The Clint Eastwood who emerges from this new biography by film critic and historian Shawn Levy is a complex figure. Eastwood created many great works of screen art, despite an army of critics who frequently belittled his efforts as an actor and director. Indeed, criticism could never stop a career that began in the mid-1950s and was still in motion with last year’s release of “Juror #2.”
There was little early evidence to predict this kind of success. Levy acknowledges the conflicting stories of how Eastwood, who had no childhood dreams of Hollywood, transitioned from an Army stint into Universal Pictures’ school for aspiring actors. But while the tall and handsome Eastwood looked good on camera, he needed to overcome wooden line readings and a habit of speaking through his teeth. For a few years, bit parts in B-movies and television episodes barely kept the young actor afloat.
Rising Career
But as Levy points out, Eastwood’s ambition emerged with the series’ second season when he unsuccessfully tried to convince his producers to let him direct episodes. He complained to The Hollywood Reporter that the series prevented him from appearing in other productions. He later backpedaled those remarks; he had a guest shot on “Mister Ed” where the mischievous talking horse harassed him over a telephone party line.
Eastwood acknowledged that Italian director Sergio Leone sought him out in 1964. A low-budget Western was to be shot in Spain, and Eastwood was the only American actor to accept the measly $15,000 fee and the violently eccentric script.
Eastwood helped shape the film by cutting his lengthy speeches. His cuts built the sense of quiet menace and mystery behind his “Man With No Name” antihero. He also claimed to have suggested shooting the tight close-ups of the actors’ eyes that became a Leone trademark, which the director disputed.
Critical Reception
The negative reviews weighed on Eastwood. He was particularly baffled by the hostility from The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael. He could have kept playing variations on his tough guy persona, but his ambition kicked in again. He attempted to prove his versatility with offbeat projects including “Bronco Billy” (1980), “Honkytonk Man” (1982), and the 1988 Charlie Parker biopic “Bird.” Eastwood directed all three but didn’t appear in the last. While he gained the critics’ elusive respect with these films, audiences stayed away from these uncharacteristic works.
Eastwood finally scored the trifecta of critical, commercial, and Best Picture-Best Director Oscar victories with “Unforgiven” (1992) and “Million Dollar Baby” (2004). His subsequent work encompassed a wide variety of subjects and genres. These included a musical with 2014’s “Jersey Boys.”
Politics and Romance
Levy touches on Eastwood’s occasional high-profile political flirtations. He had a two-year stint as mayor of Carmel-on-the-Sea, California. His eccentric improvised speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention found him debating an empty chair symbolizing President Obama.More intriguing was Eastwood’s long-forgotten lobbying for President Ronald Reagan in 1982. He also supported a mission by James Gordon “Bo” Gritz, a retired Army Special Forces lieutenant; Gritz wanted to search for American servicemen who were supposedly still being held prisoner across Indochina. Eastwood donated $30,000 to Gritz’s foundation, but only after confirming his contribution was tax deductible.
Levy also diplomatically tiptoes through Eastwood’s convoluted romantic life, noting that he has eight “known” children from two marriages and multiple lovers. The author recounts (but opts not to psychoanalyze) Eastwood’s 31-year open marriage with his first wife, Maggie Johnson; she was curiously indifferent to her husband’s philandering and children with other women.
The star’s private life was rarely touched upon publicly until a 1993 “60 Minutes” interview when CBS’s Steve Kroft received an icy 30-second glare from Eastwood for raising the subject. Eastwood’s behavior during the contentious break-up with actress Sondra Locke, who costarred in six of his films, displayed a cold and calculated vindictiveness absent from the conclusion of his other failed romances.
Levy reports that 95-year-old Eastwood is still reviewing scripts for a potential new film. And while it may seem that time is not Eastwood’s ally for starting new productions, Levy feels otherwise and warns his readers, “You’d be crazy to bet against him.”
