT TODAY!

Our good friends at Warner Brothers have again been in touch regarding their new Blu Ray release of Clint's western masterpiece THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES. Made in 1976, The Outlaw Josey Wales remains one of Clint's greatest films from the 1970's and one of my own personal favourites. Warner's new Special Edition treatment includes a whole host of bonus including

• Commentary by Richard Schickel
• Clint Eastwood's West (29:02 in 1080P)
• Hell Hath No Fury (30:29 in 480i)
• Eastwood in Action (7:55 in 480i)
• Theatrical Trailer (2:16 in 480i)

The Outlaw Josey Wales has a wonderful new freshness and vibrancy when viewed on its new Blu Ray format. The film's magnificent cinematography is (and always was) a real revelation. It is clear that Warner's have spent a great deal of thought and time on this ultimate home edition and comes mighty close to capturing the epic feel of its original cinema presentation.

Among the new Bonus material for this release is an excellent Richard Schickel commentary where he reflects on Clint's impressive career in the saddle and key production details.
There is a new 30 minute documentary called Clint Eastwood’s West, featuring interviews with Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Oliver Stone, and James Mangold.

Previously released bonus material includes the 30 minute Hell Hath No Fury: The Making of The Outlaw Josey Wales.The fantastic original production featurette 'Eastwood in Action' (which I've owned on Super 8mm since my school days back in the 70s!!) And the Original Theatrical Trailer. I would have really enjoyed the inclusion of the full range of TV spots and those great Radio Spots (one of which includes Clint as Josey narrating). I would of been glad to contribute them towards the set, as well as 100+ stills for a rather nice gallery collection.
Nevertheless, it's without doubt a fantastic release and all enclosed in a beautifully produced and informative book.

The Technical Spec:
Disc:
Region: Free
Runnig time: 2:15:51.184
Disc Size: 35,538,137,230 bytes
Feature Size: 29,246,097,408 bytes
Video Bitrate: 21.96 Mbps
Chapters: 35
Release date: June 7th, 2011

Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1, Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps, Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio English 3590 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3590 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio French 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio German 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio Italian 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio Japanese 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Subtitles:
English (SDH), Danish/Finnish/French/German/Italian/Japanese/Norwegian/Swedish and Spanish

Our sincere thanks again to Warner Brothers for your continued support.

Check out Clint at Warners here.

News on Kevin Avery's book Conversations with Clint: Paul Nelson's Lost Interviews with Clint Eastwood

I had the pleasure of another email today from Kevin. It was back in September of 2010 that Kevin first contacted me regarding this very special book. Since then, Kevin has been true to his word in keeping The Clint Eastwood Archive bang up to date with any news.
I am pleased to report that there is now an official release date of September 22nd 2011.

Kevin's book is now available for order on Amazon, with a presale discount, so please check out the links below.
Conversations with Clint: Paul Nelson's Lost Interviews with Clint Eastwood, 1979-1983 AMAZON US
Conversations with Clint: Paul Nelson's Lost Interviews with Clint Eastwood, 1979-1983 AMAZON UK
Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson [Hardcover] AMAZON US
Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson [Hardcover] AMAZON UK

While this is Kevin's 2nd book, his first Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson, is due out shortly after on November 1st. This will also contain a chapter devoted to his relationship with Clint Eastwood, as well as other Eastwood-related material throughout.
Again, this too is available for order with a pre order discount.
Clint Eastwood has forged a remarkable career as a movie star, director, producer, and composer. These newly discovered conversations with legendary journalist Paul Nelson return us to a point when, still acting in other people’s films, Eastwood was honing his directorial craft on a series of inexpensive films that he brought in under budget and ahead of schedule. Operating largely beneath the critical radar, he made his movies swiftly and inexpensively. Few of his critics then could have predicted that Eastwood the actor and director would ever be taken as seriously as he is today. But Paul Nelson did. The interviews were conducted from 1979 through 1983. Eastwood talks openly and without illusions about his early career as an actor, old Hollywood, and his formative years as a director, his influence and what he learned along the way as an actor—lessons that helped him become the director he is today. Conversations with Clint provides a fresh and vivid perspective on the life and work of this most American of movie icons.

Kevin Avery’s writing has appeared in publications as diverse as Mississippi Review, Penthouse, Weber Studies, and Salt Lake magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and stepdaughter. His first book, Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson, is published by Fantagraphics Books.
Jonathan Lethem is one of the most acclaimed American novelists of his generation. His books include Motherless Brooklyn, The Fortress of Solitude, and Chronic City. His essays about James Brown and Bob Dylan have appeared in Rolling Stone. He lives in Claremont, California.
Advance Praise for Conversations With Clint
“Kevin Avery has performed a great service to film lovers by bringing to light Paul Nelson’s remarkable interviews with Clint Eastwood. Nelson was an appreciator of Eastwood in the seventies, before he had won wide critical recognition. In these fascinating and wide-ranging conversations, the actor-director discusses with complete candor both the art of his films and the realities of filmmaking in Hollywood.”
Andrew Sarris, Author of Notes on the Auteur Theory
“This book is a miracle. It reads so naturally—a testament to Kevin Avery’s editorial skill, and his own devotional attention to Paul’s voice—that you might suppose it’s an example of something. But it’s not. There aren’t books like this, because I doubt any other interviewer could ever have this sort of effect on a human being as (justifiably) well-defended as Clint Eastwood. (For comparison, see Lester Bangs, Paul’s friend, jousting with Lou Reed.) Here, you feel the seduction of good conversation, of genuine friendship, overwriting the task at hand for both participants.”
From the foreword by Jonathan Lethem

Films discussed include:

Revenge of the Creature (1955)

Tarantula (1955)

Lafayette Escadrille (1958)

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

For a Few Dollars More (1965)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

The Witches (1967)

Hang ’Em High (1968)

Coogan’s Bluff (1968)

Where Eagles Dare (1968)

Paint Your Wagon (1969)

Kelly’s Heroes (1970)

Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)

The Beguiled (1971)

Play Misty for Me (1971)

Dirty Harry (1971)

Joe Kidd (1972)

High Plains Drifter (1973)

Breezy (1973)

Magnum Force (1973)

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)

The Eiger Sanction (1975)

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

The Enforcer (1976)

The Gauntlet (1977)

Every Which Way but Loose (1978)

Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

Bronco Billy (1980)

Any Which Way You Can (1980)

Firefox (1982)

Honkytonk Man (1982)

Sudden Impact (1983)

September 2011 • 240 pages Paperback • 9781441165862 • $19.95

Music Critic Paul Nelson Finally Gets His Due.

Fantagraphics is proud to announce Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson. Author Kevin Avery spent four years researching and writing this unique anthology-biography. This book compiles Nelson’s best works and also provides a vivid account of his life. In the ’60s, Paul Nelson pioneered rock & roll criticism with a first-person style of writing later coined “New Journalism.” During a five-year detour at Mercury Records he signed the New York Dolls to their first recording contract, and then settled back down to music criticism at Rolling Stone. Through his writing, Nelson championed the early careers of artists like Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Rod Stewart, Neil Young, Warren Zevon, The Sex Pistols, and The Ramones.But in 1982, he walked away from it all. By the time Nelson died in his New York City apartment in 2006, everything he’d written had been relegated to back issues of old music magazines.

“My original idea for this book was simply to anthologize Paul Nelson’s best work so that today’s readers could discover, as I had in my youth, his elegant and brilliant writings,” explains author Kevin Avery. “But I soon realized that, in doing these pieces, Paul was ultimately telling his own story. And his story was so damn compelling it was impossible for me not to write about it." American journalist, biographer, and poet Nick Tosches wrote the foreword to this landmark work of cultural revival, which stands as a tribute to and collection of one of the unsung critical champions of popular music.

Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson By: Kevin Avery • Foreword By: Nick Tosches $29.99 • Hardcover • Black & White • 584 Pages Release: November 2011 ISBN: 978-1606994757

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~